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Three pitfalls I see over and over No images? Click here  Together With: 
Schedulers in long-term care wear many hats: coordinator, communicator, problem-solver, and often, miracle worker. Yet many still rely on outdated tools like whiteboards and spreadsheets, making it difficult to stay ahead of daily demands. The challenges go beyond workload: manual scheduling carries real financial costs for facilities. When schedules live in silos, patterns like early clock-ins or missed breaks can quietly drive up overtime. Covr data shows that over 30% of overtime in nursing homes is avoidable, with many facilities averaging more than 100 hours a week of unscheduled work, adding up to tens of thousands of dollars annually. Learn more about the hidden costs of manual scheduling and how modern scheduling tools help facilities save thousands and give time back to caregivers. 👉 Learn how to find and eliminate that 30% of avoidable overtime here. Good morning, I spent this past week visiting a couple dozen skilled nursing and senior living communities—really solid operations, led by sharp administrators, backed by great ownership groups, and filled with residents and staff who genuinely seem happy and well cared for. But as I walked through the buildings, introduced to leadership teams and taken on tours, something caught my eye—again and again. On the scheduler’s door in almost every community, I saw a nearly identical sign: “Shift swaps and time-off requests must be submitted in writing with signatures.” After seeing this three times, I started asking about scheduling. Some communities were using technology. Others were still relying on Excel or paper. Regardless of the system, almost every community fell into at least one of these three traps—traps that quietly chip away at your efficiency and cause constant, unnecessary stress.
1. No Clear, Enforced Time-Off Request Deadline This is one of the most common—and most damaging—mistakes I see when helping communities roll out scheduling software. Either there’s no deadline at all for submitting time-off requests, or there’s one that isn’t enforced. In some cases, it’s enforced, but it’s too close to the schedule start date to actually help. If you’re building the schedule for December 1st, you need to collect time-off requests no later than November 1st. That gives your scheduler time to post the schedule by November 8—three weeks out—and gives you a real shot at locking in coverage from PRN and part-time staff before they pick up shifts elsewhere. How do you get there? Simple:
If you’re always rushing to fill gaps at the last minute, this is likely where it starts.
2. No Recognition for Shift Swaps or Finding Shift Coverage When employees either swap shifts or find coverage for their time off (instead of just calling out or submitting a PTO request), that’s real work—and it saves your team time and stress. We should be rewarding that kind of ownership. Too often, it goes unnoticed. Instead, build in ways to recognize and celebrate it:
If you want employees to take responsibility for their shifts, give them a reason to do it. Reward the behaviors you want to see.
3. No Look-Ahead Discipline If today’s Thursday and you’re still figuring out this weekend’s coverage, you’re playing defense. And I get it—the number one thing I hear is, “I don’t have enough staff to work ahead.” But you can’t let that stop you. You have to fight to get proactive. Start with visibility. Break your schedule down by week and look six weeks ahead. Then start tracking—and sharing—your open shifts. Make it part of your stand-up routine. Here’s what it could look like:
Once you can measure it, you can plan around it. Your scheduler should be able to rattle these numbers off every morning. That’s the first step toward real control. None of this is complicated to implement. It does take commitment. It takes clarity, communication, and consistency. When you clean up your scheduling process, you create a more stable workplace, reduce burnout, and build trust with your staff. The truth is, scheduling is painful. Do you want that pain to last for a couple of months while you set up systems that some of your team will inevitably struggle to buy into but will ultimately lead you toward your goals? Or do you want to take the path where you keep doing what you’re doing and the pain lasts forever? Choose your pain. That’s the kind of leadership that moves the needle.
The NHA Stand-Up Playlist Whether you’re bracing for survey, rebuilding next month’s schedule from scratch, or just need a mental reset — we got you. The NHA Stand-Up Playlist is built by NHAs, for NHAs. Tracks that lift you up, fire you up, or just let you breathe. 
Whenever you're ready, I can help you in a few ways. 
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Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day. Kevin Goedeke, Publisher and Founder
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