Smarter scheduling for production
Use our checklist to assess your time management processes –and unlock efficiency, transparency, and employee engagement on the shopfloor.
How well is your production operation set up for modern, flexible working time management? Do you have full visibility into your processes—and are you using that potential to the fullest? Our compact checklist helps you evaluate your current setup, identify opportunities, and make your workforce strategy fit for the future. Now’s the time to optimize and gain a competitive edge.
How do you actively involve shopfloor employees in working time management?
The production industry is undergoing major change. Digitalization, Industry 4.0, and dynamic market structures make fast and flexible planning processes around the shopfloor essential. The goal: a manufacturing operation that can adapt dynamically to volatile market demands—such as shorter delivery times or customized production down to batch size one.
This is only possible with an agile personnel infrastructure and fluid processes behind the scenes. Managing them intelligently and in a demand-driven, employee-friendly way is a strategic challenge—and a vital part of future-ready workforce management. Responding quickly to market fluctuations requires an agile and motivated workforce. Strict top-down planning and rigid working time models are no longer sufficient.
For production companies of all sizes, it’s a clear competitive advantage to involve employees in working time planning and to take their preferences into account from the start. Flexible work models, preferred shift schedules, or digital shift exchanges contribute to customized working hours and a balanced work-life setup. But more than that—they also boost employee motivation and, in turn, overall company productivity.
A professional workforce management solution gives every shopfloor the agility and momentum needed to succeed in tomorrow’s markets.
What to consider when involving employees in working time management
How can your production company benefit from greater employee involvement in working time management? Use the following questions to identify where there may be room for improvement.
1. Transparency and mobile access
Do employees have real-time visibility into their working time accounts?
Do employees have mobile access to time-related information via an app?
Are employees and managers notified of upcoming tasks through a digital tool?
2. Digital requests and approvals
Can vacation requests be submitted anytime and anywhere via a digital tool?
Can employees specify multiple vacation preferences?
Can managers approve or reject requests with a single click in the system?
Are approvals handled through electronic workflows?
Are approved vacations automatically transferred into the time management system?
3. Shift planning and preferences
Can employees submit preferences for their shift schedules?
Are these preferences submitted electronically?
Are shift preferences and approved vacations clearly visible in the planning tool?
4. Shift swapping and flexibility
Is there an electronic platform for shift swapping?
Are required qualifications automatically checked during shift swaps?
Does the system automatically verify legal, contractual, and company compliance when shifts are exchanged?
Are swapped shifts automatically updated in both the planning and time tracking systems?
In case of employee absence, are shift offers made available via an app or online tool?
