Juggling Schedules and Smiles

Bright Smiles Dentistry: Episode 4

The first signs of summer weren’t just the rising temperatures or the sudden flood of families booking appointments—they were the emails. Dana scrolled through her inbox, already bracing for impact.

Request for adjusted summer schedule – Carlos

Time-off request – Sally

Vacation approval needed – Janet

She sighed and took a sip of coffee. Every May, without fail, the summer schedule requests came in like clockwork. Employees needing time off for childcare, family trips, and more flexibility. Parents with young kids suddenly found themselves without school-day coverage, and others—well, others had less-than-ideal timing.

She clicked into Janet’s email first.

Subject: Urgent Pre-Booked Vacation

Hey Dana,

I totally forgot to put in my time-off request for next month, but my husband booked a cruise for us MONTHS ago, and we absolutely can’t reschedule. I’ll be out from June 10th–16th. Just wanted to give you a heads-up – hope that’s okay!”

Dana pinched the bridge of her nose. No, Janet, that’s not okay, she thought to herself.

The handbook was clear: planned absences required at least 30 days’ notice, and requests were approved in the order they were received, with seniority taken into account. Along with that, requests must be submitted via the timekeeping software CEDR provided, rather than sent out in an email.

The practice was already short-staffed, and she had employees who followed the rules, waiting to hear if their PTO was approved. This wasn’t just about fairness—it was about keeping the office running.

And now, she had to figure out what to do. The issue wasn’t just Janet’s last-minute vacation. She had a flood of other Post-It notes stuck to the side of her monitor to solve:

• Carlos wanted to reduce his hours for the summer to accommodate childcare, dropping from 32 hours per week to 24.
• Sally requested multiple short-notice shift swaps for the same reason.
• Nina asked for early departures on certain afternoons to pick up her kids.

Dana understood. She really did. But if she said “yes” to everyone, they’d be left scrambling for coverage when the waiting room was packed with kids out on summer break. She needed a plan.

Navigating Summer Scheduling Challenges

Dana sent an email to CEDR HR Solutions support. She got the call she needed later that day. “Tell me I’m not the only one drowning in summer scheduling requests.”

The advisor laughed. “You’re not! Let’s break this down.”

Dana took notes on the phone with the advisor. She broke down the requests into different categories with various instructions for each.

For vacation requests, if an employee fails to follow the proper request process, the employer is not obligated to approve it—especially if it will disrupt the business.

“You don’t have to approve Janet’s last-minute request just because she already paid for a trip,” the advisor explained. “That’s on her. If you deny it, she can choose whether to accept it or face the consequences. But keep in mind, she probably won’t be at work those days regardless, and having coverage in mind is a good idea.”

For childcare and flexible scheduling, fairness is key—if adjustments are made, they need to be offered consistently. A rotating schedule adjustment could help balance competing requests.

For part-time hours and benefits, if Carlos drops below full-time status (which, according to the employee handbook, is 32 hours/week), he risks losing full-time benefits. While this isn’t automatic, Dana would need to document his new status if the reduction continued for long. For now, since this is a temporary move, Dana has some discretion on whether or not to formally reclassify Carlos to part-time depending on how she’s handled similar situations in the past.

“Sometimes, for a seasonal workforce strategy, we’ve seen some practices bring in temporary staff to handle the increased summer patient demand. If this becomes a recurring issue, the practice could consider hiring some short-term support. Keep that in mind if things get too overwhelming!” The advisor mentioned.

Dana would keep this idea in the back of her mind to bring up to Dr. Chang later.

Balancing Employee Needs and Office Policies

Armed with new insights, Dana drafted her plan of action.

She reviewed past schedules and looked for ways to accommodate employees without compromising patient care.

First, she implemented a rotating schedule adjustment. Employees who needed flexibility would get scheduled changes on a fair rotation, rather than first come, first served. She would make sure to hold one-on-one meetings with the employees involved in this new rotating schedule to go over the expectations.

Now, it was time to deal with Janet’s request. She walked over to her as she was cleaning her desk and filing the last of the insurance claims for the day.

“Hey! Did my time off get approved?” Janet asked, with a smile.

Dana took a breath. “Janet, I can’t approve this request. The handbook required 30 days’ notice, and we’re already short-staffed.”

Janet’s face fell. “But it’s non-refundable!”

“I understand,” Dana said gently, “But the practice can’t accommodate last-minute requests like this, especially during a peak season.”

Janet looked frustrated. “Well… I’m going anyway.”

Dana remained calm. “That’s your choice. But if you choose not to show up for your scheduled shifts, it will be considered an unexcused absence, and we may even consider that job abandonment. I need you to decide if this is something you want to lose your job over.”

Janet sighed. “Is there really no way to make it work?” Dana thought to herself, that ship has sailed.

“Not without impacting your coworkers, who put in their requests properly,” Dana said. “If this trip was planned months ago, you had plenty of time to tell me about it.”

Next, she had to sit down with Carlos. She caught him before he left for the day.

“Carlos, I wanted to check in with you about your request to reduce your hours for the summer,” Dana started.

Carlos nodded. “Yeah, just until school starts again. I figured I could work 24 hours instead of 32.”

Dana pulled up the practice’s full-time status policy. “If you drop below 32 hours for too long, you could risk losing full-time benefits. This wouldn’t happen overnight, but I need you to be aware that it’s something we’d have to monitor.”

Carlos’s expression shifted. “Wait—so I could lose PTO and insurance?”

“If we document you as part-time for an extended period, yes,” Dana confirmed. “We can work something out temporarily, but I need to make sure you don’t drop below that threshold for too long.”

Carlos nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe I can trade shifts instead.”

Overcoming Scheduling Challenges

With that, summer schedules were locked in, and Dana breathed a sigh of relief. For now, she was in the clear.

Dr. Chang stopped by Dana’s desk. “So, how did we survive the great scheduling battle this year?”

Dana laughed. “Barely. We may have to plan on losing Janet, but we aren’t going to cancel our patients because she didn’t manage her own plans well. But thanks to CEDR, I think we have a system now that we can use going forward. I’ll keep monitoring it, but next year, we should talk about bringing in extra help during the summer.”

Dr. Chang nodded. “Smart. And I’m glad we have CEDR’s guidance. This could have gotten messy…”

Data sat back in her chair. It had been messy—but at least now, the practice had a plan.