Thursday 24 March 2016

Management

What is management? The origin of management is to train, horses in particular where manage comes from the Latin Manus meaning hand. Yet today management has a very different connotation.

If you manage something, then you exert control over it. To manage a system or operation is to control it. So when we talk about managing holidays, absence etc. we mean that you control it.
If you want to manage holidays, then you need to understand them. When do people want a holiday and why. Once you know and understand the function of holidays, you can meet those needs. There are two effective ways of managing holidays. One is called Holidays Included and the other is a Holiday Management Plan. The holiday management plan exerts control over how holidays are requested and booked. Therefore, minimizing the effect of holidays to the operation. A Holidays Included option takes away all of the problems of holiday, while ensuring that both the workers and the operational needs are met.
Controlling absence is a little more difficult. A company has complete control over when and how holidays are taken. Yet they have no control over when and how people will become ill. So a different approach is needed. Again you need to understand how and when absences occur. Then you can predict what will happen in the future. You then need to put in a proactive absence management plan. This means that you anticipate what will happen and have a procedure in place for all eventualities.
Yet as a manager you still need to train your people to follow your procedures. So the best managers are ones that still incorporate training into their management.
At C-Desk Technology we understand how holidays and absences occur because we have spent years studying people. Learning how and why people take holidays, so that we can help them achieve better quality time off. We have analyzed absence data, so that we can predict how and when absence will occur and then developed strategies to cover them.

If you are finding that holidays and absences are taking up too much of your management time, then contact us to find out how to manage your operation better. Call us on +44 (0) 1636 816466 or email on alec@visualrota.co.uk. We have training courses, books and consultancy packages to meet your requirements and budget.

Thursday 17 March 2016

What to do with 31 weeks off a year!


On a holidays included shift pattern you can look forward to up to 31 weeks of holiday every year. This is on a standard full time contract. So if you are working 12-hour shifts on 37-42 hour working week, then you could turn your 5.6 weeks into 10-31 weeks off every year.


What a holidays included shift pattern does is take your rest days and combine them with your holidays to give you the best possible time off. That means regular time off in blocks of 7-12 days. Then during the summer the breaks are extended to give you 17-21 days off. Then you can have a nice two week break in the summer every year.


There are lots of holidays included shift patterns available. They can meet any workload, working contracts, SLAs, etc. The most popular are the 232, 554, 3on and 4on. The 232 and 554 work around the week. The 3on and 4on do not work around a week, instead they are based on ensuring that you only work two or three shifts with a break.

So what can you do with 31 weeks off? Strangely enough when people have experienced a holidays included shift pattern, one complaint is about reducing the number of weeks off because people find it too much. 31 weeks is a lot of time off. So here are a few ideas about what to do with it.


Relax with the family!


Set sail and see the world!


Take up a new hobby!


Work on the garden!


Soak up some culture!

If you would like to fine out more about holidays included shift patterns, please contact us on alec@visualrota.co.uk or phone us on 01636 816466

Tuesday 15 March 2016

New website

New website on shift patterns
Find out all about how to create and manage your shift patterns