How to build a rota for the flexible workforce

Over the past couple of decades, flexible working has grown in popularity. The pandemic has accelerated this trend and many businesses now accept that to recruit (and retain) the best talent, they need to offer flexible working options.

In fact, a recent study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found:

• Most of the working population (54%) now work in a part-time or flexible role
• 63% of full-time employees already work flexibly
• 92% of people born between 1980 – 2000 identified flexibility as their top priority when job hunting
• 7m full-time workers say they want to work flexibly.

Of course, flexible working is about much more than simply working from home a couple of days each week. It can include:

• Job sharing
• Working from home
• Part-time
• Compressed hours
• Flexitime
• Annualised hours
• Staggered hours
• Phased retirement

Sure, depending on the industry you’re working in, these levels of flexibility might just not be possible. A shop assistant or a surgeon for example won’t be able to work from home – likewise, a security guard could have less opportunity to work flexitime or compressed hours. However, we’ve seen over the past couple of years, that many roles from health and care to business and administration can all be performed with a degree of flexibility.

The challenge to business

Whilst flexible working is hardly a new concept, the pace at which it’s shaping the job market is forcing companies to adapt fast or be left behind.

Managing a diverse workforce spanning various job roles and shift patterns can be tricky enough when you’re all in the same building – and now you’re expected to do this across a variety of geographical locations. Then you’ll need to keep track of time and attendance to ensure everything is correct for when payroll is run.

It’s not easy. But it can be much easier.

The tech solution

The pace at which change is happening is highlighting flaws in current processes which can’t be ignored. Businesses currently using Excel spreadsheets to manage their staff rotas are spending increasing time on administration and less time focussing on their business.

Here are the top four things to look for in a rota planning software:

Time and attendance

A rota software which allows staff to clock in and clock out from any location will automatically take care of time and attendance. Plus, it’ll feed payroll with all the information it needs to ensure that your workforce is paid correctly and on-time – accounting for contracted hours and overtime.

Clever software, like Rotify, will facilitate grace periods for clocking in and out early – automatically approving those that fall within your pre-defined criteria and sending those outstanding to an administrator to approve or deny.

Shift patterns

Lots of businesses will have a handful of pre-defined shift patterns which rarely change. Rota planning software will allow you to create shift patterns and extrapolate them weeks or months in advance – giving you the opportunity to plan far in advance.

In just a few minutes, you can have rotas built and distributed to your workforce, regardless of where they are in the world.

Contracted hours

No matter how many hours a staff member is contracted to work, a good rota planning software will highlight where an employee has hours left over and can be easily dropped into a vacant shift.

Also, it’ll be smart enough to calculate breaks and time needed between shifts to ensure that your business remains compliant to your industry regulations.

Online shift booking

Without doubt, employees are seeking greater engagement and flexibility from their careers. Having the ability to view available shifts and book them at the click of a button is revolutionising the way that staff manage their work / life balance.

There are lots more smart features that Rotify, staff rota software includes. If you’d like to find out more about how Rotify is helping businesses manage their flexible teams, get in touch with us today and a team member will be only too happy to discuss.