Fair Scheduling Practices

Purposes 

The primary purpose of the fair scheduling practices is to create a quarterly schedule that considers all the employees equally. A second purpose of these scheduling practices is to give you a constant way to request time off instead of assuming that your co-workers can cover for you. Another goal is to have a predictable schedule, enabling you to plan your personal commitments around your work schedule. This also enables me to plan my life around the schedule. Lastly, creating a quarterly schedule enables me to put more time to pursue my paid work, passions, and leisure activities.  

How the quarterly schedule works. 

I will issue a draft of three months schedule for the periods for January – March, April – June, July – September, and October –January. I will send these quarterly schedules out through email around 20th of the month before the schedule begins. By the 25nd of these four months, you must email me if your OVERALL schedule works for you for the given quarter. If you don’t email me by this deadline, I will assume your overall schedule is fine as it is.  At this time, don’t tell me if you will need specific days off. This is because it is essential to ask for any days off by submitting a time off request form. The protocols for asking for time off are explained in a later section. 

Around the 27th of these four months, I will email you the final quarterly schedule with a schedule for the three months. Once I issue these quarterly schedules, you can ASK for time off by submitting a time off request form in a timely manner. If you simply email me saying you need time off, this will be ignored, because I give you a reasonable and standard way to request time off. Everyone needs to follow these protocols for requesting time off in order to be fair to all employees. Requesting time off is discussed in a later section. 

On the 15th of March. July, September, and December, you will submit your general availability for the quarter. The method of submission will be subject to change by an email notification. One of my assistant resource coordinators will email and text you around 10th to remind you of this important deadline.

What the HELP shifts are and why you need to respond to them 

The HELP shifts are the shifts that I cannot fill according to everyone’s general availability.  However, these shifts must be filled, I cannot be alone. I make it clear on the schedule when a shift is not filled by putting HELP with the designated times right on schedule. An example of this is “HELP 5pm – 12am”. 

It would be greatly appreciated if you could step up to offer to work at least one of the HELP shifts before the 27th of the months when I send the final quarterly schedules out. 

If all of my HELP shifts are not filled by the first of each month, one of my assistant resource coordinators will contact you personally to see whether you can work some of these shifts. It is essential to respond to them within 24 hours and say whether or not you can work any of the HELP shifts. You can respond with a simple yes or no. If you need to check your personal schedule and it will take you a few days to do so, you can tell them this. 

There could be a chance to share a HELP shift with another staff. Because of this option, you should tell my assistant resource coordinators something like, “I could work on January 28th 8am – 12pm” when you possibly can’t work the whole shift.

Why you need to ask for time off. 

In the past, some employees have assumed that they could have time off whenever they wanted it. I can no longer do this for the following reasons. 

  1. Your absence can cause me to be short-staffed. more likely they will quit, leaving me quite short staff. None of us need this. 
  2. Sometimes, I have found myself needing to hire another staff to able to cover all of the shits during the time when someone will be gone. Often, I don’t have time to hire and train someone new. 
  3. Over thirty years managing staff, I have found that one or two people typically step up to work the majority of uncovered shifts. The more they cover the other staffs’ shifts, the more the other staff expect them to work for them. 
  4.  Lastly and more importantly, I plan my life around the schedule. 

What asking for time off actually means 

When I say you need to ask for time off, I mean just that and not assume that you will get it off. I can’t emphasize enough that you will need to complete a time off request form after the 27nd of each month after I email you the final quarterly schedule. I strongly encourage you not to make any final plans until my assistants and / or I grant you the time that you have asked off. Before we can grant you any time, we need to find coverage for your shift(s). Although we will do our best to find such coverage, we cannot guarantee it. 

There will be some situations where we cannot find enough staff to cover for all of time to you have requested off. In this case, we do need to negotiate with you. For example, we may be able to get covered for you a little easier or a little later than you have wanted. It would be greatly appreciated if you could adjust the period that you get off. 

You are more amp to be granted time off if you offer to work shifts before and / or after your time off period. This is because your coworkers covering for you need a break from working extra. 

Giving a reason why you want time off definitely is optional. 

Also, being very selective about asking for shifts off is essential for this job. Since we have a small team of employees, getting shifts off often affects everyone, including me. In the past, some people had trouble knowing how to be very selective about asking for time off. The following are some basic guidelines for such a challenge. 

  1. Asking for only three shifts or less in a given quarter is a good habit to get into. 
  2. If you are granted time off during a given quarter, try not to ask for shifts off during the next quarter, especially if you recently had a vacation for a week or longer. 
  3. If you are granted a holiday off in the current quarter, it would be greatly appreciated if you didn’t ask for a holiday off next month or next quarter, whichever comes first. This allows your coworkers to get a holiday off next month or next quarter. 
  4. Think ahead! Think ahead about the calendar year and pinpoint any special days, vacations, and holidays that you would like to have off and plan accordingly. For example, if there will be 9-12 days you want off throughout the year, you shouldn’t ask for many more days off if any. Please, limit yourself to 14 days during the calendar year. It may seem not enough, but remember that you already have your regular days off  a week.. 
  5. I know uneducated life events occur, so I have certain protocols to accommodate for them. But be selective about whether you need the time off or whether you can celebrate during your scheduled days off. 

What you do when you are sick or have an emergency

When you are sick or have a legitimate emergency, you need to contact the person who I have designated for this purpose as soon as you possibly can. For example, if you feel sick the day before your next shift, please call the designated person then, and don’t wait to call the day of your shift. The more notice you give the designated person, the more likely they will find you coverage. There may be a chance that they will ask you to find your coverage. 

PLEASE, don’t take it upon yourself to fill your own shifts without getting direction from the designated person first. Similarly, you cannot switch shifts with someone. There are several reasons for this protocol. 

If you have an unexpected event come up that you need to attend, please email me at the uniquework email address with as much advance notice as humanly possible, preferably two weeks advance notice. I probably will assign a person to find coverage for your shift. I may ask you to find your own coverage, but make sure that this staff absolutely can work for you. If they say “I think I can do this”, it is not good enough! You must get a definite commitment, like “sure, no problem, I can work for you this Thursday 5pm – 12am”. Please, email me the other staff’s confirmation that they definitely will work your shift.  If you have trouble filling your shift, please email me as soon as possible, so I can help 

Why I may need to change the quarterly schedule 

  1. I do my best to conduct all of my personal affairs within the schedule framework. Like in your own life, special events pop up that I would like to of need to attend. Since these events may not align up with the schedule, I will need to adjust the schedule for that day. I will give you as much advance notice as possible. 
  2. I can become sick and may need immediate medical attention. Girl this, I may need to change the schedule for that day without much advance notice. 
  3. Someone may quit during a quarterly schedule, and I will need to change the schedule to cover the gaps. If this happens, I will give you as much advance notice as possible. 
  4. I may hire someone and need to incorporate them in the schedule. 
  5. As much as I do my best to make a schedule that is doable for everyone, there may be some incidences where the schedule is bad in general. I am responsible to fix the problem and accommodate everyone’s needs as well as I can. 

Take aways

  1. There will be quarterly schedules beginning of the fair of January, April, July, and October. 
  2. These quarterly schedules will be based on your general availability for next quarter. 
  3. A failure to submit your general availability by the due dates allows me to schedule you how I see fit. 
  4. There will be HELP shifts that must be covered. It will be greatly appreciated if you work at least some them. 
  5. All of my employees must ask for time off by submitting a time off request form, preferably with at least two weeks advance notice. 
  6. My assistant resource coordinators and I can deny you time off, so you should not make plans before we Grant you the time off. 
  7. Do not trade shifts with each other unless I tell you otherwise. 
  8. There are protocols for when you have a legitimate illness or emergency. 
  9. You may need to find coverage for your shift, but my assistant resource coordinators or I will tell you when this is necessary. If so, email me the other staff’s confirmation. 
  10. The purpose of these scheduling practices is to create a way to treat all of my employees fairly and equally. 
  11. I may change the quarterly schedule for good reason. 
  12. These practices empower me to live my life more like I choose. This is the mission statement for the job.