Healthcare differs significantly from the logistics sector. In healthcare, it is much harder to hire extra employees through temp agencies because of the specialized knowledge that’s required. Importing labor from above is also challenging at times, depending on local customs and language. In healthcare, more employees tend to have a part-time contract compared to the logistics sector. Given the differences in demand over the day, cyclic rosters are not really an option for healthcare organizations. Interestingly, these characteristics also reflect the current and future state of the logistics industry, where we expect to see more part-time workers, less cyclic rosters, and the tendency to become less dependent on temp agencies. How have healthcare organizations coped with these challenges?

''Within healthcare, there is a higher focus on employee engagement''

Balancing motivation and efficiency

Within healthcare, there is a higher focus on employee engagement, for example by using an employee app. Employees can easily provide their personal preferences, choose their favorite shifts (called self-scheduling) or exchange shifts within these applications. Planners focus on team-aspects, like mentoring or the need for specific skills. Respecting personal wishes increases employee satisfaction. Employees are also more motivated when their wishes are respected, which leads to higher productivity and lower absence rates. Organizations can also use optimizers to create rosters, so it’s easier to take the needs and preferences of large workforces into account - a task that would be daunting and manual for individual planners. The optimizer also applies flex-teams over departments prior to hiring from temp agencies.

Flexible, personalized schedules

In most countries, different regulations and benefits apply to older workers; for example, they are generally excluded from night shifts. This holds for logistics as well as in healthcare. In logistics, this tends to impact the schedule significantly. Some organizations, for instance, need to provide personalized (instead of cyclic) rosters. The number of older employees will only grow in the future, and, as a result, cyclic rosters will become more challenging. Using a cyclic roster allows you to know your schedule well in advance but it is much harder to respect specific wishes (like having every Tuesday evening free), and to deal with part-time workers. Some part-time workers (like students) may know their availability in advance and want to be flexible. Logistics organizations can learn from the healthcare experience, where organizations have been using apps to support shift exchanges and allow for last-minute flexibility.

So far, we have looked at some of the learnings from the healthcare sector that can be applied in logistics. But can healthcare organizations learn from their counterparts in logistics? Absolutely. One area where logistics companies excel is formalizing the planning function itself.

A centralized and professional planning function

In healthcare, roster creation is typically handled by a team leader, who tends to manage a team of 10 to 20 employees. By contrast, in logistics this is a centralized professional role, creating rosters for 100+ employees. These professionals have analytics skills and use optimizers to create rosters. On top of this, the site manager has the responsibility to manage capacity and employee satisfaction, while in healthcare this responsibility is more scattered.

''Much can be gained by computing the right capacity upfront''

Forecasting and capacity management

Both the healthcare and the logistics sectors recognize the opportunity that much can be gained by computing the right capacity upfront: forecasting and translating the expected demand into the right number of resources and skills and translating this into shifts. By moving tasks which are less time critical, peaks can be flattened and avoided. This process of (integral) capacity management is becoming an important trend in 2024 in many sectors. The objective is the same: calculating the right number of shifts at the right time and location, given the requirements in demand and skills.

In sum

Professionalizing the planning process must be a top priority in 2024 for every organization, dealing with scarcity in resources and volatility and uncertainty in demand. Vague procedures, uncertainty and last-minute roster changes are top reasons for employee churn. In industries like healthcare and logistics, where the workforce shortage is due to increase, a good, optimized roster that respects personal wishes and business constraints is more important than ever to satisfy employees and achieve your goals.