Originally published in May 2021. Last updated on February 25, 2025.
Ever accidentally sent two teams to the same house? Or had to cancel a service call last minute because you were short-staffed? Scheduling employees plays a major role in how successful your service business is, but it’s hard work.
Learn how to schedule employees effectively to maximize profit, improve efficiency, and keep clients happy by following these tips.
1. Plan out resources
The first thing you need to do before any job is plan out what resources you need to complete it. And while this includes the materials and supplies you require, like wood, flooring, or paint, it should also include staff.
For example, does a job require someone with specific certifications, like a licensed electrician? Or will you need to call in a specialized subcontractor to lend a hand on a custom project?
If the job is a standard service, can a junior employee handle it, or would you prefer to pair them with someone more experienced?
Take a look at the upcoming job in your work schedule and match your employees to each one, focusing on:
- Required skill level
- Necessary certifications or licenses
- Roles (like new hires and supervisors)
- Equipment experience or special knowledge
- How complex the job is
- The project’s timeline and staff availability
Knowing what kind of staffing needs each job has tells you who to assign where, and keeps you from overloading or underusing your team. It also ensures each job has the best chance of being done correctly and efficiently the first time, boosting customer satisfaction, reducing complaints, and preventing costly and unnecessary fixes.
2. Figure out shift needs
Whether your business runs all year round or you have a distinct busy season chances are your shift needs vary.
For example, a house cleaning business may have consistent, recurring clients with weekly or biweekly appointments while a snow removal business will get the most calls after a winter storm.
Depending on your business and the services you offer, you could have a mix of part-time, full-time, and on-call staff to cover different types of jobs. Balancing different shift scheduling needs prevents burnout and helps maintain service quality, no matter what your work schedule looks like each week.
Review past work schedules to see what worked (and what didn’t). For example, was the week before a holiday busier than you anticipated? Or was there a stretch last summer where multiple staff members were on vacation at once, leaving you spread too thin?
This will give you an idea of when to expect increases, decreases, and schedule fluctuations so you know how many (and what kind of) staff to plan for.
It’s also beneficial to consider how weather, holidays, and special events can impact shift needs. By anticipating demand, you can prevent over-and under-staffing issues that lead to poor quality work, less profit, or overworked employees.
3. Prioritize efficiency
The more efficient your schedule is, the more jobs you can fit into a day.
Take a look at your upcoming appointments and use route optimization to group jobs by location to save on fuel costs and travel time.
For example, if you run a lawn care business and multiple mowing jobs are booked for the same day in the same part of town, assign them all to the same team. They’ll spend less time driving, more time on the job, and cut down on traffic delays that lead to late and missed appointments.
This also works for specialized equipment, like a boom lift for trimming trees. If you have multiple jobs in the same area that will need it, try to book them all on the same day or week to reduce unnecessary transport and setup time.
READ MORE: 6 best route planner apps to maximize time and efficiency
4. Follow the law
Pay close attention to state and federal labor laws to ensure you:
- Understand overtime and break requirements
- Don’t overschedule employees
- Stay up-to-date with industry-specific regulations
For example, after a snowstorm, scheduling staff in shifts so no one exceeds the legal number of hours they can work.
Pro Tip: For information on federal labor laws, visit the U.S. Department of Labor website. For state-specific requirements, search for your state’s Department of Labor or Labor and Workforce Development website.
5. Consider employee preferences
If you have part-time workers, subcontractors, or you’re open on weekends, ask staff members about their availability.
Ask them what their preferred working days are, which days they need off, and whether they would like to request specific work hours. For example, part-time staff may want to work evenings and weekends while full-timers might request a Monday-Friday 9-5 work schedule.
What you have to work with depends on your business, services, and work hours. If you don’t have part-time staff, or only have standard business hours, you may not need to worry about employee scheduling preferences regularly.
But it’s still important to know when they might be planning to put in time off requests, like vacation or parental leave, so you can plan around their absence in advance.
6. Have a backup plan
Staffing mishaps happen. People get sick, cars break down, and emergencies pop up. When that happens, having a backup plan to work with will save you a major headache.
What that means is based on your business, but it could include:
- Having subcontractors you can call in a pinch
- Creating a go-to reassignment sheet to reference based on experience, availability, etc.
- Keeping some staff on call during busy seasons
- Rescheduling clients and offering a complimentary service or small discount as an apology
Then, when the worst happens, you won’t be left scrambling to figure out how to proceed. Simply take a look at your plan and run through the options that best suit the situation.
7. Communicate clearly
Follow a clear, consistent communication plan that covers:
- When employees can expect to get schedules each day/week/month
- Where work schedules can be viewed
- How staff can request a schedule change or trade shifts
- What steps a worker should take to call in sick
- A list of relevant policies, like time-off requests, overtime rules, and what happens when someone misses a shift
Make sure this information is available in an accessible place and that staff know where to find it.
If you make any changes to where the schedule is located, when it’s sent out, or the policies it relates to, inform employees well in advance and provide details about the updates.
For example, if you usually send out schedules via email every Sunday and you move to scheduling software, consider having an onboarding meeting with staff to go over the new scheduling process.
8. Account for team dynamics
Personality clashes are common in working environments, but they become a problem when they start to impact work performance.
In an ideal world, all your staff members would get along, never letting their personal dynamics get in the way of a job. But that’s not always the case.
If you have employees who don’t get along, or who work best with specific team members, do your best to accommodate their needs when possible.
While it’s reasonable to expect everyone to behave professionally and prioritize the job, some people do their best work in the right company.
By paying attention to which staff members thrive together, you don’t only have happier workers, but also fewer conflicts and more satisfied clients.
9. Monitor and adjust as necessary
The longer you manage employee schedules, the more you understand how quickly they can change. Keep an eye on your work schedule and make adjustments as needed to keep things running smoothly.
For example, pay attention to:
- Customer emails, calls, or texts to cancel or reschedule an appointment
- Changes in staff availability
- Unexpected delays or job site issues
- Equipment or vehicle malfunctions
- Extreme weather, like storms, heat, or drought that could impact your work schedule
You should also review your employee work schedule to make adjustments based on staff performance. For example, if a new hire is catching on quickly and doing a great job, you might be able to start giving them bigger or more complex jobs.
10. Use scheduling software
Manually creating schedules, assigning work, and tracking employee availability will quickly become a full-time job if you let it. And, chances are, you have better things to do, like bringing in new leads and spending time on job sites.
A scheduling app, like Jobber, Clockify, or Calendly can save you time and help avoid embarrassing (and costly) mistakes like double bookings.
With Jobber, scheduling employees and work and communicating about bookings to your clients and crew has never been easier. Here’s how Jobber helps you reclaim time spent managing schedules:
- Multiple calendar views to see your team’s availability
- Map views and route optimization to generate the fastest, most fuel-efficient route
- Color coding and filters to help you see job statuses, assignments, and team members
- A drag-and-drop calendar to make rescheduling quick and simple
What are the benefits of using scheduling software for employees?
Learning how to effectively schedule employees comes with a lot of benefits for you, your staff, and even customers. But using scheduling software like Jobber can take it to a whole other level because it can help you to:
1. Streamline scheduling
Jobber automates a variety of scheduling tasks, like booking appointments, setting working hours, sending job confirmations, and notifying staff of changes. This makes the entire scheduling process much easier and prevents human error, like forgetting to update an appointment with a new time.
2. Improve communication
Manually creating schedules means using multiple methods to create, share, and adjust them.
For example, you may sketch out a rough plan on a piece of paper or in a spreadsheet, send it to staff via email after you upload the final version, and then go in and type in any changes before doing it all over again.
With software, you can simply drag and drop employees to new jobs, automatically notify staff of changes, and communicate in real-time.
This keeps you all on the same page and prevents misunderstandings, delays, and confusion.
3. Reduce scheduling conflicts
When your time-off requests, bookings, and availability are all handled in one place, you’re less likely to miss time-sensitive updates. Like when a worker calls in sick or a client cancels last minute.
And it’s easier for you to see what your options are to effectively handle the situation. Like who’s available, where staff are working, and which jobs they’re on.
4. Boost efficiency
Overhead costs are one of your biggest expenses as a business owner, and scheduling software can reduce them. Not only does it put your time to better use by taking over the nitty-gritty scheduling tasks, but it also tracks employee time so you can monitor overtime, hours worked, and breaks.
Then, you can use this information to see where your business can run more efficiently, like:
- Whether you assign too many or too few workers to jobs
- Who’s working overtime and whether it’s necessary
- How long employees are taking to get from one job to another
- When busy and off seasons are
5. Scale business growth
As your business grows, so does your need to find tools that can scale with you. Scheduling software like Jobber can handle teams of all sizes, so it can support your company as you make new hires and expand, from your first employee to your fifteenth.
Plus, it also offers a variety of other features, like route optimization, time tracking, online booking, and a robust CRM to handle all your business needs in one convenient place.
By using employee scheduling software that grows with you, you’ll save time, money, and a lot of administrative headaches, not just today but as your team expands. And, you’ll have happier workers, more satisfied customers, and fewer scheduling conflicts to worry about.