Seven Features of Resource Scheduling That Make Everyone Use It

Resources – people, spaces, or tools are the key to a profitable business. When you maximize their usage, you maximize your business ROIs.

But this is easier said than done, especially in a hybrid workplace. After all, the resource usage is dynamic and, therefore, harder to track in a hybrid setup. Fortunately, resource scheduling can help you track and schedule the company resources effectively. Besides, it also aids in analyzing employee capability and work schedules. 

So, it should be no surprise that resource scheduling is extremely popular among managers across companies.

But if you are still over the fence over adopting resource scheduling at your company, here are seven features of the process to convince you otherwise.

1) Identify Resource Gaps 

Resource scheduling allows companies to efficiently allocate available resources. It helps locate any excessive or insufficient allotments. For instance, the manager or team lead can tap into questions like –

• How many resources are required?
• What is the expertise needed to complete a task?
• How many team members should work on a project?
• How long will a project need, and what resources can speed the process?

A company can get answers about the time, quantity, and quality needed to complete a project. Thus, allowing to channel investments optimally. 

2) Allocate Available Resources 

By using a resource scheduling tool, managers can access employee data regarding their availability. So if preparing project reports will take three hours, managers can view which employees are available. This can help managers assign tasks to members with the right expertise and ability to meet deadlines.

But resource scheduling need not always be project-specific. Let us say a team needs to work on the design brief together. Without resource scheduling, the design team would spend several precious minutes looking for an available desk neighborhood.

But thanks to scheduling, facility managers can either reserve desks in a separate space or book a meeting room for the team for a few hours. This not only allows efficient usage of desks and collaborative spaces but also ensures better collaboration.

3) Resource Scheduling Helps Control Project Priorities

An ongoing priority task may need extra space, equipment, or expertise in an area. These urgent requirements must be available at the right time at various stages of a project.

Resource scheduling lets managers evaluate three crucial aspects of an ongoing project –

1. Optimal use of current resources
2. Urgent need for extra resources. It can be anything from – technology, machinery, office space, or people.
3. Develop an efficient schedule or strategy, prioritizing critical tasks.

The manager can find crevices and resolve them in advance. Therefore, upholding an easy flow of tasks without any hindrances or breaks that affect efficiency.

4) It Helps Prevent Employee Burnout

High-performing employees are the greatest assets of a company. But prolonged work periods due to improper scheduling and little downtime push employees to burnout. And that has an overall negative effect on the overall employee experience as well. 

Resource scheduling will enable managers to build flexible schedules. Furthermore, managers or team leads can –

• Prevent over-assigning tasks to a handful of employees repeatedly. 
• Track the time taken to complete a specific task.
• Reassign the task to employees who can meet the deadlines sooner.
• Schedule challenging tasks for employees who have the expertise and skills to complete.

5) Resource Scheduling Provides Insights on Employees

Effective resource scheduling allows managers to track and analyze what their team is working on and how their work is progressing.

For example, suppose an urgent task requires the expertise of an employee on leave. In that case, the manager can allot the task to the next best fit after determining their availability and achieving similar results.

This way, projects get completed on time without burdening employees.

6) Resource Scheduling Aids Strategy Development and Risk Analysis

Every company strives to develop strategies that double work efficiency and productivity. Analyzing risks while developing said strategies will help resolve complex issues in the future.

Say your company is transitioning to a hybrid setup after a long phase of remote work. You will need to ensure that all the employees coming into the office have sufficient spaces to work and collaborate well in advance.

Through resource scheduling, you can forecast the total number of desks and spaces you need based on employee footfall and budget accordingly.

7) Resource Scheduling Helps Cut Down Costs

Being unaware of the current material resources and employee availability data can lead to substantial overspending. For instance, with fewer employees visiting the office due to a hybrid set-up, companies can easily cut down on energy spending, introduce hot-desking, or optimize their space usage depending upon the number of employees. 

Mismanagement of these resources brings down the company’s value and credibility and negatively impacts employee experience and engagement rates.

Investing in resource scheduling will help companies reduce up to 30% of costs. Moreover, it will allow managers to –

1. Reduce over or under allocation of resources 
2. Minimize resource wastage
3. Avoid uncalled investments in the hiring process
4. Invest only in necessary resources

Conclusion

Implementing resource scheduling at your workplace will reduce the managerial burden in the long run. A robust tool can make this process much easier by automating the manual tasks and streamlining various processes.

WorkInSync resource scheduling software provides solutions to companies who are new to a hybrid working model. In addition to helping companies achieve the points listed above, this tool can ensure your company channels its funds in areas that need genuine attention.

Book a demo to know more about the product.