[EvanDuke]

Hi everyone! We recently started implementing the Shifton program in our company to optimize the shift schedule, and here’s what I noticed: at first it seems that automatic scheduling is the solution to all problems, but on the other hand, there are times when you want to leave some nuances for yourself and manually adjust the schedule. It doesn’t always work out for the program to take into account all the little things, for example, when one of the employees for some reason cannot work on certain days or when it is important that shifts do not overlap with personal circumstances. Question: how do you generally use automatic and manual scheduling in Shifton? And how much does it help in real life, when there are many variables and “unpredictable” factors?

[tbes50203]

We also started using https://shifton.com/shift-scheduling in our office, and I can say that at first glance this system really looks like a panacea for all problems with schedules. But you are absolutely right, in practice, automatic scheduling does not always take into account all the subtleties, especially if employees ask to take into account special requests for weekends or on-call shifts. In our company, for such cases, I use both approaches – automatic and manual scheduling. First, I let shift creator set up a schedule taking into account general parameters: for example, the standard number of shifts per week, the minimum break between shifts, requirements for replacing employees. In principle, at this stage the system works quite accurately, but, as you correctly noted, there are always moments that require intervention. Very often, situations arise when someone suddenly gets sick or a shift needs to be rescheduled due to personal circumstances. In such cases, I always check the schedule manually and make adjustments. Flexibility is important here. Shifton allows you to manually adjust shifts, and this is a big plus. I simply add or remove shifts, change the time or days of work, and the system automatically recalculates the rest of the schedule. This is much more convenient than making these changes manually in Excel or on paper, as we did before. I think the key point is that the system gives you the opportunity to combine automatic planning with real, “live” factors, and not rely on only one approach. Even if Shifton suggests the optimal shift distribution, it is important to check how suitable it is for each specific case and adjust it if necessary. For example, if I see that one of the employees will work more hours than required this month, I can manually redistribute shifts to comply with the labor code.

[thiefcrazy98]

Interesting about manual intervention. I use Shifton in my team too, but I find that the less intervention, the better! In general, I tend to rely more on automated scheduling, as it really does handle all the basics. At the same time, as Anna mentioned, there are times when adjustments need to be made. But even in these situations, Shifton is flexible enough to easily accommodate changes without having to re-design the schedule from scratch.

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