Automating Work Scheduling for Long Term Care Organizations

You may be wondering what is work scheduling? It's the process of organizing and assigning tasks to individuals or teams in order to meet a specific goal. It involves creating a timeline for completing tasks, allocating resources such as people and materials, assigning roles and responsibilities, managing deadlines, ensuring compliance with labor laws, monitoring progress throughout the project lifecycle, and adjusting as needed.

Long term care scheduling can be a challenge

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with a Scheduler who is responsible for 26 Long Term Care facilities. What amazed me about her was the amount of stress she had to deal with! From the beginning of the call, I couldn’t help but wonder, how much of her world could we help to automate?

Our conversation started off easy… She sets a rotating schedule on a 4-week cycle.

But then life happens…

One of her staff will call or email their manager to tell them they need time off or they’ll call in sick. The manager will then call her to let her know that there’s a vacancy that needs to be filled.

To stay compliant, she needs to sort through all the staff who are potentially available for the shift by the following criteria:

• Is the person qualified to work at the facility?
• Is the person qualified to do the job?
• What is their seniority?
• Have they worked 11 of the past 24 hours?

Many of these answers she’ll have to look up manually or “just know” off the top of her head.
Can you imagine the pressure she’s under to not make mistakes and face disputes with the union?

And if that isn’t enough, what if the results of her efforts fail to find someone to fill the shift?

“That’s when I need to get creative.”

If all else fails, she’ll need to ask people to stay a little longer and come in a little earlier. She may even have to pull someone in from a different location now that she’s exhausted all other avenues and done her best to follow the rules.

Learn more about how Workzoom benefits the long-term care industry through their new partnership with Point-Click-Care.

How does Workzoom help alleviate the stress?

First, her employees will submit leave requests through their employee self-service. A manager’s approval then notifies the scheduler automatically of the vacancy. When she goes to fill the vacancy, Workzoom knows the rules she’s working with, and will present her with an ordered list of qualified staff. Those qualified employees can then pick the shift up through their portal. This allows her to get the right people working at the right time.

What happens if no one can take the shift?

This is where the Scheduler jumps in to get creative… but at this point she’s more than happy as she hasn’t spent hours pre-qualifying her team. Workzoom takes away the stress of compliance, so creative thinking feels a little easier.

Scheduling can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! Automation can help alleviate much of the burden when it comes to determining who can work and when, and filling those empty shifts to ensure total continuity of care. Stop chasing qualified staff! Consolidate and automate your scheduling with Workzoom.

Mark Fullerton is Workzoom’s Chief Success Officer. He spends his days connecting with prospects and clients on all the features and benefits of Workzoom. Have a question? Reach out.