From a manager’s perspective, what are the ideal characteristics of a rota?
First of all, they are very fast and easy to build. When looking at restaurants and retail stores, planning a staff rota every week – is something you can do without very many last-minute adjustments. If you have plenty of tasks that you need to attend to, rota planning is not going to be very productive. There is not a lot of value associated with doing so (, apart from preventing staff disasters!), Which is completely different from marketing, recruitment, and training tasks that are much more common. Every manager would cut rota admin as quickly as they could, even just for a few minutes a week.
A schedule maker would certainly ensure that the business is going to run at an optimal level, plus she would have the proper number of qualified staff members at the locations they need to be. Junior employees should mix together with the more experienced staff members, and this will allow you to handle any unexpected workloads that may arise. To keep everyone productive – a crowded rota will often lead to disgruntled staff members and those that simply burn out.
Of course. What you want to see is a rota that is set in stone every couple of weeks so that supervisors will be able to attend. Trying to find a place, especially at the last minute, is something that you want to avoid on any given workday when you need your employees focused on their primary tasks.
Company and industry-specific requirements. This may include requiring staff members to do certain things, plus you will need to address variable wage rates and shift structuring.
Rota mismanagement can lead to frustrations for all of those working at the company – your rota needs to work well with all of your staff members.
This is typically what employees want from a rota:
Absolute certainty. Every employee wants to be able to plan what they are doing, at least a few days in advance. If the count on the rota is accurate, they will not have to worry about making unnecessary trips are getting phone calls from angry people because of a shift that is now incorrect.
Stability. Staff members tend to want to have the same exact hours every week, and this will allow their time to be budgeted most effectively. They want to see a consistent pattern, one that is reasonable, especially regarding hours that they are going to work prior to the rota being published.
Home access. Most annoying for almost every staff member is to get a call from the manager or have to be at work, prior to their shift. They want to have accessibility, especially when working from home, or at different locations, which can make their lives much easier.
Easy leave request system. Employees need to be able to ask for time off without administrative issues.
Notifications. When changes in the rota occur, employees should be the first to know. The system needs to be in place that will communicate all of this information without creating problems or confusion.
Industry requirements, such as information about whether an employee is going to be opening the store, or if they are going to be doing a training course, should also be presented.
