We’ll help you unlock the full potential of your workforces' contracted hours by changing shift patterns and using specialist workforce management software to plan, manage and monitor shift work and rostering.

Over three decades we’ve developed a unique blend of shift planning expertise and workforce management software that allows you to: 

• Reduce overtime & agency labour costs
• Increase workforce flexibility & responsiveness
• Tackle low morale & high absence rates
• Support shift worker health, wellbeing & work-life balance
• Monitor & maintain compliance with Working Time Regulations
• Reduce the administrative burden of managing holidays & shift-swaps

Use this page to explore our Lean Employee Resourcing^® (Lean-ER^®) approach, which will help you fully optimise your approach to shift planning, rostering and workforce management.

Working Time issues 

Many organisations operate legacy shift patterns, rosters and rotas that are not designed around the needs of the organisation or its employees. 

‘Traditional’ approaches to shift work and rostering often see employees work fixed eight-hour shifts regardless of how busy or quiet it is.

This imbalance in labour supply and demand typically causes a wide range of working time issues including:  

• Low productivity & inefficiency
• Spiralling temporary labour costs (overtime & agency)
• Service & quality shortfalls
• Fatigue-related accidents
• Health problems
• Recruitment & retention challenges
• Working Time Regulation breaches & fines
• Massive administrative overhead & complex, disparate workforce management software systems

Annualised Hours & Demand-Led Rostering          

A demand-led approach to shift planning, rostering and workforce management is central to shift work optimisation. 

Our WORK Suite^® technology and industrial insight allows us to conduct detailed demand planning so you can accurately calculate resourcing needs over any given period. 

These forecasts are used within the software to design shift patterns, rosters and rotas which ensure the workforce is always aligned to the workload. 

This allows you to: 

• Accurately cover any variability in demand (hour-by-hour, day-by-day, or seasonal)
• Limit overworking, overtime & use of agency labour during times of high demand
• Ensure employees are fully utilised when they are at work
• Maximise utilisation of assets
• Minimise wastage during periods of low demand

To release the full potential of employees’ contracted hours, we help organisations adopt an Annualised Hours approach to shift planning and rostering. 

Agreeing the hours an employee works over a year, rather than on a weekly basis, provides the opportunity to create truly responsive shift patterns and new approaches to shift work. 

This unlocks a step-change in productivity & efficiency whilst increasing fairness & flexibility for the workforce.

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Employee engagement 

Key to shift work optimisation is engaging employees in shift planning, rostering and workforce management processes.  

Changing shift patterns can be a sensitive area of employee relations, but it can also unlock new approaches to shift work that deliver significant ongoing benefits for your organisation and its workforce.

Engaging and collaborating with employees in the shift planning, rostering and workforce management processes will help:

• Communicate the strategic drivers & business case for optimisation
  
• Generate additional insight & creativity that enhances project outcomes
• Create shift patterns, rosters & rotas that suit different life-stages & lifestyles
  
• Demonstrate transparency & commitment to collaboration
  
• Ensure individuals understand the impact of change on their own personal circumstances

Our approach can create a broad range of shift pattern options, making shift work more adaptable and responsive to shift worker needs. 

Embedding engagement within the shift work optimisation process can also serve to improve employee relations and help create a workforce that embraces and contributes to change.

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Effective management 

Shift work optimisation requires an approach to shift planning, rostering and workforce management that responds to change. 

Your shift work requirements may be affected by a host of influences, from economic, social & demographic issues to pressures created by regulation, competition & new technology.

How your shift patterns, rosters and rotas adapt to these factors is key to harnessing the full productivity and efficiency gains created by Demand-Led Rostering and Annualised Hours.

To ensure shift work remains agile and responsive to changing demand, we will help you embed a shift planning and workforce management approach that:

• Minimises the administrative burden of managing holidays & shift-swaps
• Helps anticipate & plan future workforce requirements
  
• Supports day-to-day decision making & tactical changes
  
• Continuously reviews demand forecasts & models the impact of workforce variables
• Identifies working time risks & helps develop strategies to tackle potential liabilities
  
• Supports the rapid creation of efficient & effective responses to emerging issues 
  

Non-specialist shift planning and workforce management software is often overwrought, complex, inadequate or error-prone when it comes to managing shift work and shift patterns. 

The level of shift planning, rostering, employee scheduling and workforce management required to maintain optimised shift work cannot be delivered by spreadsheet-based systems or Time & Attendance software.

By creating an effective, streamlined approach to shift planning and workforce management, we will help ensure your labour supply & demand remains aligned…no matter what changes your organisation faces.

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Benefits & ROI

Our proven approach to shift planning, rostering and workforce management is effective in a wide range of industries which employ shift workers. 

The impact on productivity & efficiency of shift work optimisation is immediate - delivering significant ROI on our WORKSuite^® software & specialist services.

Maintaining optimised shift patterns and rostering over the long-term delivers broad & substantial value across a number of areas.

• Control labour costs & protect jobs:
  Flexible & efficient use of the core workforce allows you to permanently reduce labour costs. Savings can be delivered whilst protecting valued employees & their vital skills.
• Eliminate temporary labour costs:
  Effective use of full-time employees’ contracted hours will dramatically improve productivity & remove reliance on expensive overtime or agency staff to meet demand.
• Increase efficiency:
  Removing inefficiencies in the supply of labour minimises non-productive employee time & avoids duplication such as overlapping shifts. Ensuring the workforce is available to sweat assets intensively also helps to extract maximum value from capex investment.
• Maintain compliance:
  Identifying & mitigating potential issues minimises operational & reputational risks related to shift work. This includes Working Time Regulation breaches, fatigue-related incidents, health complaints, supplier audits & changes to legislation.
• Support shift worker health:
  Effective shift planning, rostering, employee scheduling & workforce management minimises overworking and limits the mental & physical impact of demanding roles. Maintaining adherence to best practice or sector guidelines helps to reduce absence rates & supports the health of employees who work shifts.
• Improve employee relations:
  Removing an unnecessary systemic or cultural dependence on overtime eliminates 'bad habits' & can increase motivation through satisfaction with personal shift patterns. Removing the need for unplanned overtime reduces the negative impact shift work can have on work-life balance, goodwill, productivity & absence.
• Improve work-life balance:
  Designing shift patterns with predictable working hours, more useable leisure time & the flexibility needed to adapt to individual personal circumstances enhances the work-life balance of shift workers.
• Strengthen recruitment & retention:
  Creating differentiated shift patterns that appeal to a wide range of employees & candidates help organisations adapt to changing workforce demographics & a competitive labour market. Shift patterns, rosters and rotas that create competitive annual salaries & introduce flexible options for different demographics are highly attractive.

The data-driven nature of our Lean-ER^® approach to shift work optimisation enables us to demonstrate the quantitative & qualitative benefits of using our shift planning & workforce management software and services. 

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