Roster Portal News

I recently discovered an article by Anthony Tjan on the Harvard Business Review, that discussed four simple ways to make your employees happier.

Essentially Anthony proposed that besides monetary rewards, the four ways to please staff are:

1. Help create a meaningful role
2. Give feedback
3. Offer professional development
4. Say thank you

I think that the fourth strategy is the most powerful of them all. However it’s more than just saying thank you, but more about mutual respect. The old adage, “Treat other as you would treat yourself” comes to mind as a core belief necessary to maximise potential from your staff.

A simple way mutual respect can be achieved from a rostering point-of-view is by following this simple step:

1. Make the next weeks roster available on the same day each week.

By following this consistently, Staff will know not to make plans for a week until the roster for that week is available (this helps eliminate staff cancelling shifts after a roster is created). Also staff will learn what day to check their hours, whether it is coming into the store, phone, SMS, E-Mail or Online.

So comment below and let me know what you think is an easy way to obtain respect and increase happiness in your staff. If you haven’t already, you should read what this blog is about and hopes to achieve.

Hi, my name is Mannan Mackie and I am the Lead Designer of Roster Portal.

I personally have worked as a Manager at a retail store for many years so I know first hand the problems that “Roster Makers” face when dealing with staff. I also have completed a degree in Information Technology and Business at the Queensland University of Technology, and know that good software, such as Roster Portal, can make a great economical and time saving to businesses.

When I said I wanted to include a blog on Roster Portal, people looked at me as if I was crazy or got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. However I know that being a manager or business owner is a multi-faceted role, inherently more complex than just supervising, ordering and rostering. It’s a role we do day after day, often on weekends, after hours or off the clock, yet we never ask ourselves, “Is there a better way?”

My goal is to foster a community where we share our advice, problems and solutions to the challenges we face everyday. So feel free to comment below with your opionions or suggestions, or if you would like to contact me directly, email mannan [at] rosterportal.com

So I will leave you with a question: What has been the most challenging problem you have faced when dealing with Staff?