You cannot hire your way out of a staff shortage — but you can plan your way out
The labour market will not give you the missing drivers and specialists. But the same workload can be covered with fewer people — while keeping the ones you have. Opturan does both: it builds dense shifts and respects employee preferences
Figures measured in real deployments. For other industries, the impact is confirmed by test runs on your own data
What the shortage looks like in practice
- Shifts go uncovered — trips and call-outs are missed
- Remaining staff work overtime and burn out — turnover grows
- Inconvenient split shifts push people towards quitting
- The dispatcher patches holes by hand every day instead of planning
How planning closes the gap
- STEP 01
Fewer people for the same workload
The Dynamic Shifts module builds a denser shift plan: less paid idle time means the same volume of service is covered with a smaller headcount. In real deployments, payroll drops by 2–8%
- STEP 02
People stay because they are heard
The Auto-Rostering module takes employee preferences for schedules, shifts and routes into account and removes inconvenient split shifts. In real deployments — up to 3% lower staff turnover
- STEP 03
100% assignment coverage
The system covers all feasible assignments while respecting qualifications and work-and-rest rules — no missed trips and no manual fire-fighting. The roster is ready in minutes
Behind every shift there is a person
A staff shortage is not just a number in a report. It is a driver who quit over a split shift, and a dispatcher who searches every evening for someone to cover tomorrow’s duty
Opturan builds shifts around employee requests and enforces work-and-rest rules — people work a predictable schedule, their preferences are respected, and they stay. Here, technology serves people, not the other way around
Impact measured in real deployments
Figures measured in real deployments. For other industries, the impact is confirmed by test runs on your own data
Value for every role
For planners
Fast calculation (1 day in about 2 minutes), automatic selection of the optimal plan over a 1–31 day horizon, enforcement of legal and internal rules, quality assessment against analytical metrics, evidence-based communication
For employees
Less fatigue through capped work and rest times, even and fair distribution of work, individual preferences taken into account, a schedule known in advance, lower chance of being called in on a day off
For management
Lower overtime costs, faster planning, lower turnover, higher employee satisfaction, centralised management and quality control
How a schedule is built — the workflow
- STEP 01
Data preparation
Collection and normalisation of data on stationary staff: headcount, qualifications, permits, work-and-rest rules, preferences and current activities
- STEP 02
Running schedule calculations
Parallel calculation of many schedule variants with different priorities and constraints — the system looks for optimal combinations for the given goals
- STEP 03
Choosing the best schedule
Comparing calculation results against analytical metrics: coverage, overtime, fairness of distribution, rule compliance. The best variant is selected
- STEP 04
Publishing the schedule
The final schedule is published and exported to related systems and delivered to employees. The plan is known to everyone in advance
Key challenges of planning stationary staff
- Many factors at play: working time, location, company rules, employee qualifications and preferences, costs
- High variability of possible solutions — no single obvious option
- A large number of parallel activities: leave, training, medical exams, sick leave
- No centralised planning across departments
- The “domino effect” — one change in the schedule triggers a chain of rebuilds
- Difficulty synchronising shifts, rosters and activities between people and departments
- Reliance on habitual templates and manual expertise that is hard to scale
- Volatility of the external environment: urgent tasks, illness, peak loads
Related industries
Staff shortages are a shared pain across every shift-based service. The planning engine is the same
Public Transit in production
Proven in production: shifts, duties and rosters for drivers and vehicles
Emergency Medical Services
A solution for EMS stations: crew duty around the clock
Fire Services
A solution for fire departments: watch schedules and crew composition
Utilities
A solution for water, heat and power utilities: crews and special vehicle duties
See how many people you actually need
Free test runs on a single route, depot or unit: we will show how the same workload is covered with your existing staff — and how to keep them
Request a demo