Nurse Scheduling Software Drives Staff Engagement and Retention 

November 21, 2022

If you ask any healthcare administrator about the challenges they face, nurse staffing is at the top of the list. An alarmingly high percentage of nurses are considering leaving their careers due to low morale, job dissatisfaction, and feeling overworked and under-appreciated. Nursing burnout is a serious concern, negatively affecting staff engagement and retention rates, but how do you begin to tackle these serious, consequential problems?

nurses and other Medical staff in the hallway of a hospital. Two nurses are speaking and looking at a clip board, one is pushing a patient in a wheelchair.

How Can a Nurse Scheduling Software Solution Help?

Nurse schedules, particularly hospitals and long-term care facilities that operate 24/7, often are extremely complex to ensure adequate coverage. Despite the complexities, many healthcare organizations are still relying on outdated manual scheduling processes, further compiling to the list of growing complaints and staff dissatisfaction.

Implementing a highly configurable automated scheduling solution makes filling in scheduling gaps due to nurse call offs and changing patient needs much easier. Nurse schedulers can quickly identify qualified, available nurses to fill openings, drive compliance with target hours, and ensure these hours are below weekly overtime thresholds.

Self-Scheduling Balances Out Scheduling Issues

Self-scheduling gives nurses more control over their schedule, and greatly improves nurse workplace morale. In terms of workforce management in the healthcare industry, self-scheduling for nursing staff is an untapped area that begs to be explored by scheduling managers. With the ongoing challenges like nurse retention, improving workplace conditions to make things favorable and convenient for nurses isn’t just recommended; it’s crucial.

While an optimized schedule is always a top priority for healthcare facilities, more organizations are refining their processes to empower nurses with greater control over their work/life balance with self-scheduling tools. Hospitals and facilities that operate 24/7 demand around the clock nursing shifts. When self-scheduling is utilized to its full capacity and potential, it ensures nurses aren’t working destructive shift patterns that can lead to frustration and burnout.

Rules-based self-scheduling benefits employees by allowing them to pick up extra shifts, request time-off, swap shifts, and more with rules and guidelines set by management. If utilized properly, self-scheduling can:

  • Boost employee morale by changing the vibe in the nursing unit to a more positive one.
  • Improve employee retention because happy nurses stay at their jobs.
  • Promote engagement among staff so they work as a team.
  • Increase productivity because happier staff tend to go above and beyond.
  • Improve the quality of patient care because balanced shifts are easier to work through.
  • Relieve some of the burdens and pressures off the schedulers shoulders by saving them valuable time.
  • Improve employee work/life balance by giving staff more freedom and time to plan their life outside of work.

Schedule Transparency Promotes/Ensures Cohesiveness

Another way to drive staff engagement and improve retention rates is by providing your staff with 24/7 access to scheduling. This helps keep everyone on the same page, and solves many common scheduling issues, such as schedule confusion and missed shifts.

A big-picture view of the schedule allows admins to optimize every shift, resulting in:

  • Less mandatory overtime
  • Less agency dependence
  • Fair and balanced schedule
  • Better work/life balance
  • Balanced skill set on every shift
  • Standard procedures
  • Consistent shift scheduling
  • Better patient care
  • Optimized schedule
  • Fewer gaps in coverage

Schedule360 is the Right Software Solution

Utilizing a robust, highly configurable nurse scheduling software solution from Schedule360 can dramatically improve workplace morale. When nurses are happy, everyone is happy, and patients thrive. Satisfied, content nurses are less likely to leave their jobs. Schedule360 works so well to organize and streamline your current processes because it was developed to solve common pain points in nurse scheduling. Contact us to schedule a demo today.