Were you prepared for the Christmas surge?
Every year, manufacturers deal with a swift and often unpredictable uptick in demand. To make this profitable, they must have the staff to continue meeting customer expectations.
This is especially applicable to food manufacturing, where consumers buy on average ten per cent more items in the festive period than in a typical month.
Combine this with the existing manufacturing skills crisis, increased sickness leave in winter and holiday absences, and you have a recipe for disaster. Businesses risk a downturn in efficiency, missed opportunities and an overstretched, burnt-out workforce.
The good news is, leaders do not have to face these challenges alone. The right software solution can be a manufacturing firm’s ally in combatting the chaos of Christmas.
Learn from the Ghost of Christmas Past
Unpredictability might seem inevitable in the festive period, with changes every year in amount of sickness absence, holidays taken and temporary staff needed. However, a smart workforce management software solution can help identify and pre-empt patterns.
Choose a solution that tracks sickness leave, collects customised absence reasons to suit each organisation, assesses the skills available and links all this to geo-location tracking.
This granular level of data enables hiring managers to accurately predict trends over the festive period and decide where and who to hire. A truly comprehensive overview of their workforce helps manufacturing leaders avoid under or over staffing.
Tap into staff availability
Having made informed decisions about how many seasonal hires are needed, it is important manufacturers can optimise their newly increased workforce.
A self-service software solution allows employees to take control of their shift schedule. With December the most popular month of the year to take holiday, this is a streamlined way for teams to feel in control of their working hours and swap shifts with colleagues. However, at the same time it offers security that the right people are deployed in each role, with the ability to add customised skills constraints for different shifts and locations.
Employees can also let the organisation know directly whether they are available for shifts or overtime, in a centralised system accessible by all. This way gaps, such as those caused by winter sickness, can be filled by willing workers. By allowing team members to clearly communicate when they want to work, manufacturers can ensure they have the staff needed whilst also keeping morale high.
Our Time and Attendance Software provides world class analytics to inform any festive hiring plan. Its self-service capabilities also empower team members to manage their own time and allows people planners to optimise human resources.
With a smart solution in place, manufacturing firms can take advantage of the Christmas period and maximise their profits while meeting consumer demands. Investing in software will go a long way towards help manage the challenges that come with the Christmas season.