In short
What this page covers
- Staff to the ramps, not the headcount
- Roles for the work you actually take
- The Saturday template you set once
- Collection runs on the rota like any other job
For garages
Rota software for garages, built around the ramps
Put mechanics on the bays you have actually got, see the MOT bay staffed on the days you take MOT work, and let the hours count themselves. Free, for as many people and sites as you have.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a garage rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
Four mechanics on and three ramps
The rota says four are in. The building says three cars can be up at once. So one of them is making tea or walking to the factors, and you are paying for a bay you have not got. Headcount that ignores the ramps is just a number on a page.
02
A booking taken for a day nobody is on
Reception puts a cambelt in for Thursday because Thursday looked quiet in the diary. Thursday looked quiet because the only person who does cambelts is off. The customer finds out at eight in the morning, standing at the desk with no car for the day.
03
MOT work booked for a day the tester is off
You take MOTs because they bring the rest of the work in behind them. But you only take them on the days you have got somebody in the bay to do them, which means the diary and the rota have to agree with each other. They live in two different places and they agree by luck.
04
A diagnostic booked in between two tyre changes
A pair of tyres is twenty minutes. An intermittent electrical fault is a day, and it might be two. Plan them as if they are the same size of job and the diagnostic quietly eats the afternoon, then everything booked in behind it goes home unfinished.
05
Saturday morning with a skeleton crew
Half the town books its servicing for Saturday, because Saturday is when people are not at work. You are open eight until one, the phone does not stop, and you have got one technician on the tools and nobody on the desk.
06
Somebody has to drive the courtesy car back
The collection at nine and the drop-off at half four are real work that takes a real person off the tools for an hour each way. It is on no rota anywhere. It just falls to whoever is nearest the keys, and it is a ramp standing empty while they do it.
How InShift fixes it
A rota built around bays and bookings rather than a blank calendar. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on people or sites.
Solution 1
Staff to the ramps, not the headcount
Build the day around what the building can hold. Three ramps and a tyre bay is four jobs at once, so that is what the rota shows, and you see it before you publish rather than when a technician is stood in the yard with nowhere to put a car.
Solution 2
Roles for the work you actually take
Set up the roles you run: MOT tester, technician, diagnostics, tyre fitter, reception. Every day shows which of them are on, so a Thursday you have been taking MOT bookings for tells you at a glance whether the bay has anybody in it, a week before the customer does.
Solution 3
The Saturday template you set once
A Saturday is not a weekday with fewer people, it is its own shape: two on the tools, a tester in the bay and somebody on the desk from eight to one. Set it once as a template and drop it on every Saturday for the next six months.
Solution 4
Collection runs on the rota like any other job
If the collection at nine takes a technician off the tools for an hour, put it on the rota as an hour. Short shifts are shifts. At the end of the week you can see where the bay time actually went instead of guessing at it.
Solution 5
Cover without ringing round
A technician calls in at half seven and the day is booked solid. Post the shift as an open shift and everyone who could work it gets it at once, and the first one free takes it. Swaps run the same way: one offers, another takes it, you tap approve.
Solution 6
Hours ready for payroll
Hours add up as the rota is worked, at each person's own hourly rate, and export to Excel for whoever does your payroll. The Saturday morning and the hour on a collection run are in the total because they are on the rota, not because somebody remembered them.
A day on the rota in a garage
A three ramp workshop with an MOT bay and a tyre bay, open 08:00 to 17:30. Note that the day is built around the bays, and that the collection run is on the rota as an hour of real work rather than a favour.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 07:30-16:30 | Technician | Ramp one: the two services booked in first thing |
| 08:00-17:30 | Reception | Phone from eight, books the diary against who is actually on |
| 08:00-17:00 | MOT tester | In the bay: six booked in today, one an hour from nine |
| 08:30-09:30 | Driver | The collection run: an hour off the tools, so it is an hour on the rota |
| 09:00-18:00 | Technician | Ramp two: the diagnostic that will take most of the day |
| 10:00-18:00 | Tyre fitter | Tyre bay: the quick jobs, and the fittings people book after work |
Try it without an account
Three free tools that need no sign-up and no email. Build a rota or add up hours right now, and move to an account when the team has to see it.
Frequently asked questions
How many mechanics do I need for a three ramp workshop?▾
Start from the bays, not the people. Three ramps and a tyre bay is four jobs at once, and open 08:00 to 17:30 six days a week is around 57 hours a week per bay, so a bit over 220 hours if every bay ran full all day. One full time technician gives you about 37.5, and not all of that is on the tools once you take off collections, the factors run and paperwork. That lands most workshops at five or six on the tools, plus the desk. Put your own opening hours and bays into the rota and you will see your own number rather than this one.
Can I see whether a tester is on for the days we take MOTs?▾
Yes, if you set MOT tester up as one of your roles. Each day on the rota shows you which roles are on, so you can look at next Thursday and see whether the bay has somebody in it before reception fills the diary. InShift shows you the rota you built: who is qualified to do what stays your call and your responsibility, the app just stops it being invisible.
How do the mechanics see the rota?▾
They install the InShift app on their phone from the App Store or Google Play and enter a six digit code you give them. That is the whole setup, no email address and no password to forget. When you change the rota they get a push notification, so nobody is working from a photo of last week taken on the way past the office.
What happens when a technician calls in sick and the day is booked solid?▾
Publish the shift as an open shift. Everybody who could work it is asked at the same moment and the first one to take it has it, and you approve with one tap. You know within minutes whether you are covering the day or ringing three customers to move them, which is the call you would rather make at half seven than at ten.
Does it work out hours and overtime?▾
It adds the hours up as the rota is worked, multiplies them by each person's hourly rate, and exports the timesheet to Excel for any period. A Saturday morning and the hour a technician spends on a collection run are hours like any others, so they land in the total instead of being reconstructed at month end. Rates sit on the person, so somebody who works both branches is counted once, at their own.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. Every feature, as many people and sites as you like, no card and no trial clock ticking. There is no billing in the product at all: two branches and eleven staff cost exactly what one ramp and one mechanic costs, which is nothing.