For public safety agencies to carry out their wide range of duties effectively, employees must work in shifts that provide coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To best support public safety and avoid burnout, efficient scheduling is critical. Collecting and analyzing workforce data provides actionable insight into staffing, demand, and performance trends. Managed properly, this kind of data analysis empowers decision makers to make scheduling choices that best serve both the public and public safety employees.
Challenges in Public Safety Scheduling
Police, fire, EMS, and corrections departments face unique scheduling challenges. As they struggle to meet service demands amid critical staffing shortages, they must also take care not to overtax the physical and mental health of the employees they rely on. Workforce software designed specifically for use in public safety settings can help make scheduling as efficient and effective as possible by tracking and limiting overtime, ensuring sufficient rest between shifts, and forecasting staffing gaps to help ensure staff is where they need to be when they’re most needed.
How Data Analytics Can Help
Track Staffing Levels
Workforce software enables public safety agencies to easily track staffing levels. Analytics can be used to track minimum vs. actual staffing to highlight when you need to increase employee work hours or direct more resources to retention and recruitment activities. When interfaced with Jail Management Systems, correctional facilities can align bed counts in real time with staffing levels to ensure required staffing as populations fluctuate.
Automate Scheduling Policies
Public safety scheduling involves coordinating many moving parts. Fatigue rules, overtime policies, time-off requests, shift swaps, court events, external employment, and more make the task exceedingly complex. Attempts to use spreadsheets or lightweight scheduling solutions will likely result in errors, many of which could increase risk or costs. Smart scheduling software provides a more reliable way to apply your department’s policies to all aspects of the scheduling process. Additionally, workforce management software enables agencies to track employee training and automatically deliver certification renewal notices so employees can remain in compliance with their job requirements while keeping administration time to a minimum.
Control Costs
Workforce management software can help you track various costs to inform scheduling decisions. For example, you can measure the effect of overtime, absenteeism, special duty events, and more with complete and detailed visibility into scheduling and pay history. Additionally, real-time vacancy forecasting lets you plan proactively to minimize overtime costs.
Orion’s Workforce Software
Orion’s Workforce Management PLUS software allows you to implement smart scheduling; track and analyze time and attendance, costs, and performance data; manage staff and volunteer training; and even manage assets to ensure your workforce has the tools they need when and where they need them. Make your scheduling process more efficient and effective with real-time notices of the latest scheduling changes, vacancies, overtime alerts, court notifications, and more.
The data and analytics that public safety-centered workforce management software provides can help your department more efficiently meet its demand for services while protecting worker health and safety. Streamlining scheduling and automating rules makes it easier to provide the flexibility and adequate rest your employees need, supporting increased job satisfaction and, in turn, more robust retention and recruitment. To learn more about how modern technology solutions can improve your agency’s operations, subscribe to our blog.
