In short
What this page covers
- Build the rota around the post
- Shift templates you set once
- A relief officer as a real role
- Open shifts for a no-show
For security firms
Rota software for security firms, built around the post
Cover every post around the clock, fill a no-show before the client rings you about it, and let the night hours count themselves. Free, for as many officers and sites as you have.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a security rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
A post cannot run one person light
A shop that is short can serve a slower queue. A post that is short is an unmanned site. If nobody stands on the gate at 19:00 you have not had a bad evening, you have failed the contract, and the client will describe it in exactly those words.
02
The no-show you hear about from the client
The officer on the night does not appear and you find out at ten past seven on a Sunday, by phone, from the site. Then you start at the top of your contacts, ringing officers who came off a twelve hour shift this morning, while the duty manager is already typing the email.
03
A spreadsheet per client, and none of them agree
Every contract gets its own tab, some of them their own file. The simple question of who is working across all your sites this week takes an hour to answer, and by the time you have the answer two officers have swapped.
04
Relief exists in your head, not on the rota
Every firm knows it needs relief. Almost nobody writes it down, because relief is what happens when the rota fails, so it stays a phone number rather than a name in a box. Then it is six in the morning and you are the relief.
05
Sites across the county, and the wrong officer called
You have an officer twenty minutes from the site that needs covering and one who would take ninety. Without every site on one screen you ring whoever you happened to think of first, and pay for the difference.
06
Night hours totalled up on payday
Most of what you pay out is nights, weekends and bank holidays. Adding that up by hand, across twelve hour shifts and four contracts, is exactly where the errors live. The officer who was paid short always finds them before you do.
How InShift fixes it
A rota built around posts that have to be covered, not around a calendar. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on officers or sites.
Solution 1
Build the rota around the post
A twenty four hour post is two twelve hour shifts, every day, forever. Set it up once as days and nights and see the gaps before you publish, not when the client finds them.
Solution 2
Shift templates you set once
A 07:00 to 19:00 day, a 19:00 to 07:00 night, a weekend patrol. Set the hours once, say how many officers the post takes and which days it runs, then drop them onto the week. A month of rota across four sites takes minutes.
Solution 3
A relief officer as a real role
Put relief on the rota as a shift, not as a hope. The officer knows they are working, you know who is free, and the first call-off of the day has an answer that does not start with a phone call.
Solution 4
Open shifts for a no-show
Post the uncovered shift and every officer who could work it gets it on their phone at once. The first one free takes it. One action instead of fourteen calls at seven in the morning.
Solution 5
Roles you define, on the shifts you define
Static guarding, mobile patrol, door supervision, control room. Set up the roles your contracts actually use and put them on the rota, and InShift shows you who you have placed where. It is a planning tool, not a register: what a role requires and who is allowed to work it stay yours to decide and yours to check.
Solution 6
Every client site on one screen
One account holds all your contracts. See who is on where, move an officer between sites, and give a contract manager only their own. It grows when you win the next one.
A day on the rota at a security firm
A client site manned around the clock, a mobile patrol covering three sites overnight, and door supervision at the weekend. Note that relief is on the rota as a shift rather than as a phone number somebody has to remember at six in the morning.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 07:00-19:00 | Security officer | Static post, day: gate, passes, deliveries, visitors |
| 19:00-07:00 | Security officer | Static post, night: the twelve hours that carry the pay |
| 18:00-02:00 | Mobile patrol | Three sites on the round, back to base by two |
| 21:00-03:00 | Door supervisor | Friday and Saturday only, on the front door |
| 07:00-19:00 | Relief officer | On the rota, not on a post: covers the first call-off |
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 officers do I need to cover a 24 hour post?▾
Start from the hours, not the people. A post manned around the clock is 168 hours a week, covered by two twelve hour shifts a day. At an average of 42 hours each that is four officers, and four is the number that only works if nobody is ever ill, late or on holiday. Most firms carry a fifth as relief for exactly that reason. Put your real posts into the rota and you will see your own number rather than this one.
Can I run several client sites on one account?▾
Yes, and there is no limit on how many. Each site is a location with its own posts, templates and hours. You see everything, a contract manager sees only their sites, and an officer rotated across three of them has one rota with all three on it.
How do officers 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 you change the rota they get a push notification, so an officer never turns up at the site they worked last week.
What happens when an officer does not turn up for a night shift?▾
Publish the shift as an open shift. Every officer who could work it gets a notification at the same time, and the first one to take it has it. You approve with one tap. The point is speed: an unmanned post is measured in minutes, not in how many numbers you got through.
Does it work out night hours and pay?▾
It adds up the hours as the rota is worked, multiplies them by each officer's hourly rate, and exports the timesheet to Excel for any period you choose. A twelve hour night is twelve hours in the total, counted the same way every time, which is where a calculator and four contracts used to go wrong. Rates are per person, so an officer rotated across three sites is counted once, at their own.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. All the features, as many officers and sites 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.