Staff are the backbone of any business. That why getting your staff rota right is so important (especially in hospitality). If you've been crowned as the rota planner within your business you're already familiar with how to put together a rota and everything that comes with it. Even with a staff rota template in excel or Whatsapp its impossible to avoid issues that make you go 'ugh' such as; the unscheduled "dentist appointments", over or under staffing and shift swapping.
Thats where online rotas come in.
Using an online shift planner can help you manage and put together rotas that not only works for staff but also solve the 3 biggest problems with shift scheduling. Using a rota creator online gives you and your employees one simple tool for doing everything so theres no room for confusion or excuses... and its accessible anywhere!
If your already using a staff rota template you found or quickly put together it probably looks something like this.
It's an eye sore but hey, it does the job right?
Although it covers the basics you'd be surprised how much it can complicate staff management. Everything that you spent hours on like making sure; Staff have the right amount of hours, breaks are at the right times and you're covered during busy periods can go to waste. Just because it got sent to someones spam or 'John the line cook' cant work Tuesday night. Then it's back to the drawing board, and everyone need to be sent the new rota again. Luckily an online rota can be the solution that your looking for.
Our weekly rota template is much more than a glorified spreadsheet. At a glance you can see all your shifts and holidays for each person so it makes finding out your shifts is easy. its a lot more organised summarising the important information for you.
Total hours, breaks and shift length are automatically counted up for each person
To plan shifts simply press add and the time you want staff to work. The best part is if you need to make changes it's as simple as clicking a button. It will then be notified to staff members so you can rest assured your updates have been seen.
A functionality you simply cant get with other staffing rota templates is deployment analysis. How much time do you spend looking over your rota to make sure the kitchen isn't understaffed or if shifts/breaks align? Theres lot to consider especially on busy days so we provide you with a deployment graph which takes the maths out of staff scheduling.
Using this graph you can spot gaps in your rota and ensure you always have the right amount of staff in each sector, this can reduct over or under staffing and help you put together a fairer rota that works for everyone.
So you've put together the perfect rota, you have just the right amount of staff for each day but then someones nans cousins brothers son has a weeding on the Friday so they cant make it to work.
With online rotas this is less of an issue... as long as it really is someones wedding and you've gotten more than a days notice. With built in leave requests theres less room for surprises. Staff can book days off right there from the rota.
So before you've even started scheduling shifts you can clearly see if someone is planning to not be in. Then it's up to you decide to approve the leave request or not.
Looking to try online rotas for your self ? Sign up now and get access to our staff rota template for free!
