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Modern Rostering

Written by: Colin Mackie

Article Overview: In many businessess the most stressful job is working on and maintaining the staff roster. We are in the technological age but rostering for most SME's is the same as it was 100 years ago. Time consuming, laborious, stressful and very limited. It does not need to be like this.

Modern Rostering

Modern Rostering

563 words

One of the most troublesome jobs in business can be managing the staff roster. Trying to juggle the needs, wants and foibles of staff can become a major headache. Add into this sickness, hangovers, weddings and funerals plus the obligatory holidays, a mangers stress levels can go through the roof.

Once you have it all sorted out for next week and Monday arrives with a phone call Jean, from one of your better staff members, to say that she is too sick to come in. You are in the middle of setting up for the day’s business and you now have to get on the phone and call and call until you reach someone who can come in at short notice. What a great start to your week.

But it doesn’t need to be like this. I have just discovered that there is a much easier, less stressful, much more effective and extremely cheap solution to the current paper roster – an on-line Roster Portal.

There are a few computer based roster systems available and each has their own merits. However, the one I was most impressed with has been designed by a very accomplished tech-head who had been working his way through double degrees at University by working in a Donut King store. When he was promoted to managing the store he was aware of the problems with the roster system from a staff perspective and now he had the headache of seeing it from the manager’s perspective.

After almost two years of testing in a few other businesses and tweaking to get it just right, it is now ready for the open market.

Everyone, especially the younger generation, have computers. Everyone has a mobile phone. Most young people use social networking sites to communicate and keep in touch. This Roster Portal utilises all of these in a simple semi-automatic way to allow the forward planning of staff management and historical tracking as simple as ABC. Staff and managers can plan months ahead and no longer have to keep remembering that Mary is getting married on the 16^th August or that Bill needs a few days off when his sister arrives from the UK in September.

With Roster Portal in place, when Jean phones in sick all that is needed is a few clicks and a personalised text message is sent out to every other staff member notifying them that there are few hours up for grabs. Generally, within a few minutes you have a response and you can get on with setting up for the day’s business.

As an effective a management tool it also has other features that quite impressed me. It has a chat room facility where staff can keep in touch with all the business gossip. It has a notice board facility for the manager to post specials, competitions, new products, awards or congratulations.

This new on-line roster system was found to be very much appreciated by the younger staff who found it was much more effective and user-friendly and staff loyalty improved noticeably. In other words, it seemed to be an absolute win-win for everyone.

And the cost????? I could not believe that it was so cost effective. For less than one hours wage for a lowly manager per week you had all these benefits – wonderful.

Colin S L Mackie

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