Grady Health System is a 1,400 bed hospital with 6,000 employees that serves the indigent population of Atlanta, Georgia. A longtime Kronos customer, Grady recently began using Kronos' revolutionary new mobile scheduling tool and has seen exceptional results.

Prior to using Workforce Mobile™, for scheduling, Grady had a staff of six people whose full time job was to schedule employees. Grady has 24-hour coverage and the high volume of "call-in" employees necessitated a scheduling staff. When a shift opened up, the staff would have to call multiple people on cell phones, and home phones trying to find a qualified employee to fill shifts.

The process has changed radically since the implementation of the mobile scheduling application from Kronos. When a shift opens up, a manager broadcasts the opening to the qualified candidates via text message. Once a person accepts the shift, another text is sent notifying all others that the shift has been filled and the work schedule is automatically updated. Shifts are now filled within minutes, rather than hours and Grady has also been able to dramatically reduce its reliance on overtime workers.

What sets Workforce Mobile™ apart from other scheduling applications is its ability to target specific groups of people. Many nurses at Grady were skeptical of the application because they had seen it used inefficiently at other hospitals. While other hospitals have tried to implement a mobile scheduler, they have fallen short by not targeting specific groups of employees. Without qualification filters, nurses would receive notifications for all available shifts in all specialties, which proved to be a burden. The Kronos product sends targeted updates to staff that enable shifts to be filled by the necessary individual. The application removes favoritism from scheduling by filling shifts on a first come first serve basis.

Implementation of the system was also easy for Grady. The staff was asked to read a one page description and provide HR with their updated mobile information. There were no complaints and all forms were returned.

When asked how employees felt about the new scheduling application, Grady said that employees love the application and found it exceptional in helping to manage open shifts. Nurses who were skeptical now use it with ease. Grady assessed that 90-95% of the staff had mobile devices, but those who did not could opt out and receive updates via home phone and email. To their surprise, many non-users decided to purchase mobile devices because they did not want to miss out on available shifts.

Learn more about Kronos Workforce Mobile.