Nov 10, 2024

How to Create a Rota Template for Your Business

With a rota template, you can easily schedule shifts, track employee availability, and make necessary changes.

However, it's not that straightforward when you are just starting out. It can also be useful to review the basics if you think your process is a bit outdated or could be more efficient.

Let's review some of the best practices to design a blueprint so you can save time and focus on growing your company. Let's get started!

Explanation of what a rota template is

A rota template is a document that helps you schedule shifts among your team in an organised manner. It contains shift times, employee availabilities, and other vital information to ensure everyone knows their role and remains accountable for the tasks they need to conduct. The objective is to achieve the most efficient use of time and resources while avoiding potential scheduling conflicts.

Importance of having a rota template for your business

Organising your rotations helps ensure that employees know their obligations and deadlines to deliver the best outcome for your business. Additionally, having a systematic model in place can help save time and money by reducing scheduling conflicts and ensuring everyone is where they need to be when needed. Moreover, it creates transparency within your company as everyone can see how their tasks fit into the workflow.

Identifying your business needs

Before creating a standard schedule, it is crucial to reflect on your needs.

Before diving into the design phase, make sure you can address the following questions:

Do I truly understand the legislation regarding working hours, shifts, and time off?
Do my employees have the right contracts in place?
How many employees do I need to schedule?
What kind of shifts do I need?
What is my budget?
Do you have a scheduling process in place? For example, is a deputy manager responsible for creating the shifts and maintaining the rota planner?

This will help you craft your rotation in line with the legislation.

Identifying the roles and responsibilities of your employees

The next step is to identify your employees' roles and responsibilities. This activity will help you create a guide for their duties and working hours. For instance, if some employees can only work part-time, you must create a blueprint that accommodates this situation. Additionally, look into any particular tasks or additional skills your team may have that could benefit your organisation.

Design your rota: a step-by-step guide

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Choose a support

You have two main options to choose from: spreadsheets or software.

Although there is a lot of software for creating your rota, we recommend you pick one, such as Moonworkers, that also streamlines payroll and HR. Software dedicated to rota management might simplify this aspect of your work but will complicate others by adding redundant tasks to communicate information with payroll and HR.

Set your business rules

Employer level: whether you use the settings of your software or create a dedicated sheet, start by listing and setting your policies. For example, it can be your opening hours, different locations or overtime payment rules.
Employee level: attach a contract type, roles, location, working hours, shift patterns and so on to your employees.

Schedule your first workweek

Go to the calendar section of your software or create one in your spreadsheet to start assigning shifts to employees. Consider their availability and settings at both the employee and employer levels. You can add additional tracking categories, such as employee performance or overtime. Additionally, you can use colours or symbols to help differentiate tasks and make it easy to read.

Duplicate patterns

If you successfully completed your scheduling, you can now comfortably duplicate daily patterns or week-to-week schedules. Take extra care of availability and working rules.

Create your rota straight from your payroll app

Our intuitive and easy-to-use rota builder makes creating your rotas a breeze. Add, edit and publish shifts when you are ready to notify your staff. Single shifts or entire weeks can be copied and pasted saving hours of tedious planning. Synced with payroll.

Implementing the rota template

Communicating the rota template with your employees

The final step is to communicate the rota template with your employees. Ensure everyone knows their roles, work schedule, responsibilities and any other special instructions that must be followed. Additionally, ensure everyone knows where and when to access the template. The main advantage of rota software is that staff members receive push notifications on their phones. Moreover, some solutions, like Moonworkers, allow them to sync the rota planner with their phone calendar. Another advantage of an automated shift planner is that managers can create open shifts, allowing your roster to swap shifts.

Providing necessary training for employees to use the template

Now that your rota template is ready, it's time to give the required employee training. This includes teaching them how to read and interpret the template and any additional features you have added. Additionally, provide any guidance they may need when adjusting their availability or making changes in the template.

Ensuring that the template is being used effectively

Ensuring its practical use is essential once the training is complete and everyone is familiar with the rota template. This can be done by monitoring employee performance and any changes they make to the template. Additionally, you should conduct regular checks to ensure everything is running smoothly and that the template meets your organisation's needs.

Reviewing and Updating the Rota Template

Regularly reviewing the template to check for any necessary changes

Reviewing your rota template periodically is vital to check for any necessary adjustments. This can include employee availability, shift times, or other changes that may affect the efficiency of your template. Additionally, if you spot any redundancies or inefficiencies in the template, update it accordingly.

Updating the template to reflect any changes in your business needs

Finally, updating the template to reflect any organisational changes is essential. This includes adapting the template to new roles and responsibilities of your employees or any recent shifts you may need to add. Additionally, if you are using dedicated rota planning software, keep it updated with any changes in your business.

Conclusion

Creating a rota template for your enterprise guarantees everyone knows their responsibilities and stays organised. We hope our guide has helped you make a template that works for your company so you can save time and focus on growing your company.

How can Moonworkers help?

Moonworkers is a dedicated rota planning software designed to help businesses save time and money when creating shift plans. Our easy-to-use dashboard provides features like open shifts, push notifications, calendar sync, and additional tracking categories for employee performance or overtime. In addition, Moonworkers will generate timesheets automatically and compute payroll.