When you think of Christmas, you think of gifts, good food, and beautifully decorated Christmas trees. Unless you are responsible for shift planning. Then, with Christmas in mind, you think: Who can I ask this year to take over the unpopular shifts?

Although employees can write wish lists with preferred shifts to the planner, unlike Santa Claus, shift planners cannot decide whose wishes will be fulfilled based on a “Naughty & Nice” list. Different criteria apply to planners.

Taking into account the wishes of employees, distributing shifts fairly – even over the years – and then regarding laws, contracts, and qualifications is quite challenging. It is pretty difficult to consider all these aspects and weigh them correctly. Manual planning is also rarely objective. The allocation of shifts can quickly be perceived as unfair by the workforce.

Behind every shift – a colorful box in a grid – is a person who, due to the planner’s decision, may not be sitting at a beautifully set table with their loved ones on Christmas Eve. That is why it is so important that shifts can be assigned fairly and according to the wishes of the employees, without losing sight of business goals.

Digital shift planning disencumbers the planner. Workforce management software takes all aspects into account at the same time and weighs them individually. The software keeps an eye on overtime, pays attention to compensatory days off, checks whether all necessary qualifications are covered, can consider a longer planning horizon, and includes past data. This way, the software can help to assign shifts fairly and according to the wishes of the employees, without losing sight of business goals.

In self-service apps employees can easily enter individual wishes and preferences for a defined period of time prior to planning. Which kinds of shifts can be requested as wishes by the employee can be parameterized within the master data for each employee group. These can be a request for a day off, preferred shifts, or availability for overtime. Because in some companies, holiday shifts are even very attractive, contrary to popular belief, because high surcharges are waiting. For everyone who has no family or obligations or even wants to stay away from family, these shifts are particularly interesting.

Automated shiftplanning can give planners more time for essential tasks and takes the preferences of the workforce into account. This brings more fairness to the holidays.

What does your scheduling for the holidays look like?