#employeescheduling

Marco Juarez

Unlocking Efficiency and Job Satisfaction at Marvin Windows

Employees in the small town of Warroad, Minnesota were working six days a week, alternating every two weeks from days to nights. With very little predictable time off, employees were exhausted and morale was low. Because Marvin Windows was one of the biggest employers in this small town, many parents were working opposite shifts and hardly saw eachother. Coleman Consulting Group was hired to help with retention, and immediately recognized the need for change, knowing that the

Marco Juarez

Daylight Savings on a Submarine

It’s been a number of years since I left submarine duty. What a lot of people may not realize is that every ship in the Navy, including submarines, are fully staffed by shift workers. Daylight Savings Time as a shift worker can be another day of getting the short end of the stick – even in the fall. While most people are comfortably getting an extra hour of sleep when the clock “falls back”, night shift workers often find themselves at work for an extra hour – or a half hou

Frank Pereira

Preventing Turnover is Possible with Schedules that Work for Employees

When a team member leaves, they take not only their labor skills but also a piece of the company culture away with them. There is a very real and tangible cost of replacing an hourly employee, which can range from $8,000 upwards to $25,000 depending on the position. How can companies combat turnover when the robust job market and record low unemployment gives employees their pick of positions? The answer is to focus on retention through strategic scheduling. Our Managing Par

Marco Juarez

Move Beyond Traditional Work Schedules and Create Employee Lifestyles

#worklifebalance #employeeengagement #DisruptHR #employeescheduling

Vicente Juarez

Emphasis on creating positive workplace culture at DisruptHR-Omaha

Working as an intern and traveling to new cities can be quite fun and entertaining. I have met tons of new people and have learned how different companies seem to provide a service for the next. This past week I attended an event called DisruptHR, and I learned from various speakers about ways that small and large companies can excel with collaboration. Many HR professionals attended the event, as well as some small business owners looking to network. I spoke with several peo

Vicente Juarez

On site in NY, manufucturing is alive and well thanks to employees who care

Three weeks have passed since the beginning of my internship here at Coleman Consulting Group. I am learning the different dynamics of corporations and production facilities, and how companies operate. My first business trip to New York opened my eyes to the factory floor, where I saw the relationship between the end product and the workers each step of the way. Immediately I saw people who were very focused and task oriented, unafraid to "step on toes" if it meant performin

Vicente Juarez

Expectations of an Intern

For nearly 16 years, I had no idea what a consultant did. All I knew is that they helped companies improve. I learned from my dad, a Managing Partner with Coleman Consulting Group, that consultants specialize in finding solutions to make companies more efficient, but I never knew what exactly that meant. This summer, I am finally getting the opportunity to be exposed to the world of consulting. I will get to see and experience companies through a consultant's eyes. My colleg

Justin Dovenmuehle

How to Manage Millennials

The number one question I am asked as a workforce management consultant is how to manage millennials. Millennials, those born between 1981-1995, recently displaced Generation-X as the largest generation in the workforce, and they have a reputation for being difficult to manage. Words I've heard managers use to describe their millennial workforce include lazy, needy, self-absorbed, and entitled. Unfortunately for managers, complaining about perceived employee traits doesn't do

Jim Mertz

The importance of helping your child learn real world solutions.

This past summer I had the opportunity to bring my 11 year old daughter Sasha on a work trip. We visited one of Coleman Consulting Group’s food manufacturing clients in Northern California. The management team at Blue Diamond was very hospitable to Sasha and even took the time to show her how the plant processes their delicious, world famous almonds. After Sasha’s tour of the plant, it was time for our management team meeting – the real reason for the trip. As the Coleman an

Marco Juarez

What is on the Mind of the VP of HR?

First, their organization, just like most across the country, is experiencing a retention problem. Second, the practice of ghosting (an empl

Marco Juarez

The best shift solutions for the best in tile

I’ve been designing and implementing shift schedules for over 20 years. I get excited every time I have the opportunity to design something from scratch for a place that hasn’t even hired its first employee. In 2014, leading ceramic tile manufacturer Dal-Tile broke ground on its newest ceramic tile production facility in Dickson, Tennessee, and I was asked to work with the new management team to design shift schedules for the facility. The biggest challenge in designing the r

Frank Pereira and Marco Juarez

First Responders Also Deserve Work/Life Balance

A few years ago a North American regional police authority asked us to find and implement a schedule that would improve service and reduce costs. The entire effort was backed by the chief of police, the officer’s association, and the police services board. At the time, police officers were essentially “flat-staffed” in large blocks throughout each day. The schedule did not account for workload variations by the time of day, the day of the week, or seasonal fluctuations. Nee

Rebecca Bugas

ER DOCTORS ARE SHIFT WORKERS, TOO

My daughter recently dislocated her kneecap during PE and the high school called frantically to let me know she was on her way to the emergency room. When I arrived at the hospital, my daughter’s knee had been popped back in place, but she was still in terrible pain, and the swelling was setting in. When the attending doctor came around to introduce himself, I asked if they had given her anything for the pain before I arrived. They had not (really???), so I asked for Advil an

Frank Pereira

What do the "Three Circles" mean?

The "Three Circles" represent the three key elements required to design the best schedule successfully. These elements also reflect Coleman Consulting Groups definition of a schedule: Business Needs - "a system for deploying capital and personnel." Employee Desires - "with employee buy-in." Health & Safety - "specific work, pay, and coverage policies." Our consultants are experts in the field of scheduling and resource optimization. They work across multiple industries to ide

Rebecca Bugas

Don’t Fall Behind on Sleep while Falling Back on Sunday

This weekend we will "Fall Back" once again for Daylight Savings Time. Every year, we hear the arguments for and against, and the debate has even made it to the ballot this year in California. Where you live in the country, what time you go to work, and your personal habits and lifestyle can all affect your positive or negative view of DST. So what are the issues surrounding DST, and why should we be paying attention? The reasons typically given in support of DST are energy

Frank Pereira

How Does Fatigue Affect Your Employees?

At Coleman Consulting Group, we have surveyed thousands of employees across the country and around the world. The health and safety portion of the survey asks about sleep and fatigue relative to employee schedules. Our senior partner Frank Pereira talks about the implications of overworking your employees and how it directly affects your business. #Sleep #HR #shiftschedule #shiftlength #employeescheduling #scheduling #Humanresorces #Business

Frank Pereira

Employee Retention is Sometimes About Just Listening

This week I visited with managers from one of our multi-site customers. Spread across North America, this organization provides services from over twenty locations in three countries. Staffed to cover many non-standard hours, turnover had been a growing problem. Engagement surveys and exit interviews continue to point to employee schedules as one of the central themes causing dissatisfaction. Another issue has been upper management neglecting to listen to employees. Earlier

Frank Pereira

Back to school thoughts on Work/Life balance

Now that the summer is nearly over, many parents are getting ready for school. For many people, this tends to be a high demand period where we "bend" our schedules to make sure we are there at the right times for drop off, pickup, and to support all the afterschool demands. Work schedules that allow people to meet those demands can make a big difference for many employees. A segment of the population that continues to grow is the dual income families with kids that manage th

Frank Pereira and Marco Juarez

9-1-1: We Have a Hiring Problem

A recent Wall Street Journal Article discussed the difficulty in finding workers for 911 call centers. As the labor market tightens, all organizations, not just 911 call centers are having trouble acquiring and keeping qualified employees. This situation reminds me of the “Bear in the Woods” story – no not that one, the other bear story. Two hunters are in the woods when a bear jumps out of the bushes. The first one starts running. The second one sits down to put on this tra

Frank Pereira

I "Worked" the Night Shift in Alaska

Our bodies body’s Circadian Rhythm, or biological clock, is controlled by a bundle of cells (the hypothalamus) atop the bridge of the nose in your head. It tells a person when to wake up, when to go to sleep, and when to use the bathroom among other things. Circa means “about”, and dian means “daily,” so these are daily rhythms and they are the products of the biological clock. When the biological clock is in sync with the clock on the wall, everything works smoothly. Whe

BEYOND YOUR TYPICAL SCHEDULING