For barbershops

Barbershop rota software: every chair filled for the Saturday rush and the evening run

A barbershop lives on walk-ins, and walk-ins come on Saturday and after work. Six chairs need six barbers from nine to six on Saturday, four on a Tuesday, and three until eight on Thursday and Friday. InShift puts the chairs on one rota with the second shop across town, lets barbers swap a shift between themselves without a phone call to the owner, and shows the owner from the chair whether every day of the week ahead is covered.

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Saturday needs every chair, Tuesday needs half, and the rota has to know the difference

A shop with six chairs and six barbers, the owner on chair one, runs from nine to six, with an evening run until eight on Thursday and Friday for the people who come straight from work. Saturday is the week: every chair from opening to close, a queue by ten, no lunch worth the name. Tuesday is the opposite: four chairs are plenty, and two barbers have their day off. In between, three barbers stay late on Thursday and three on Friday, and the second shop across town borrows a barber when one of its own is away.

The rota lives in a group chat and in the owner’s head, and its failures are small and constant. A barber swaps Saturday for Tuesday with a colleague and tells the owner on the Saturday; the chair is filled, but the Thursday evening the colleague was on is now short. The new barber does not know whether the Friday late is theirs. And when the owner has a client in the chair, the phone rings with the fourth question of the day about next week.

Below is how a shop of six chairs looks in InShift: the week ahead on the owner’s phone with the gaps marked, the week as a table, request rules that let barbers swap between themselves, and the swap itself on the barber’s phone.

From the chair

The week ahead on the owner’s phone: who is in today, and which day is short

The admin panel fits a phone, and the “Dashboard” is the screen the owner checks with a client in the chair: how many people are working now and whether all shifts are covered, the “Week ahead” with the shifts and hours of each day and the gaps marked, and the month in numbers. A gap on Saturday is visible on Monday, which is when there is still time to offer the shift to the team.

  • The people working now, and “all shifts covered” or the number of gaps
  • “Week ahead”: shifts and hours per day, with the days that have a gap marked
  • The month in numbers: hours planned and scheduled, substitutions, the payroll fund
  • “Not connected to the app” on the same screen, so the new barber gets the code before Saturday
The admin panel screen by screen

The week of a six chair shop: Saturday takes everyone, Tuesday takes four

Six barbers, six chairs, the owner on chair one. Closed Sunday and Monday. One code per shift type, the way the planner colours them.

BarberTueWedThuFriSat
OwnerDDDDD
Barber 2·DLLD
Barber 3D·LDD
Barber 4DDDLD
Barber 5DD·LD
Barber 6·DLDD

D is “Day 09:00–18:00”, L is “Late 11:00–20:00”, a shift type that exists only on Thursday and Friday. Tuesday runs four chairs and Wednesday five; every evening run has three barbers until eight; Saturday has every chair from nine to six. The days off are spread so that nobody works six days, and next week is “Copy last week”.

Request rules

Barbers swap between themselves, the rota updates, the owner is not on the phone

“Request rules” in the panel decide what the team can do on their own. Shift swaps can be “Coworker only”: once a colleague accepts, the shift moves over immediately, no manager needed. Or “Coworker + manager”, so the owner has the last word on a Saturday. Open shifts are “Requests, manager picks”: the owner offers a shift to everyone and chooses among the barbers who asked. Time off is “Manager approves”. Every rule is one choice, set once for the whole team.

  • Swaps “Off”, “Coworker only”, “Manager only” or “Coworker + manager”
  • A swap is offered only to people with the same position, so a chair goes to another barber and the apprentice is not on the list
  • Open shifts “Requests, manager picks”: the Saturday offered to all, the owner picks who gets it
  • Time off “Manager approves”, and the approved day shows under “Off” in the day view of the manager’s app

On the barber’s phone

The Saturday swap in the app: offer it, take it, done

A barber who needs Saturday off opens “Substitute” in the app, picks the shift and offers it under “Find a replacement” to the colleagues who can take it. The other way round, “Available swaps” lists the shifts colleagues want to give away, with “Take shift” on each. Under “Coworker only” the shift moves the moment a colleague accepts; under “Coworker + manager” the owner gets it in “Requests”. Either way the rota updates itself and both barbers get a push notification.

  • “Find a replacement” for your own shift, “Available swaps” for a colleague’s
  • “Take shift” in one tap, with a “Time conflict” warning if it overlaps your own
  • Only barbers with the same position are offered the chair
  • Every change lands as a push, and “Who else is working” shows the day’s line-up
The app screen by screen

Moving a barbershop onto InShift

Half an hour for a shop of six, the second shop included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the shops

    Email or Google. Each shop is a location, and “All locations” shows both on one screen. A barber who helps out across town is switched to “Available for substitution” under “Cover at other locations”.

  2. 2

    Positions and shift types

    Barber, senior barber, apprentice. Shift types “Day 09:00–18:00” on Tuesday to Saturday and “Late 11:00–20:00” on Thursday and Friday only, each in its own colour.

  3. 3

    The team and the pay model

    “Add multiple” pastes the barbers with a position; pay per shift or per hour on the “Pay” tab, and “Unpaid” for the owner’s own chair. “Invite team” gives the code; each barber signs up with it and their own email.

  4. 4

    The first week and the rules

    Everyone on their days, then “Publish”. “Request rules” set to “Coworker only” for swaps, and next week is “Copy last week”.

Frequently asked questions

Can barbers be paid a day rate or per shift?▾

Yes. The pay model on the “Pay” tab is per hour, per shift, a monthly salary or a shift price, set for the whole shop, for a position or for one person from a date. “Per shift” pays a fixed amount whatever the length; “Shift price” pays what the shift type itself is worth, so a Saturday can carry a higher price than a Tuesday. “Payroll” adds the shifts up per person for any period, with “Export to Excel” for the accountant.

Can the owner be on the rota without counting wages?▾

Yes: a person with the pay model “Unpaid”, made for the owner, a partner or a director. The chair is on the rota, the swaps and the day view work as for everyone, and “Payroll” counts nothing for it. Self-employed barbers renting a chair can be on the rota the same way.

How do the barbers see the rota?▾

In the InShift app on iPhone and Android, after joining with the invite code and their own email; no work address is needed. Each barber sees their own shifts, “Who else is working” on the day, the swaps and their hours on “Stats”, and can add the rota to the phone calendar with “My schedule in the phone calendar”. A barber who has not installed the app is listed as “Not connected” with an “Invite” next to the name.

Does a swap need the owner’s approval?▾

Only if you want it to. “Request rules” has four settings for swaps: “Off”, “Coworker only”, “Manager only” and “Coworker + manager”. Under “Coworker only” the shift moves the moment a colleague accepts; under “Coworker + manager” the colleague accepts first and the owner approves in “Requests”, from the browser or from the phone.

What about the second shop across town?▾

It is a second location on the same account, with its own shift types and its own week in the planner, and “All locations” shows both. A barber who helps out there is switched to “Available for substitution” under “Cover at other locations”, so they are offered the other shop’s swaps and open shifts, and a shift there can carry the “Shift at another location” premium from the “Premiums” tab.

What does it cost for a shop of six?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is a subscription per active person on the “Employees” list, with locations, payroll and the team app included. The numbers are on the pricing page.

Put every chair on one rota

Positions, shift types and the first week take half an hour, and every barber sees the Saturday in the app the same day.

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