"Unplanned staff absences have a negative impact on productivity, employee morale, workplace stress and customer service."
James Lintern
Data shows that almost half of businesses who have ditched manual paper-based staff rotas and moved the process of managing, updating and sharing them online have seen a significant reduction in the number employees not showing up for shifts.
Employee ‘no-shows’ are a big challenge for organisations that operate different shift patterns, particularly for those in the hospitality, retail or care sectors. RotaCloud, a provider of online rota management software recently surveyed 300 of its customers and discovered that since moving their rotas online, 47% had seen a notable uplift in shift attendance.
This reduction in ‘no-shows’ comes as employees can no longer claim to not know when they’re meant to be working as they receive automatic notifications on the shifts they’ve been allocated or any changes. No longer reliant on checking paper-based rotas or checking in with their managers or colleagues to find out when they’re supposed to be working, staff can access the ‘live’ online rota at any time from any device.
RotaCloud customer, John Stamp, owner of Makers, a restaurant in Edinburgh explained how reliance on paper-based Excel worksheets had led to a number of challenges for him and his team:
“Schedules and staff change frequently during the week. We employ a lot of students, who require a certain degree of flexibility in return for loyalty. Regularly, staff did not turn up as they were unaware of a shift, or would turn up when not scheduled. There was no central point of reference except a printed sheet in the office.
“Rota planning software has helped resolve this issue and now all staff have access to a live rota which notifies them directly if any of their shifts have changed.”
James Lintern, co-founder at RotaCloud said: “Makers’ experience of staff being unaware of when they’re supposed to be working is an all too common occurrence for any business that relies on staff checking the rota on a piece of paper displayed in a communal area.
“Of course staff not showing up for a shift without warning can happen for any number of reasons. Perhaps they’ve had a last minute family emergency or decided to take a job elsewhere and just haven’t got round to telling you. However, our data suggests that more often than not, ‘no-shows’ occur simply because the employee didn’t know that they were due to work a particular shift.
“Unplanned staff absences have a negative impact on productivity, employee morale, workplace stress and customer service. Ensuring staff have a clear and accessible view of their shift patterns at all times can help ensure staff know exactly when they’re meant to be working and reduce the stresses that come with under staffing.”
RotaCloud’s customer survey data also revealed that giving staff online accessibility to their rotas is helping boost relationships between business managers and their staff for three quarters of survey respondents. 87% of survey respondents also admitted that the speed and efficiency of managing staff rotas online has freed up their time to allow them to focus on more important areas of the business.
