Las Vegas police agency relies on software to create optimal work schedules

Officials in the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety used to manually schedule officers and rotate their assignments daily. It was a laborious task, and the sergeant spent an eight-hour shift each week on scheduling.

Officers had no visibility into schedules and could arrive for work not knowing their assigned unit. Sergeants were awarded overtime and vacation time based on officer reliability or requested time, creating claims of favoritism. The paper-based scheduling process was inefficient.

To solve the problem, the department installed an automated public safety scheduling and notification system from Kronos in January 2009. The system, Workforce TeleStaff, is designed to help officials have more control over their schedules, access greater means to communicate with each other, and make changes to their own shifts with minimal supervisor involvement.

After deploying the automated solution, the staffing sergeant was able to reduce time spent on scheduling to a half-hour review on a daily basis. Officers can now access the scheduling solution from anywhere at any time to learn their new schedule assignments.

With the new system, overtime is awarded automatically based on rules, creating equitable overtime assignments. Automated vacation bidding creates a transparent process that helps ensure vacation assignments are fair and seniority-based. Configured work rules ensure officers take an eight-hour break after a 16-hour shift, increasing officer safety. In assessing Workforce TeleStaff, Sergeant Rodolfo Padilla says, “Everything is more fair, consistent and transparent. Nobody can hide anything anymore.”

Several enhancements have been made to the system recently. These include added business workflows that make it easier for employees to trade or cancel their shift trades based on organizational rules, without the need to first inform supervisors. These added benefits help employees feel more empowered and engaged in their jobs, while their departments continue to maintain accountability to effectively serve their communities.

Go here for more information on Kronos.

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