Which types of work schedules are used by modern enterprises

It's hard to imagine a company that has staff members work without a timetable. Of course, there are different employee schedule templates available on the web, but they provide universal solutions, disregarding various factors that play a part in a work schedule.

We think that there should be an individual approach to scheduling employees and implementation in all types of businesses. In order to come up with the most practical timetable, company management first has to determine the difference between full-time and part-time employment.

Employment-based types of work schedules

Before even thinking of creating a timetable, managers should have a list of workers that are employed full time or part-time.

• Full-Time

Full-Time employment implies a 37-40 hour workweek. Workers are rewarded for their performance through benefits, such as vacations, sick leaves, and health insurances. A full-time way of workforce scheduling may slightly differ in each company, but most of them have roughly the same number of work days and hours.

Full-time workers can receive additional pay for working more than 37-40 hours a week.

The number of working hours usually never changes, but in some places, such as retail and small businesses, there can be some imbalances.

• Part Time

This broad term encompasses a wide range of work timetables with less than 40 weekly hours. As a rule, partly employed people have a more flexible schedule compared to their full-time colleagues. However, unlike them, part-time workers can’t get their hands on any company benefits.

They also have a more hectic schedule with working hours that can change weekly. For example, they can work Tuesday to Friday from 11 AM to 8 PM one week and 5 PM to 12 AM another. Part-time workers can also divide their days into work hours. For example, work from 5 to 9 AM and then from 9 to 12 PM. Of course, this leaves more room for other activities.

Both full-time and part-time ways of employment can be used with a number of schedule variations

Most used timetable variants

• Fixed

This has to be one of the most widespread timetables with a fixed number of hours and days that have to be met every week. They experience little to no changes after the initial schedule has been approved. Usually, employees work from Monday to Friday for 8 hours a day with an hour for lunch break. Due to this fact, the fixed timetable variation is also known as a “9-5” work schedule.

• Rotating

Although not as popular as the previous two, a rotating schedule can be still found in various jobs. For example, it is still the schedule of many government organizations use this work schedule template, such as police stations, hospitals, emergency services.

During a rotating schedule, the day, swing and night shift hours are constantly changing. These shifts can cycle every week or quarter, but that depends on the nature of work that has to be carried out.

This type of schedule can be difficult to handle for employees as their sleeping and eating patterns will have to change each cycle. If a company wants to base its timetable on this employee schedule template, they will find it the hardest to follow.

We hope that you will choose the type of schedule that will suit your company needs.

Types of flexible timetables

Flexible schedules offer more freedom for employees. It allows setting the number of days and hours that have to be done in a week. Workers can choose the time when their work begins and ends, how many hours will they work every day. There are several types of flexible schedule, including:

—Flextime

Under this schedule type, employees are expected to work the same number of hours every day, but can choose when their work starts and ends. For example, some workers may want to work in the early morning to finish their tasks in the afternoon. Others find starting their workdays in the evening far more productive.

—Compressed workweek

This flexible schedule type implies that a 40-hour work week is compressed to a couple of days. Instead of working the typical 5 days a week, an employee may choose to work 10 hours, 4 days a week with three days off, or 12 hours per 3 workdays with four days off. It depends on each individual employee.

—Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE)

This timetable requires no specific work hours whatsoever. Instead, it measures employee performance based on the amount of work done, not the time it took to get it done. This work scenario allows employees to take as much time as they need to polish their assignment, without the fear of failing to meet the deadline.

As you can see, there are many employee timetable types, each with their own ups and downs. Consider each of them before making the final decision.