In the first part of this blog, we have discussed the importance of rota and major attributes of rota planning. For this second part, we are going to discuss how to create a fair rota for your employees.

A fair rota structure strives to be comprehensive, accommodating, non-discriminatory, and sustainable. Your rota plan should be designed to ensure that all employees are treated equally at all times, while still considering what is best for the workplace as a whole.

From the perspective of a healthcare administration or staff department managers, what would the major characteristics of a fair rota?

 Let’s look at it in detail.

1. It should be quick and easy to build. Rota planning and management will take hours per week, and that's without considering any last-minute changes. You've got a lot on your mind, and one of the least fruitful things is rota preparation. Unlike other activities like training, recruiting, or patient care, it rarely brings much value to your organisation (besides preventing staffing disasters). Almost every healthcare system will leap at the opportunity to reduce the time and efforts required for rota administration.
2. The rota will ensure that your workplace operates smoothly, with the appropriate number of eligible employees in the right place at the right time. At any given time, there should be a combination of seasoned and junior staff in each department, with enough hands-on deck to handle the anticipated workload and even the emergency situation. You will want to keep the employees productive, yet a packed staff schedule can lead to employee burnout and dissatisfaction.
3. You need certainty and reliability. Ideally, the rota should be set several weeks in advance so that department heads know who will be in on certain days. You don't want to be scrambling for cover at the last minute, or finding out that none of your employees is available on a given day.
4. Rota planning should be in compliance with all the legal standards and regulations. This might include legal staffing standards, specific shift arrangements, leave availabilities, time-off, variable wage scales and more.

Do you know rota mismanagement frustrate employees, thus adversely impacting the provision of safe and effective care for patients? So, your rota needs to work for your employees too.

What do your employees want from a rota?

1. Certainty. Your employees need to have the right to plan their lives ahead of time. They should be able to count on their rota schedule to be accurate so that they can avoid cancelling their personal plans last minute or avoid getting angry phone calls because of a shift mix-up.
2. Stability is essential. Most employees choose to have about the same number of hours per week to help them budget efficiently. The administration team can base the rota on a fixed pattern so that they can be fairly certain of their hours even before publishing the rota.
3. Access rota from home. In this digital age, it is inconvenient for the employees to always call their department heads to find out when their next shift is or whether there is a change in schedule. Your employees would want to access their rota right from their comforts of home or on the go.
4. An easy-to-use leave request procedure. Requesting time off should not be a bureaucratic nightmare.
5. Realtime notifications. Your employees would want to keep them in the loop. Whenever there is an update in the schedule, a notification must be sent to them. Having an efficient rota management system in place would prevent communication problems and mix-ups.

So now the big question is - Can your organisation cater for all these wants and needs?

All the above-mentioned points can be considered as an ultimate wishlist for creating a fair rota.

Now go through the points above and weigh up which factors your current rota system attains. Be honest!

If you are finding it difficult to attain even a few pointers on the list, then you are going through a crisis.

Don’t worry. There’s a solution.

What you need is efficient rota management software to plan, create and manage rotas that work for managers and employees alike.

Having feature-rich rota management software helps in promoting a positive work experience, boosting staff morale, reducing absenteeism and tardiness, improving management control and ensuring accurate scheduling forecasts.

Rota planning and management software is built to make creating and managing rotas quick and easy.

What that means for your organisation, is less time spent on admin tasks, and more time spent on developing your staff and providing quality care for your patients.

So it is time to walk away from tiresome, time-consuming rota planning and make your switch to a robust staff rota management software, which JMS One can provide.