staff roster

How to make your staff roster work for you

Efficient, fair and flexible rosters are a powerful way to attract and keep good staff, no matter what size your business.

The inefficiency of pen and paper or spreadsheets can be a thing of the past with some smart automation. Whatever your method, there are important principles to keep managers, accountants and employees happy.

1. First design the roster without individual names. Once you've worked out the allocation of hours, cost it according to the hourly wage rates. Then you add the names of suitable people for different days and shifts. This is 'position rostering' rather than the traditional method that often builds a roster around the requests of individuals and their busy lives. Position rostering puts the business first.
2. Costing rosters should be linked to writing rosters. Traditionally, the functions have been separate, and the bad news on costs is only revealed on pay day. Modern services reveal costs as the roster is written, allowing accurate forecasting and budget control. If you want managers to be accountable for labour cost, give them the tools to track it before the roster is posted. Modern online roster systems like Deputy allow real-time costing in advance and not the 'rear view mirror'.
3. Set a wage budget and work backwards. If the head chef or manager is responsible for their roster, don't stop at having the hours covered. They're also responsible for keeping to a budget, for example you're expecting sales for the week of $15,000, so their roster costs cannot exceed $5,000. They soon learn how to move shifts between busy days and quiet ones - this is extremely important. Meeting and exceeding the wage budget is a good reason for a bonus.
4. Busy shifts need the best staff. Sometimes experienced staff or managers gravitate to an easier, day-time schedule - maybe because they write the roster! It may also be because management rewards are not connected to the performance of busy shifts, eg when managers are cut out of tip sharing. All staff should know how the business works during days, nights, weekends and week days.
5. A good roster shares the best shifts. For waiters and bar staff, some days offer much better tips. For other staff, some shifts are easier, and late shifts or busy days can be extra hard work. Staff will handle this if the rewards and burdens are shared fairly and favouritism is avoided.
6. Flexibility is great, but business come first. This is where automated rostering systems have such an advantage, so shift requests and availability can be handled on the spot. If you repeatedly deny requests for time off or shift changes, staff are likely to call in 'sick' or eventually move elsewhere.
7. Allow staff to check their roster without calling in. Modern online services allow rostering to be done entirely online - you can prepare the roster, notify shifts by SMS or email and allow staff to accept shifts or request changes automatically. Online rosters are more likely to be read because they affect a person directly, and it's an important part of shifting your communication and management away from paper.
8. Save hours for the best selling days. Typically, rosters are written Monday to Sunday, from the quietest to the busiest days. But if the week is slow and by Wednesday you decide to start trimming hours, chances are they'll be taken from the weekend, when you need to be fully staffed to make money. So any hours that can be 'saved' at the beginning of the week will be available for busy shifts on Friday and Saturday. Another option is to start the roster week on a Thursday, to overcome the 'end of week' psychological slump happening on the weekend. The payroll days can still match the calendar or accounting week, but rostering is about resource allocation.
9. Extra people means you have just enough. When you have slightly more staff hours available than you need, you can cover requests for time off or sudden illness without expecting others to work excessive hours. Casual or hourly workers are in a constant flux - these are the people you trim or add according to the work available.
10. Everyone needs two days off. There will be times when you need someone to do a double shifts or work extra days. But regular rostering for more than five days per week leads to loss of performance and burn-out. If you have someone insisting on constant long hours, they may have financial problems that are being put ahead of the interests of the business - avoid this shortcut even if it seems convenient.
11. Allow staff to plan their lives. There are legal requirements for how far in advance rosters must be displayed. But more importantly, a roster that's displayed at least four weeks in advance allows staff to plan their lives and achieve more of the 'work-life' balance that's discussed in most industries except hospitality. One reason for poor retention (and roster turmoil) is because good staff don't stay long in businesses that treat them this way. And once you automate the request and shift-change system, you'll find this doesn't need to be an endless drama involving erasers and white-out.