Shifts and rotas in the workplace

Shifts and rotas are essential element of your people management. Determining when staff are working and how often.

Having an effective plan for your shifts and rotas can make life easier and ensures proper employee communication and engagement. In this guide we delve into what shifts and rotas are, their importance within the workplace and best practices for rota planning.

The definition of shifts and rotas  

A shift is the set time periods an employee works.

The rota or schedule/roster (as it is also called) is the document which outlines the times and days these shifts are required. Rotas should also highlight when staff are entitled to take breaks and when they’ll be off duty.

Staff rotas commonly include these elements:

• Names and roles of assigned staff

• Dates and times for each shift

• Confirmed days off and leave

• Relevant notes and instructions

• Agreed breaks and rest periods

• Staff contact details, in case of last-minute changes or emergencies

• Overtime availability (considering legal restrictions).

The importance of accurate rota planning

Your rotas are crucial in ensuring efficient people management, making sure each shift is covered, and your staff members know when and where to show up for work.

Traditionally, rotas were planned using pen and paper, offering weekly or monthly rota documents that employees would keep a copy of. However, with the emergence of digital people management solutions, such as HR software, digital rota planning has become an easy way to get this done.

Not only used to complete rotas on time but accurately too. This is essential in maintaining employee-employer communication, engagement with staff and taking into consideration employee wellbeing.

Are staff rotas a legal requirement?

Both the Working Time Regulations 1998 and Health & Safety laws in the UK require businesses to effectively manage shifts.

According to these regulations, you are legally required to document and record your employees’ working hours. While not all businesses opt to do this in the same way, accurate and frequent rota planning and documentation is an effective way to stay compliant with employment laws.

Giving employees notice of their working schedules

UK employment law doesn’t strictly provide a minimum amount of time for how much notice you should give but current best practice is to notify staff a week in advance of changes to their work rotas.

The Employment Rights Bill will make changes to the law, creating the right to reasonable notice of shits, shift changes and cancellations. This Is particularly relevant to workers on zero hours contracts and agency workers, putting protections in place to create a sense of stability and security for these, otherwise, very flexible types of shifts.  

Overtime laws

Working beyond a shift may sometimes occur when an employee has a large task at hand or you need all hands-on deck to cover absences. However, you are not legally permitted to force employees to work longer than their contractual obligation.

This falls under the UK’s overtime laws. Where there is no requirement on staff to work overtime but on the flip side, you also don’t legally have to offer additional hours to staff if they ask for it.

Any confusion surrounding this in your company should be solved by simply referring to your clear and concise employment contracts and HR policies.

Shift and rotas for different industries

Shifts and rotas are used in various ways across different industries. Especially in industries where different styles of shift patterns are common, such as hospitality, healthcare and retail. 

From split shifts to night shifts, industries will use shift patterns and rota planning to suit the needs of their businesses. For example, hospitals and care homes are much more likely to operate with various types of shift schedules, particularly if they run a 24-hour service that requires night shift workers and on-call staff. Using rota planning is the most efficient way to ensure all shifts are covered and enough staff are on duty to comply with the industry regulations.

Discover rota planning for the hospitality industry

Benefits of effective shift patterns

Having a clear and effective approach to managing different shift patters in your business can:

• Boost staff satisfaction through the communication of clear and predictable work schedules

• Enhance operational efficiency by aligning staffing levels with demand

• Ensure the optimal use of staff resources (avoiding understaffing and overstaffing).

• Promotes employee wellbeing by ensuring efficient breaks between shifts. This also helps to reduce staff burnout.

With the use of digital rota planning, you can benefit even further from an easy-to-access system that notifies and informs staff of their shifts with enough notice via instant notifications and reminders.

Top tips for creating rotas

In order to get the most out of your staff rotas and to create an efficient process for rota planning, you should consider the following tips:

Identify your staffing needs

Who is required and when. If you operate a business that requires more staff in the evening, for example a restaurant, priorities rotes that suit these needs. You may need more staff on a Saturday compared to Sunday, etc.

Take into account your budgets

Many businesses do not calculate the cost of shifts but how much do they cost you each day or week? There are several considerations to make when planning rotas that fit your budget and not just the needs of your business.

Analyse the data

Reflect and look back on the data you already have and review what works and what doesn't. When are your busy periods and how many staff do you need to work one shift to run the day-to-day efficiently.

Communicate with your staff

you may not want to give your staff complete control when it comes to planning shifts but giving them a say regarding their availability will help your create rotas that work for everyone. Improving employee engagement and team morale. When rota planning, software data can provide plenty of insights to support you in making smart decisions.

Consider rest periods

Your shifts and rotas need to account for rest periods. Making sure you are taking into consideration the wellbeing of your employees but also the law regarding breaks at work.

Employee scheduling solutions

With BrightHR staff rota planning we make it easy for to plan and manage any type of shift pattern. Whether you operate on fixed shifts, rotating shifts, split shifts or need to provide staff to open shifts last minute, our digital solution allows you to create working shift pattern in just a few clicks!

• Send new rotas direct to staff devices

• Get instant alerts when staff accept shifts

• Use our open shifts feature for when you need to fill gaps

• Add all types of working time arrangements

What's more our latest cost of shifts feature enables you to make data-driven rota planning decisions based on how much each shift will cost you.

Want to schedule your rotas on the go? Our handy app can do that too! With an all-in-one shift and rota planning solution, BrightHR enables you to accurately and efficiently manage the working time of your staff.

Book a free demo today to discover a scheduling software for your business.