In short
What this page covers
- Time off agreed before it is booked over
- Every stylist keeps their own days
- A junior on when the colour is in
- Reception is a shift, not an afterthought
For salons
Rota software for salons, not just the appointment book
Know who is in before reception fills their column. Get time off agreed before the clients are booked into it, keep a junior on the floor when the colour is in, and let the hours count themselves. Free, for every stylist and every salon you have.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a salon rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
The holiday goes in after the clients do
Reception has three weeks of Emma booked solid when Emma mentions she is away the last week of August. Now somebody is ringing eleven clients to move a colour they waited a month for, and two of them will book somewhere else instead.
02
A full head of highlights is not an hour
It is two and a half, and for most of it that stylist needs a junior on the floor to take the applications, the backwash and the blow-dry. Put the colour in on a day the junior is at college and one client eats the whole column.
03
Tuesday morning has more staff than clients
Thursday to Saturday you cannot fit another head in and the phone is still ringing. Tuesday at half ten you have three stylists, one client and a coffee. The week is not flat and the rota pretends it is.
04
Reception is whoever is nearest the desk
The phone goes while everyone is at the backwash, so it rings out. That was a booking. It happens four times on a Saturday and nobody ever counts it, because a missed call leaves no trace.
05
Everybody works a different week
Sam is Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Emma does the Thursday late and never a Tuesday. The apprentice is at college on Mondays. It is not one pattern, it is seven, and it lives on a piece of paper by the kettle in handwriting.
06
Chair renters set their own hours
They are not on your payroll, but they are in your salon and on your front desk, and reception still has to know whether that chair is in use on Saturday. So you ask them, and then you remember wrong.
How InShift fixes it
The rota underneath the appointment book: who is actually in, agreed before the week is released. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on people or salons.
Solution 1
Time off agreed before it is booked over
A stylist requests the days in the app and you approve with one tap. The rota shows that column is closed, and whoever runs the book works from that rather than from a conversation at the backwash three weeks ago.
Solution 2
Every stylist keeps their own days
Set each person their own pattern once: Sam on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Emma on the Thursday late. The week builds itself from what they actually work, and you only touch the exceptions.
Solution 3
A junior on when the colour is in
Juniors and apprentices are their own role on the rota, so you can see at a glance whether anyone is on the floor to take an application on a heavy colour day. College days go in as time off and simply are not there to book against.
Solution 4
Reception is a shift, not an afterthought
Put front of house on the rota from open to close like any other position. The phone gets answered by somebody whose job at that moment is answering it, instead of a stylist with a client in the chair.
Solution 5
Chair renters on the rota, off the payroll
Add them with the hours they have told you and leave the rate out. They show on the rota so the front desk knows who is in and which chair is going, and they never appear in a timesheet total.
Solution 6
Hours ready for payroll
Your juniors, apprentices and receptionist have their hours added up as the rota is worked, each at their own hourly rate. Export to Excel for whoever does your payroll. No retyping.
A Saturday on the rota in a salon
A salon trading 09:00 to 17:00, with colour columns running two to three hours. Notice the junior is on the floor for the colour rather than for the whole day, and reception never leaves the front.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 08:45-17:15 | Salon manager | Opens up, runs the floor, has a column of her own after twelve |
| 09:00-17:00 | Senior stylist | Cut and finish at nine, a full head of highlights at eleven |
| 09:00-17:00 | Receptionist | Holds the front so nobody leaves a client to answer the phone |
| 09:30-15:30 | Junior stylist | On for the colour: applications, backwash, blow-dries |
| 10:00-16:00 | Chair renter | Own hours and own clients, on the rota so the desk knows the chair is going |
| 11:00-17:00 | Apprentice | In for the busy half of the day: backwash, teas, sweeping down |
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 stylists do I need on the floor on a Saturday?▾
Count columns, not chairs. A stylist gets through six to eight clients on a nine to five Saturday if the column is cuts and blow-dries, and three or four if there is colour in it, because a full head is two and a half hours of that stylist. So four stylists is somewhere between twenty and thirty heads. One junior can keep two colour columns moving, and reception wants a person of its own from open to close rather than a stylist stepping off the floor. Put your own column times into the rota and you will see your own number rather than this one.
Is InShift an appointment book?▾
No, and it is not trying to be. Your booking system knows that Mrs Doyle wants a root tint at eleven. What it does not know is that Emma is off that week, that the junior is at college on a Monday, or that nobody is on the front desk after four. InShift is the layer underneath: who is in, on what days, with which juniors. Get that right and the book has something true to fill.
How do I stop time off being booked over?▾
Requests go through the app and land with you, not in a corridor. You approve, the rota changes for everyone at once, and the days are visibly gone before the week is opened for bookings. It only takes one client rung up and moved to make that worth the thirty seconds it costs.
Can each stylist have their own days, and how do chair renters fit in?▾
Every person can have their own recurring pattern, so nobody is retyped every week. Chair renters go on with the hours they set themselves and no rate, which means the front desk can see who is in without them ever appearing in your hours or your payroll export. Employed staff have their hours totalled as normal.
How does the team see the rota?▾
They install the InShift app on their phone and enter a six digit code you give them. That is the whole setup, no email address and no password to forget. When the rota changes they get a push notification, so the apprentice is not asking on Sunday night what time she is in.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. All the features, as many stylists, renters and salons as you like, no card and no trial clock ticking. We are not going to pretend otherwise on a page whose whole point is that you can trust the rota.