How to Create A Work Schedule for Your Mobile Employees

Landscaping services are like any business model, they require clear communication to remain successful and achieve goals. At Arborgold, we work closely with landscapers from all over the country, supporting brand development, customer service, and equipment management. One of the features of our unique landscape business software is mobile employee scheduling.

Companies who work in the field, like landscapers, require specialized scheduling protocols to monitor employees while they are away from the office. Unlike a retail store or a marketing firm, employees do not stand behind cash registers or sit behind desks all day. When you need to speak with somebody on your team you must first locate them on a job site. Having a system that allows you to follow your employees wherever they go digitally vastly improves communication and job scheduling.

Create an Employee Schedule in Advance

To perfect mobile employee scheduling, we always recommend making a schedule in advance. This gives you plenty of time to go over it and fill in gaps, find coverage for holidays, and make minor changes to ensure every job is done in a timely manner.

Many landscaping companies hire their employees with the knowledge that there will be a minimum set number of hours each week to work. These hours might be spread out over numerous projects and responsibilities. While your employees may agree to their schedules early, things can always change. Sick calls and personal days may cause shifts that force you back to the scheduling board. Fortunately, when you plan your schedule in advance, you can plan for sick employees by having somebody on call to fill in, or by scheduling two employees on one project, and splitting them up as necessary.

Mobile employee scheduling is simplified by specialized software, which Arborgold offers to all our landscaping clients. This software is designed to help you plan in advance, schedule employees, schedule equipment, and even schedule appointments with customers. It streamlines all the tools and information you need into one easy to use application, which remains visible from your Arbogold account on any mobile device.

Do Not Forget to Monitor Scheduled and Unscheduled Jobs

As a local landscaper, you are sure to receive recurring job bids from clients in the neighborhood. Therefore, some of your scheduled tasks will repeat each week or each month as needed. When it comes to mobile employee scheduling, you need to keep on top of all the jobs on your docket, even the ones your employees are not working this week.

Our mobile employee scheduling software gives you access to all the appointments you have scheduled, all the open spaces you can still schedule appointments, and recurring appointments that have not been rescheduled yet. Not only does this help your staff stay on track, but it allows you to touch base with customers and ensure your services are still wanted.

Our system also helps you multitask job scheduling. Some customers may request two services regularly, but only need one weekly and the other biweekly. In this instance, your scheduling app will help you determine which tasks are due when.

Create the Best Route with an Interactive Map

Sometimes scheduling is not only about the times and days you plan to perform a task. It is also about where a task will take place and who is the best employee to send there. By arranging all your scheduled appointments on an interactive map, you can move times and days around to best suit your gas mileage, the weather, customer preferences and more.

Not only does an interactive map let you see where your jobs are being scheduled, but also lets you follow your employees online to job sites via GPS. Watching in real-time you can help employees avoid traffic and keep them from getting lost in new and unfamiliar neighborhoods.

At Arborgold, we design our interactive landscaping software with maps that allow you to communicate with your employees as you switch dates, times, and names from place to place. This helps keep everybody on the same page, prevents mix-ups, and holds everyone accountable for being where they need to be when they need to be there.

Like your schedule, updating your map as early as possible will help you account for any changes that might take place later. Add appointments as they pop up so that by the time you create your schedule you can see where everybody is going and organize the route to save time and money for everybody.

Benefits of Mobile Employee Scheduling Software

Aside from the advantages mentioned above, there are some distinct benefits to working with Arborgold’s mobile employee scheduling software. Such as:

Invoicing – Not only can you schedule jobs and employees to cover those jobs, but you can also invoice clients directly from your scheduling app based on the jobs they have requested.

Easy to Use – Our scheduling software is user friendly and designed with you in mind. You can drag and drop an entire day or take it piece by piece with a few touches of the screen or clicks of the mouse.

Availability is Visible – The software keeps you apprised of all your employee availability, letting you see who is on a job, who is on vacation, and who called in sick. You can also communicate with your employees easily online.

Keeps Everybody Connected – Due to the real-time application of our software your employees are all looking at the same schedule you are. This keeps them on time for your customers and ensures you know where everybody is.

Location-Based Scheduling – One of the amazing things we incorporated into our software is location-based scheduling. This lets you determine your schedule based on where customers and employees live, ensuring less time and gas is wasted in transit.

If you are interested in learning more about scheduling your mobile employees, we invite you to take an Arborgold tour today!