Staff schedules are legally binding documents. Employers must comply with a number of recommendations set out in the French Labor Code and collective bargaining agreements, during the various stages of drawing up schedules. Respecting the legal working hours in France, dating and signing the document, and ensuring that the text is legible are all part of the company’s obligations. But the company also has internal constraints that come into play when creating schedules. The employer must meet production targets, financial expectations and employee satisfaction. The use of scheduling software can optimize schedules and facilitate their design, while complying with the employer’s obligations as defined by law.
Designing work schedules
Definition of a work schedule
The work schedule is a paper or digital document that lists the working hours and vacations of a company’s employees. The employer uses this management tool to allocate tasks and organize the work of each employee. For employees, the schedule acts as a roadmap. It enables them to visualize their work schedule over a given period (week, month, year), and to plan their day-to-day activities accordingly.
Steps in creating a schedule
Define your needs
The first step in designing a work schedule is to define your production objectives and financial expectations. Employers can then assess their staffing needs and create schedules to suit. It is also important to take into account periods of increased and decreased activity. Some structures see their production accelerate over the course of the year. This is true of restaurants, for example, which tend to be busier during school vacations, in summer or at weekends.
Determine your operating hours
Once your needs have been defined. Employers must select the working hours that best suit their sector and business objectives. They can opt for fixed, “classic” working hours, or a rotating schedule with flexible working hours.
The rotating schedule is made up of different time slots that alternate each week. This model is particularly well-suited to companies that operate 24 hours a day, such as hotels, pharmacies, security services or certain stores. Staff “rotate” each week, so that the workload is more evenly distributed and tasks more varied. A pharmacist won’t be obliged to work every weekend or the same nights on call.
Take your staff into account when drawing up schedules
Scheduling is first and foremost an HR management tool that can help employers increase employee productivity. To do this, he must ensure that his employees work in good conditions, by applying certain measures such as :
- Favoring part-time contracts to minimize employee fatigue: hiring part-time staff helps to give teams a break by reducing long working hours in favor of time dedicated to rest.
- Offer more flexible working hours: you can give your employees the possibility of modulating their working hours even further by offering time slots they can position themselves around voluntarily.
- Allow employees to swap schedules: a process that has the advantage of limiting absences and offering satisfactory autonomy for your staff.
- Set realistic deadlines for projects: deadlines that are too tight will overload staff and lead to frustration.
- Allocate tasks according to each person’s skills: employers need to know each person’s strengths and weaknesses in order to distribute work strategically. An employee who has to carry out a task he or she has mastered will be much more productive.
- Take into account staff unavailability: when an event takes place outside normal working hours, it’s best to mobilize volunteer staff. They’ll be more efficient and motivated than someone who’s unhappy about having to disrupt their schedule for the occasion.
- Plan appropriate rest periods: the French Labor Code sets out mandatory rest periods, which employers must respect for the well-being of their employees.
Choose the format of your schedules
Employers are free to choose the format of their schedules. Today, there are a number of online tools dedicated to the creation of schedules, which can be used to design highly efficient calendars. All you have to do is enter your company’s HR data, select a template and you’re ready to go. The software generates tailor-made schedules that are easy to modify, reducing errors and saving considerable time.
Obligatory information to be included on the schedule
To create a legal work schedule, employers must comply with the requirements set out in their company’s collective bargaining agreement and the French Labor Code. Several items of information must appear on the document:
- Start time of workdays
- Time at which workdays end
- Break times
- Rest days
- Distribution of hours over the week
- Period of effectiveness of the schedule
The schedule is forwarded to the labor inspectorate, which ensures that the company complies with France’s legal working hours:
- 10h maximum daily working time
- 48h working week
- 35h minimum rest per week Maximum 6 working days per week
The form of staff planning
Employers have no set format for presenting schedules to their teams. It’s up to the employer to choose the format best suited to his or her business, between paper and digital formats. The advantage of offering an online calendar, via personnel management software, is that employees have unlimited access to their schedules. Unlike a paper version, which could be damaged or lost. This is a good way of limiting scheduling errors, absences and lateness. Online HR tools also make it easier to adjust schedules. Employees have the choice of positioning themselves on available time slots when the company offers this option. The templates are clear, legible and comprehensible, which is one of the requirements that companies must meet when designing their schedules.
Communicating work schedules
The legal deadline for transmitting schedules to employees
The law does not specify any deadline for transmitting schedules to employees. There are, however, obligations specified in company collective agreements. In the absence of any indication, the employer is obliged to give a reasonable notice period of 7 days before the start of the activity. The best thing to do is to inform employees of their schedules as early as possible, to limit the inconveniences associated with late distribution of schedules, such as :
- staff unavailability
- team dissatisfaction
- difficulties in overall organization
Communication media for schedules
The employer’s obligations regarding the posting of work schedules
There are different ways of announcing work schedules to teams, depending on the model chosen by the company. If the employer applies collective working hours, he or she must post the schedules in compliance with the employer’s obligations.
A collective timetable is a timetable that concerns all or some of a company’s employees. The employer is obliged to post the timetable in legible characters on its premises, in a room accessible to employees. The same applies to teams working away from head office. Under the same conditions, a notice board must be installed in the branch office. All schedules are systematically dated and signed by the employer, before being forwarded to the Labour Inspectorate. Penalties for failure to comply with posting obligations Employers who fail to comply with posting obligations are liable to a fine of up to €750. Failure to submit schedules to the Labour Inspectorate is an offence punishable by imprisonment and a fine of €37,500.
Individual working hours
A company applies individual working hours when the schedules are different for each employee. Working hours may be fixed or flexible. In this case, the employer is under no obligation to post the schedules. Nor is there any legal requirement to distribute a paper version of the document. Nevertheless, employees must be able to consult their schedules within the company.
The use of HR management software is particularly recommended to communicate schedules more effectively to employees. Employees have a private online space where they can access their schedules 24 hours a day. If the company makes any changes, they are automatically informed. With real-time information, they can anticipate and reorganize their daily routine in advance.
Using personnel management software to make sure your schedules are consistent
A company can sometimes find it difficult to design schedules that take into account both :
- the legal requirements for designing schedules
- optimizing productivity
- the employer’s financial objectives
- employees’ wishes and availability
HR management software takes into account all the information provided by the company and automatically designs customized schedules. Schedules respect the legal working hours in France and the schedules defined by the employer. In the event of modifications, schedules can be easily modified, limiting the risk of errors. Access to schedules is optimized, and communication with employees is much smoother.
To be legally compliant, employers must respect a number of obligations when designing their staff schedules. The French Labor Code and collective agreements govern both the creation of schedules and the communication of timetables. Schedules must include all useful information for employees (start and end times of working days, rest periods, days off) and comply with the legal working hours in France. When it comes to communicating schedules, it is advisable to consult your company’s collective bargaining agreement to find out the deadlines imposed. Other obligations concern structures that apply collective working hours: posting schedules is compulsory and subject to certain rules (place of posting, legibility of the document). The use of schedule management software helps to limit scheduling errors, and to comply with legal obligations relating to the design of the document.