8 Reasons Why Excel Is Not a Tool for Workforce Planning

Table of Contents

1. High Time Investment Due to Complex Tables
2. Lack of Flexibility
3. Dissatisfied Employees Due to Lack of Inclusion
4. Annual Leave Planning
5. Frequent Data Privacy Violations
6. Error-Prone Qualification Management
7. Challenges in Long-Term Workforce Planning
8. Lack of Interfaces to ERP and HR Management Systems

1. High Time Investment Due to Complex Tables

In the past, Excel templates were the only alternative to creating schedules manually. However, there are now many alternatives to Excel specifically designed to meet the needs of industrial companies. Those who use Excel for workforce planning often find it versatile yet challenging to handle. It’s easy to lose track within complex spreadsheets, and a single mistake or careless command can undo hours of work. Excel ultimately results in a rigid recording of the schedule, requiring planners to keep all rules and standards in mind or consult additional tables and documents. This creates a significant time burden to search for relevant data. Even the smallest changes must be entered manually, and identifying potential planning errors is a tedious task.

While the effort might be manageable for smaller businesses, larger industrial companies with hundreds of employees rely on dedicated shift scheduling software designed to minimize manual planning effort and ensure efficient, error-free planning even at high levels of complexity.

2. Lack of Flexibility

Unforeseen adjustments to the shift schedule are routine in industrial companies, whether due to illness, overtime reduction, parental leave, maintenance work, or increased demand. Each of these situations requires subsequent adjustments to the shift schedule. When employee information related to absences, qualifications, and hour balances is managed in Excel sheets, there is significant potential for errors and administrative effort. Additionally, the constant need to call employees to inform them of changes and find replacements adds to the workload.

In contrast, AI-driven shift scheduling tools can automatically suggest employees with the appropriate qualifications, overtime balances, and availabilities. This allows for algorithmic identification of the best replacements for absences based on established operational requirements. Communication is also simplified with industrial shift scheduling software, as employees can be informed of schedule changes directly via an app.

3. Dissatisfied Employees Due to Lack of Inclusion

Workforce planning with Excel templates makes it difficult to consider individual employee requests and preferences, such as availability for specific shifts. Insufficient inclusion of employees often has a negative impact on job satisfaction, which is a key metric for many HR departments, especially given the current skill shortage.

Because Excel shift schedules are typically very rigid, they often require employees to be assigned to night or early shifts for extended periods. Regular workstations and preferred shifts are also challenging to incorporate into Excel schedules. Preferences or shift swaps are nearly impossible due to the high administrative effort required. If an employee, for instance, prefers an unpopular shift, it would be beneficial to accommodate this request. However, making such adjustments is difficult with Excel.

In contrast, software specifically designed for shift scheduling allows preferences to be recorded and considered during planning. The weighting of such factors can be centrally managed. Additionally, this software enables features that allow employees to swap shifts independently.

4. Annual Leave Planning

Similar to qualification management, companies where Excel is the primary workforce planning tool often use an additional sheet for annual leave planning. Managing shift schedules and leave planning in separate files increases the likelihood of errors and the planning effort. To maintain a reliable annual leave plan, many industrial companies require their workforce to record all their annual leave at the beginning of the year. However, many employees prefer more flexibility in planning their time off.

Using shift scheduling software allows employees to submit leave requests independently. Once approved by the planner, an absence is automatically recorded, and alternative coverage for the shift is suggested. This way, modern shift scheduling tools enable employees to plan their annual leave more flexibly and ensure that absences are seamlessly integrated into the planning process.

5. Frequent Data Privacy Violations

When creating a shift schedule in Excel, care must always be taken to comply with operational and labor law requirements. In many companies, shift schedules are publicly displayed for all employees to see. These schedules often contain personal data, such as full names, addresses, birthdates, work hours, leave, sick days, and overtime. The Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) in Germany sets the rules for handling personal data and implements the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to §4 BDSG, every citizen has the right to decide who they share their personal data with and how and when it may be used. Violations can result in fines of up to 50,000 euros.

Dedicated shift scheduling software ensures that the legal requirements of a shift schedule are always met. Such solutions make it possible to define legal, contractual, and operational conditions as an integral part of shift scheduling.

6. Error-Prone Qualification Management

The more types of qualifications there are, the more complex planning becomes. In an industrial context, this complexity cannot be efficiently managed in Excel. For instance, if qualifications are handled in an additional Excel sheet, they must be manually cross-checked during workforce planning. Such a manual process is prone to errors and lacks flexibility, especially in complex shift systems. It is nearly impossible to adequately account for relevant factors such as employee preferences, regular workstations, overtime or undertime, first-aiders, or qualifications.

Dedicated shift scheduling tools, however, enable automatic consideration of qualifications in shift scheduling by connecting to existing systems. Qualification matrices can also be directly integrated into the shift scheduling software. With the help of AI, only employees with the appropriate qualifications are considered, and suitable replacements are automatically suggested even for last-minute changes.

7. Challenges in Long-Term Workforce Planning

Long-term planning offers advantages in many industries, as it allows for early identification of shortages and the creation of demand forecasts. For shift workers, this enables better coordination of workflows and personal time management. However, long-term workforce planning with an Excel tool is often cumbersome and error-prone. Additionally, creating and maintaining such shift schedules in Excel involves a significant administrative effort. Due to limited automation options, changes in employee availability must be manually updated. Adjusting plans to meet increased demand also requires considerable time, and overtime or undertime is not accounted for.

In contrast, modern shift scheduling tools enable automated creation of long-term plans. Through integration with ERP and workforce planning tools, this software can respond flexibly to changes in a data-driven way.

8. Lack of Interfaces to ERP and HR Management Systems

Since Excel doesn’t offer a native interface to ERP or HR management systems, Excel shift schedules are not scalable. Any data relevant to planning must be entered manually or via export. This approach to data management is highly error-prone and requires significant time. Due to the lack of real-time synchronization, shift schedules are constantly outdated and require duplicate updates whenever employee data is adjusted. For instance, if an employee calls in sick, it’s not enough to record this in the HR system; the information must also be updated in the shift schedule. Contracted working hours must also be entered manually.

In contrast, modern shift scheduling tools integrate seamlessly with ERP and HR management systems, enabling employee data to stay up-to-date across all systems without requiring duplicate updates.