Is an employee shift app the fastest way to improve teamwork?

Have you heard the saying ‘teamwork makes the dream work’? It might make your eyes roll, but it’s true.

Good teamwork has been proven to increase productivity, enhance company culture and extend staff loyalty. But helping people to communicate in a busy environment, especially if team members are working remotely, can be difficult.

To help your business build strong teams, WhosOffice has been looking into the benefits of a close-knit workforce. We’ve also been looking at how downloading an employee shift app can rapidly improve how your teams collaborate.

The benefits of good teamwork

In any organisation, teamwork is pivotal to success. A study by Gallup has found that highly engaged teams are 21% more profitable, plus staff take fewer sick days than in unengaged groups.

Meanwhile, Queens University of Charlotte research has discovered that 3 in 4 professionals view teamwork as very important to success. Yet 4 in 10 believe companies don’t do enough to encourage collaboration.

One reason for the gap between the value of teamwork and how much resource is put into teambuilding is tactics. So what techniques should companies use to create a collaborative, close-knit workforce?

Many firms focus on helping their workforce spend quality time together, organising events such as:

Teambuilding days
Skills workshops
All-company parties
Group social events such as team drinks

But while these are helpful, they’re just one moment in time.

Nurturing a strong team requires continued effort and communication. But, fundamentally, people can’t work together if they don’t know who they’re working with or what their responsibilities are. That’s why an employee shift app can quickly make such a vast difference to company collaboration.

Improving collaboration through employee shift apps

An employee shift app is a digital tool for helping teams to check and manage their shifts and (in some cases) manage regular tasks.

While most companies appreciate the value of clear communication, many still use outdated techniques like paper schedules and spreadsheets to mobilise staff. Digitising people management means the important data your teams need to work together is stored in a secure location that anyone who needs it can access anytime, anywhere.

So, what sort of information can an employee shift app manage for your team? Here are some examples:

Staff schedules: employees can use an app to check their plans whenever they need, so they never miss a shift. They can also see who else is working the same shifts to facilitate handovers, meetings and other collaborative opportunities.
Having this level of visibility is particularly important as remote working rates rise, as it is not always easy to tell who is working from home versus who’s off. In a hybrid working world, it’s not surprising that 83% of professionals now rely on technology to connect with their colleagues.
Employee task plans: lack of visibility can lead to some responsibilities being over-resourced while other jobs are incomplete. An employee shift app can document who is covering which tasks during each shift so that staff members know exactly where they’re supposed to be.
An app-based task management tool is especially valuable in organisations where staff are on the move, such as medicine and engineering, as employees can check data from their smartphone or tablet. As a result, there’s no need to lose time returning to a central board to check what’s next – increasing staff efficiency and allowing people to achieve more each shift.
Company holiday calendar: often, the work holiday calendar is managed separately from shift planning software. However, the two areas go hand in hand. You can only schedule someone to work if they’re available – and giving your team complete visibility over holiday bookings can help them make decisions in their team's best interest.
For example, it’s not ideal if two senior people in the same department take the same time off. An employee shift app with built-in leave management tools ensures holiday bookings are visible to every relevant person in the business. This way, colleagues can check availability before submitting a leave request for annual leave.

Centralising information through an employee shift app makes teams more accountable, considerate of others, and more dynamic in their response to work demands. By putting everybody on the same (digital) page, you ensure that everyone in your organisation is working together to reach the same goals.

Build a strong team with WhosOffice

We’re very used to running our personal lives through apps, from managing appointments through online calendars to communicating via WhatsApp. However, we don’t see this same app-based approach to working life.

Investing in an employee shift app is a simple way to give your teams better insight into everyone’s working patterns, along with the data they need to work collaboratively. Most importantly, staff gain IMMEDIATE access to these insights – so your app delivers value from the moment it is first used. As a result, it’s one of the fastest ways to improve teamwork.

Many companies see the value of shift planning software but don’t always appreciate the benefit of choosing an app-based platform. Putting information into the palm of people’s hands, wherever they are based, means your teams can work flexibly to deliver results every day, in every location.

WhosOffice’s online shift planner includes free applications for both iOS and Android devices. Our cloud-based software is used across sectors that rely on close team collaboration – from hospitals to busy restaurants – to provide valuable daily insights.

Start your WhosOffice trial today and encourage your team to download their free employee shift app.