Scheduling software application to reduce shift work exhaustion: a case of weight and balance group in Saigon Ground services Joint stock Company

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
----------------------------------

Mai Duc Nam

SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
APPLICATION TO REDUCE SHIFT
WORK EXHAUSTION: A CASE OF
WEIGHT AND BALANCE GROUP IN
SAIGON GROUND SERVICES JOINT
STOCK COMPANY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018
1


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
----------------------------------

Mai Duc Nam

SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
APPLICATION TO REDUCE SHIFT
WORK EXHAUSTION: A CASE OF
WEIGHT AND BALANCE GROUP IN
SAIGON GROUND SERVICES JOINT
STOCK COMPANY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: PROF. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018
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Executive Summary
Fatigue, which is the common issue of every single worker in any area, tends to be worse
in the service industry, especially in 24/7 continuous service like aviation, rail or medical.
Comparing to all industries, shift work is a different element of service. For example, labor
in aviation field like air traffic controller, cabin crew and ground staff mentioned shift work
as a common cause of their fatigue beside specific job’s traits. The consequences of fatigue
are low productivity, poor health and even high turnover rate which should be paid more
attention by human resources management as an important task. In this case, imbalance
shift distribution is the main cause of increasing fatigued level. Obviously, shift
arrangement would not only decide how effective and appropriate shift system is, but also
play a key role in fatigue level of workers.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge all who supported me during my study without whom I
wouldn’t be where I am today.
I would especially like to thank my supervisor – Professor Nguyen Thi Mai Trang for all
her advice and guidance, without her help this could not have been possible.
I also would like to show my gratitude to my colleagues at work and classmates at ISB for
their continuous support. I also send my sincere thankfulness to my parents and friends for

their support and encouragement.

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Table of contents

1. Introduction.................................................................................................................... 7
1.1.

Company background................................................................................................. 7

1.2.

Company structure ..................................................................................................... 8

2. Problem context ............................................................................................................. 9
2.1.

Fatigue in service and aviation industry ..................................................................... 9

2.2.

Fatigue in Weight and balance group of ground operation department ................... 10

3. Problem identification ................................................................................................. 11
3.1.

Effort – reward imbalance ........................................................................................ 12

3.2.

Shift working exhausted ........................................................................................... 13

3.3.

Annual leave shortage .............................................................................................. 14

4. Problem validation ....................................................................................................... 15
5. Cause validation........................................................................................................... 18
6. Alternative solutions .................................................................................................... 23
6.1.

First alternative solution: Software application ....................................................... 23

6.2.

Second alternative solution: Erasing level barrier.................................................... 26

6.3.

Third alternative solution: Flexible shift .................................................................. 29

7. Implementation ............................................................................................................ 32
8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 35
9. Supporting information ................................................................................................ 36

List of Figures
Figure 1: Saigon Ground Services JSC Organization structure. .......................................... 8
Figure 2: Ground operation department structure of Saigon Ground Services JSC. ........... 8

Figure 3: Causes fishbone diagram .................................................................................... 18
Figure 5: The Best Employee Scheduling & Shift Planning Software of 201717 .............. 25
Figure 6: Original ERI Model8 (Siegrist, 1996) ................................................................. 41
Figure 7: Current ERI Model8 (Siegrist, 1999) .................................................................. 41

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List of Tables
Table 1: Data of fatigue measurement................................................................................ 11
Table 2: Estimated cost for scheduling & shift planning software .................................... 25
Table 3: Estimated cost for level change............................................................................ 28
Table 4: Flexible shift options ............................................................................................ 30
Table 5: Organization action plan for applying Software in shift arrangement ................. 34
Table 6: Interviewee’s demographic .................................................................................. 37

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1. Introduction
1.1. Company background
Saigon Ground Services26 (SAGS) is a subsidiary of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam
(ACV), SAGS is now the leading ground handling company in Vietnam. SAGS are offering
a full range of ground services to a diverse customer base of international and domestic
airlines at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN), the country’s largest and busiest
aviation gateway. SAGS also expanded their business to Da Nang International Airport
from 01 May 2015 and to Cam Ranh International Airport from 01 July 2016.
Over 10 years of experience in ground handling, SAGS have obtained and successfully
renewed the ISO9001 quality management certification and the industry ISAGO (IATA
Safety Audits for Ground Operations) registration.

In 2016, company’s revenue is over VND 876 billion, increased 46% than 2015. SAGS
already set the new milestone with over VND 1,000 billion in 2017.

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1.2. Company structure

Source: />
Figure 1: Saigon Ground Services JSC Organization structure.

Ground operation
department

Operation

Weight and
balance

Loading
Source: Made by Author based on SAGS’s data

Figure 2: Ground operation department structure of Saigon Ground Services JSC.

Weight and Balance group belongs to Ground Operation Department. They are responsible
for doing load sheet and contributing to the accuracy of passenger, baggage and cargo
weight for captain and airlines load control center. Weight and Balance activity is always
8

included in service level agreement of all airlines, which have been provided ground
services by SAGS. Meanwhile, Loading group is only in charge of international flights and
cargo flights. Operation group involves in coordinating of international flights and domestic
flights. Shift working hour is a trait of aviation industry, there are fourteen different shifts
at Weight and Balance group, nineteen shifts at Operation group and twelve shifts at
Loading group to ensure handling flights.
This study concentrates on Weight and Balance group because of its typical traits and
involvement in all kind of flights. In addition, Weight and Balance group not only has
suitable organizational size but also allows author to access secondary sources and collect
primary data. There are three levels of skills for Weight and Balance staff. Entry level (level
1) focuses on narrow body aircraft, level 2 is on wide body aircraft and level 3 is on cargo
flight. Weight and Balance group includes one manager, three deputy managers, two
supervisors and sixteen members. Employees are required to work 48 hours per week and
the schedule changes weekly. Furthermore, they are arranged specific flights with their ID
beside flight number on SAGS management information system (SMIS) each day.
2. Problem context
2.1. Fatigue in service and aviation industry
Aviation industry is 24/7 service therefore shift working is the only way to keep every task
being done constantly, which is similar to railway industry or healthcare industry. There is
no doubt that fatigue is common status of labors in these industries. Shift work4, which has
been associated with fatigue, is frequently cited as a major cause of fatigue. Fatigue is
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defined5 and operated in different ways, for example in terms of increased sleepiness and
reduced alertness.
According to the report from International transport workers’ Federation2 in 2009, 46% of
respondents felt that fatigue was an issue happening in the most of the aviation workers
they represent with 35% respondents said that most of aviation workers feeling burned out
from work but more than half show that only some workers had this feeling. Pursuant to

fatigue statistic indicated in occupational groups including cabin crew, ground staff and air
traffic service workers with more than 50% respondents reported that most of the ground
staff workers felt tired in the morning as a fatigue symptom. This proportion is the same in
case of feeling used up at the end of the workday of ground staff workers.
In addition, fatigue6 has been pointed out as a serious problem by ICAO and has been
defined as “A physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability,
resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental
and/or physical activity) that can impair a person’s alertness and ability to perform safety
related operational duties.”
2.2. Fatigue in Weight and balance group of ground operation department
In first stage of collecting data, 11 employees had been asked about fatigue symptoms by
several short questions about quality and quantity of fatigue according to the health care
professional27. Feeling in the morning has been described by employees that sleepy, tired,
headache. Employees also mentioned that the feeling depends on types of shift and sleeping
time. The feeling after finishing shift is more similar, tired and leave immediately was the
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common answers. Most of employees said they used caffeine or energy drinks during shifts,
more than a half of frequent use.
To be objective and measurable, visual analogue scales9 was used to measure fatigue level,
scale have been done by employees after finish their shift. Although result could be limited
in terms of quantity due to author’s work schedule, this scale could support health care
professional question for describing fatigue picture. The below table was made from scale
result, Sags management information system (SMIS) and Weight Balance group weekly
schedule.
Table 1: Data of fatigue measurement

Name
Nguyen Cong Tri

Nguyen Anh Tung

Nguyen Hoang Phuoc
Nguyen Huu Minh Nhat
Tran Manh Hung

Date
21jul
25jul
21jul
26jul
29jul
22jul
22jul
21jul

Shift type
Splitted 0
15h
9am
9am
9am
7am
9am
7am

Measure
1.5
2.7
7.3

9.7
6
8
3.8
7.5

Source: Created by Author based on visuak analogue sacles9, SMIS and weekly schedule.

All figures above show that fatigue at weight and balance group exists by given evidence
and statistic.
3. Problem identification
Fatigue in aviation is a chronic disease, each department is suffering fatigue in different
contexts, therefore it is necessary to find out the reason and its consequences based on
specific group. Thus, this study focuses on fatigue at Weight balance group of SAGS.

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Several literatures and papers have been used as relevant sources to provide the potential
factors are effort – reward imbalance, shift working and annual leave.
Moreover, six people joined in-depth interview from management level, frontline
employees and former staffs in the weight and balance group. Their sharing about fatigue
at work combines with literatures and papers. This points out some crucial reasons leading
to fatigue at weight and balance group of SAGS including effort – reward imbalance, shift
working exhausted and annual leave entitlement shortage.
3.1. Effort – reward imbalance
Statistics contributed by International transport workers’ Federation in 2009 about effort
and reward are clear. Specifically, effort in work relates to heavy workload, responsibility,
working overtime meanwhile reward includes receiving respect from supervisors, treating
fairly, support, salary, prospect for promotion. Effort-reward imbalance (ERI)8 model of

Siegrist & Weber, 1986 was cited in N. van Vegchel’s paper that represents job demands
and obligations imposed on the employees, occupational reward distributed by the
employer consisting of money, esteem and career opportunities. ERI model also shows that
the imbalance could cause sustained strain reactions, working hard without receiving
appreciation is an example of a stressful imbalance.
Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa admitted that overtime is a common situation but there are
no reward policies and he thought it is quite difficult to figure out. The imbalance of
responsibility for his flights and what he received may lead to frustration.

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Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuoc stated that: “I’m satisfying with current salary but there is no
official recognition on overtime effort, people accept to work overtime as a job
characteristic. Overtime means I spend too much time for work and less for myself, it makes
me tired.”
Mr. Nguyen Van Lam - deputy manager mentioned he always tried to support employees
leave shift on time. He understood that company has no money policy for overtime but
managers recognize employee’s effort by choosing for training and promotion opportunity.
3.2. Shift working exhausted
James McIntosh1 mentioned on Medical news today that rotating shifts made it more
difficult for workers to maintain a regular sleep-wake cycle, affecting negative to sleep
quality and potentially weakening insulin resistance. "Some of the most serious and
persistent problems shift workers face are frequent sleep disturbance and associated
excessive sleepiness," report the NSF. Symptoms relate to shift work including indigestion,
irritability and reduced concentration. Time issue was pointed out in the report from
International transport workers’ Federation2 in 2009 as well, “shift work in general puts
workers at heightened risk of fatigue and rotating shift systems are known to be even more
hazardous than regular shift patterns as the body rhythm cannot adapt to a regular time
pattern”.

Mr. Le Hoang An – 5 years employee at SAGS said that: “First reason could lead to fatigue
is time. Working on shift makes circadian rhythm unstably like normal people, rotating
shift from morning, noon and night make me feel not enough sleeping time.”

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Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa – frontline employee compared with his previous job that
he felt more tired from joining SAGS because his circadian rhythm cannot stay constantly.
Furthermore, he also blamed that sometimes shifts between two days were so close and too
many early morning shift or splitted shift made the situation worse.
Rest break between shifts are not enough as one of the reason according to Mr. Nguyen
Hoang Phuoc as well.
3.3. Annual leave shortage
An article on Health24 by Mandy Freeman8 cited Shelagh Goodwin, general manager of
human resources at Media24 that “It’s important for people to take time off. All the research
shows that proper rest periods improve wellness, reduce stress and increase productivity,”.
Dr. Colinda Linde - clinical psychologist also agreed that taking your annual leave and
avoid burning out mentally and physically according to explaining that "Humans are the
same as devices need idle or hibernate function – if our bodies and minds are switched on
in 'work' mode 24/7, it results in inefficient performance, exhaustion and errors, as well as
mood changes such as becoming more sensitive, more reactive, less tolerant.”. The research
of university of Otago7 2006 described encouraging annual leave as the way to control work
stressor.
Mr. Nguyen Van Lam - Deputy manager of group stated that:
Beside fatigue from personal health or family status, work characteristic is quite pressure, employee
could not have fully entitlement, especially annual leave.

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Mrs. Doan Pham Thao Lan - Supervisor with 10-year experience said she hasn’t had official
long leave in recent years because of lack of same level co-worker than frontline employees.
Mr. Nguyen Thuong Hong, former staff, also agreed annual leave is one of the fatigue’s
causes, he stated: “The annual leave entitlement still could not be solved year after year, it
was one of my own reasons making me quit this job. I think there are inequality and
unclearness between staffs in the same department and between departments.”
4. Problem validation
Based on potential problems, in-depth interview from 6 respondents from managers,
frontline employees and former staff, statistic of SAGS management information system,
weekly schedule and related papers, shift arrangement plays prominent role leading to
fatigue at work in weight and balance group of SAGS. It is necessary for weight and balance
supervisors to improve and innovate weekly schedule arrangement tool to solve this
problem immediately.
Regarding to annual leave, this problem cannot be solved immediately because of following
reasons. Long-term human resource strategy, levels of skills were set clearly as company
policy. It takes a long time for employee to go through three different skill levels. In
addition, management level may not accompany with skill level because of managerial
ability and organization structure. This makes the shortage of management level person
therefore it’s impossible for staffs take an annual leave. Beside that covering too much shift
for other colleague’s long leave is also a bad idea.

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Mr. Nguyen Van Lam – Deputy manager stated:
Taking annual leave should be equal for everybody, if managers want to take annual leave, they
have to focus on training frontline employees to enable cover management stuffs.

At lower level, employees do not mention too much about annual leave shortage as a

fatigue’s cause. Number of frontline employees could be a logical explanation. Especially,
there are no management function limitation, official long day leave could be covered by
others or co-worker may have unofficial annual leave by asking other to help then pay back
as well.
In term of effort - reward imbalance issue, Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa mentioned above
that there is no money reward for overtime policy. Furthermore, Mr. Nguyen Van Lam also
said that: “It is possible for changing but salary budget is set for each group, therefore if
there is money reward for overtime, it has to be included in fixed budget.”
His explanation is not meaningful, money reward requires to have good appraisal.
Changing salary budget and its formula are out of weight and balance group ability. As Mr.
Nguyen Hoang Phuoc stated that he satisfied with current salary, he thought overtime
problem should be solved by official recognitions like career and training opportunities. In
fact, these recognition is invisible for employees and it may takes several years to consider
for getting promotion. In summary, good appraisal criteria, working time monitor system
and reward budget might improve this issue, however it is complicated and cannot be solved
in short time.

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Shift working exhausted are becoming a main problem leading fatigue at work due to
following reasons. Firstly, rest break between shifts is not enough causing tired and sleepy.
For example, weekly schedule showed that employees finished their shift today at 10pm
ought to start new shift at 6am tomorrow. This does not ensure 12-hour rest break regulation
for employees. Mrs. Doan Pham Thao Lan who is in charge of building weekly schedule
admitted that: “Sometimes recreation time is not enough because it absolutely bases on
flight schedule and employee’s levels to be responsible for the quantity of flight. Besides,
she also said: employees should inform her if there is any issue.”
Manual excel tool also has no warning function about minimum recreation time between
days therefore there is no doubt about weekly schedule builder’s fault. Secondly, the

imbalance of shift is also a remarkable factor that some employees have too many night
working hours than others, the difference could be up to 30 hours among employees at same
level. According to Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa, he said that too many early morning
shifts per week could make tired and sleepy. Author realizes some people have been
arranged so many early morning and splitted shifts leading imbalance provided by weekly
schedule.
Mr Nguyen Hoang Phuoc also confirmed: “Schedule and rest break between shift
arrangement are unreasonable therefore it is not enough time for recreation and stamina
recovery.”
Shift working exhausted seem to be a feature of aviation industry. Although employees
understand this field’s characteristic, they mentioned shift working as main problem of
fatigue in weight and balance group. In detail, shift arrangement could be improved without
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any cost, complicated approval step, monitoring system. Thus, the way to build weekly
schedule should be upgraded with additional function to become more integrated.
5. Cause validation
Job
characteristics

Imbalance shift
arrangement

Scheduling
Tools

Shift system:
Flexibility

Non standard
work hour

Physical work

Resource needs:
Levels of skill

Low performance

Shift work
exhausted
Work life
balance
Habits

Errors

Quit the job

Personal
circadian clock
Figure 3: Causes fishbone diagram

Shift work has been determined as a problem of weight and balance group by previous
stages, above fishbone diagram describes some causes of shift work included imbalance
shift arrangement, nature of job and personal circadian clock.
5.1. Job characteristics
Shift work is one of the job characteristics in aviation. This industry also includes accuracy,
on time performance, alertness, continuous operation and tough weather. Different carriers

flight from hundreds of countries with a variety of time options so that non-sleep operation

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requires shift work to ensure handling ability. The link between job characteristics and
fatigue was showed in report from International transport workers’ Federation2, Union
affiliates said that “physical work and long/odd hours was one of the workplace factors as
main contributors to fatigue among staff”. Obviously, there are impossible to prevent shift
work exhausted by changing nature of job, people have right to keep or leave the job when
they feel used up enough by non-standard working hour. Saigon ground service company
does understand non-standard working hour means high turnover, five times recruitment28
and over 20 new employees for each could be trusted evidence. In addition, although all
employees, who joined interview confirmed exhausting shift work as a nature of job, they
respect and understand non-standard working hour is a nature of job, as an unchanged factor
to avoid shift work exhausted.
5.2. Personal circadian clock
Non-standard working time make circadian clock different from normal people. Shift
worker not only face to rotating shift every day, they could also harm their health by
working night shift. Jame Mc1 mentioned in Medical New Today article that shift worker
could experience problems form disruption people’s circadian rhythms, given reasons are
working overnight, successive rotating shifts restricting the hours available for sleeping.
Consequently, personal circadian clock plays an important role in shift work exhausted, it
could make fatigue level worse or better.
Mr. Le Hoang An mentioned:
Cause of fatigue might be my time table. My weird circadian clock began long time ago
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Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuoc also compare his life one year after joining SAGS, he said:

It could be my attitude, from enthusiasm and devotion at beginning, now I learn to relax and I do
not spend much time for company’s stuff to avoid overload.

Although personal circadian has been seen as a cause of shift work exhausted, it depends
on employees more than company, fatigue level could not improve if employees have bad
habits and negative time table. According Carla V cited by Jame Mc1, shift work was linked
with behavioral and lifestyle factors that are also known risk factors for certain chronic
diseases. Thus, shift workers might be exhausted by lack of outdoor activities, their
schedule always changed because of rotating therefore it is quite hard for them to maintain
positive habits frequently.
Mr. Le Hoang An also said:
My fatigue symptoms do not relate to his job, it came from my weird time table.

Mr. Nguyen Van Lam confirmed that he has not played any sport or joined any outdoor
activities because he was lazy, job traits and circadian clock were not mentioned.
In contrast, other people try to maintain positive physically like Mr. Nguyen Hoang
Phuoc. He Said:
I worked out at home. Sometimes, I played football after I had finished work.

In short, employees take full responsibility on their health, their behavioral and lifestyle
factors are the key to avoid fatigue, not the company.

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5.3. Imbalance shift arrangement
Report from International transport workers’ Federation2stated that “regular rest brakes are
necessary to recuperate from strenuous work and to prevent fatigue.”, ineffective work
organization was mentioned as a cause. Imbalance shift arrangement has been seen as not
enough time for rest break, not enough time for recreation, inappropriate shift rotating,

equal shift between employees. Employees all stated shift arrangement.
Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa said:
Too many splitted shifts or early morning could lead high level of fatigue, Short rest break time is
also a reason for fatigue.

The Department of Labor Newzealand16 recommended early morning shift should be
minimized. They stated that avoiding rosters that require starting work before 6 am as one
of the roster arrangement policies. Meanwhile, the earliest shift in the Weight and Balance
of SAGS start at 5 am.
In addition, the report2 by International transport workers’ Federation described rest breaks
and recreation time between shifts that “regular rest breaks are necessary to recuperate from
strenuous work and to prevent fatigue”.
As Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuoc mentioned:
Mainly, time could be inappropriate arrangement, inappropriate recreation and shift break, lacking
of recovery energy.

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Mr. Le Hoang An said:
I think shift arrangement as a cause of fatigue is acceptable argument, shifts have been arranged
quite close.

Because of weekly scheduling, roster designator usually arranges by excel file then release
on the weekend. Manual arrangement creates inappropriateness and ineffectiveness.
Mrs. Doan Pham Thao Lan – roster designator mentioned:
I arrange schedule by manual so I could not avoid mistakes. Once schedule release, people should
take a look and notice me if any inappropriate.

Obviously, current scheduling tool does not remind designator about neither recreation time

nor imbalance between day shift and night shift of individual. These poor functions could
explain for employee’s complaints. Moreover, manual scheduling will be influent by
human factors, that cannot control lists of roster arrangement policies for over twenty
individuals.
Mrs Doan Pham Thao Lan also admitted that:
I use excel file currently, it only has non-duplicate in same day and day off warning. There is no
warning function for short rest break time between shifts.

This study concerns that simple scheduling file is making low productivity, imbalance
situation and ineffective operation. Shift can be missed because supervisor rearranges
schedule without any announcement.

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In conclusion, given information could be sorted as subjective causes and objective causes
of shift work exhausted. Job characteristic stand for objective cause, which is impossible to
change. Meanwhile, personal circadian clock is under employee’s control, shift work
exhausted could be eliminated by better work life balance and good habits subjectively.
Imbalance shift arrangement is also subjective factor, organization plays a key role in
decreasing shift work exhausted instead of employees. As a result, imbalance shift
arrangement might be the most suitable reason for problem solving in organization to
decrease fatigue level of shift work.
6. Alternative solutions
According to early analysis, it could be seen that the main cause of fatigue in the weight
and balance group at Saigon Ground Services JSC is inappropriate shift arrangement.
Therefore, this part would concentrate on offering solutions for this case. Below statements
would indicate some alternative solutions could be appropriate for shift arrangement issue.
6.1. First alternative solution: Software application
According to The Department of Labor Newzealand16, shift work should be developed base

on operational needs, legal needs, senior management commitment, employer and
employee responsibilities. There will be a plenty of notices and guidance that shift builder
have to follow to ensure roster arrangement policies such as keep night shift to a minimum,
having at least of 11 hours between shift, preferably 12, moving the shift with the clockwise,
providing a minimum of 2 full night recovery after 2 night shifts, avoiding rosters that
require starting work before 6 am.
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Those guidance combine with more than 20 employees would make roster designer confuse
and feeling more complicated. As Mrs. Doan Pham Thao Lan admitted that she needs
people told her if something went wrong in schedule, she currently uses excel to create
weekly schedule manually. In fact, many softwares provide functions to make things
simple, automated planner, real time notification, multi-platform.
Benefits.
Roster designator only set up list of conditions for software following to criteria at
beginning such as roster arrangement policies16, operational needs or skill needs. Then,
Software will compute those conditions for over 20 individuals to release weekly schedule.
This output ensures each employee will not start their shift from 5am more than once a
week or not more than four times a month. Recreation time could be maximized up to 12
hours between shifts of individual as labor law. Individual’s schedule would be equal to
others base on total day shift hours, night shift hours, sum of recreation time in month.
Software would use those priority scheduling criteria to prevent employees from fatigue as
much as possible.
In addition, software could be used on any devices from computer to smartphone, it could
help employees access their roster anytime, anywhere rather than looking at hardcopy of
schedule. Specific roster software would not let employees miss among thousands of
emails, any schedule changes will be noticed for employees by notification function. All
actions from booking schedule to automatic generating schedule will be recorded, that
would be more equal than hard copy calendar booking and manual scheduling.

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According to PCMAG17, trusted technology magazine, reporter point out several functions
to evaluate the best employee scheduling & shift planning.
-

Platform availability (PC, iOS, Android)

-

Open application programming interface (API) allow user edit code to modify
guidance and condition. Creating criteria for scheduling automatically.

-

User interfaces: the way to use application, booking shift, generating schedule.

-

News feed or group announcements automatically.

-

Automatic scheduling workers.

-

Generating report easily.

Costs
Product

Deputy

Shiftboard

Humanity

When I work

Ximble

Lowest price

$1

$45

$49

$9

$1

Editors rating

4.5/5

4.5/5

4/5

4/5

4/5

Figure 5: The Best Employee Scheduling & Shift Planning Software of 201717

Deputy18, this software seems to take advantage because of provided functions, lowest
price per month and editor’s rating, the table below would show detail costs.
Table 2: Estimated cost for scheduling & shift planning software

#

Description

Estimating cost (VND)
Deputy18

1 Softwares starter

363.000/year/user

Humanity19
560.000/year/user (20 user
minimum)

25