For shops and retail chains

Shop rota software: tills to the busy hours, branches on one screen

A shop is open nine to six, but it is busy from eleven to four and on Saturday all day. InShift puts the people where the customers are: peak shifts next to the keyholder’s open and close, a delivery shift before the doors, Saturday staff on Saturday, and two or three branches on one planner with people who can cover the other one. Every sales assistant sees their own week on the phone.

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The busy hours, the Saturday, the delivery and the keys

Footfall in a shop is a curve with a flat top from eleven to four and a Saturday that is twice a weekday. A rota that puts the same three people on from open to close pays for the quiet first hour and the quiet last hour every day and is still short at lunchtime on Saturday. The rota that pays has an open and a close held by keyholders, a peak shift from eleven that leaves at four, and Saturday staff whose whole week is Saturday and Sunday.

Two more things shape a retail week. The delivery arrives before the doors, so someone is in the stockroom from half seven on delivery days and nowhere near the tills. And the keys: only two or three people can open and close, so every day starts and ends with one of them, and their holidays have to be planned around each other. A shop with a second branch adds a third: a supervisor who covers both, and the question of which branch is short this week.

Below is how a shop of twelve with two branches looks in InShift: the day across the branches on one screen, a person who covers the other branch, a rota handed out by invite code, and a manager who can see who is in at which branch from the phone.

The day across the branches

Who is in, what is open, who is short, on one screen

The “Dashboard” is the owner’s morning screen: how many people are working now and whether every shift is covered, open shifts waiting for volunteers, who has not connected to the app yet, the “Week ahead” with the number of shifts on each day, and the month in numbers for payroll and hours. For two branches that is one look instead of two phone calls.

  • “Week ahead”: shifts and hours per day, so a thin Saturday is visible on Monday
  • “Not connected to the app” names the person who still gets the rota by word of mouth, with the QR code to fix it
  • Open shifts awaiting claims, with a link straight to “Requests”
  • The month in numbers: the payroll fund, what is owed to the team and the hours
The admin panel screen by screen

A Saturday on the rota of a shop open 09:00 to 18:00

A delivery at half seven, the doors at nine, the busy hours from eleven to four. Keyholders on the open and the close, Saturday staff on the peak.

07:30–15:30 · Stockroom

Goods-in, replenishment before the doors, the delivery paperwork

08:30–17:30 · Store manager

Keyholder: opens, floats the tills, runs the floor, hands over at five

09:00–17:00 · Sales assistant × 2

Tills and the floor all day, lunch covered by the peak shift

11:00–16:00 · Saturday staff × 2

The peak hours: a second till and the fitting rooms

10:00–18:30 · Supervisor

Keyholder: closes, cashes up, sets the alarm

A Tuesday in the same shop is the manager, two assistants and a half day in the stockroom. The week is around 260 hours across twelve people, four of them on Saturday and Sunday only.

Two branches

A person who covers the other branch, and a rota handed out by code

An employee’s card holds what a chain needs: a primary location, extra positions for cover, and the “Cover at other locations” switch “Available for substitution”, which makes the person a candidate for swaps and open shifts in a branch where they do not normally work. The same card hands out the app: an invite code that goes by WhatsApp, Telegram or email, valid for seven days; the person signs up in the app with the code and their own email, no work address needed.

  • The planner shows one branch or “All locations” at once, each branch as its own block
  • A person with two locations is one person; their hours add up in one place
  • “Copy invite” or a message in WhatsApp, Telegram or email; in the app it is “Sign Up”, “I’m an employee”, the code
  • Access rights on the same card: a branch manager edits their own branch, an area manager sees all of them

From the manager’s phone

Who is in at which branch today, and who is off

A manager who is on the floor themselves runs the rota from the InShift app: the day view lists everyone on shift “By location” or “By person”, with their times, and “Off” shows who is on holiday or sick. A gap is filled from the same screen by adding a shift, and a request from a sales assistant is approved in one tap. Every person on the team sees their own shifts, “Who else is working” and their hours on “Stats”.

  • The day “By location”: both branches, each person with their shift time
  • A shift added or moved from the phone, with the same “Publish” as in the browser
  • Swaps between Saturday staff go through “Substitute” and, if you want, your approval
  • A push before the shift, and “Quiet hours” for the closer
The app screen by screen

Moving a shop onto InShift

An hour for a shop of twelve, two branches, the team joining included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the branches

    Email or Google. Each branch is a location with its own address and opening hours; a group of locations keeps the chain tidy.

  2. 2

    Positions and shift types

    Store manager, supervisor, sales assistant, stockroom. Shift types “Open 08:30–17:30”, “Day 09:00–17:00”, “Peak 11:00–16:00”, “Close 10:00–18:30”, “Delivery 07:30–15:30” on delivery days only.

  3. 3

    The team

    “Add multiple” pastes the names, each with a position, a branch and a rate; the supervisor who covers both gets “Available for substitution”. The invite code goes out by WhatsApp.

  4. 4

    The first week and publish

    Keyholders first, then the peak, then Saturday, then “Publish”. From the second week on it is “Copy last week”, the days off and “Publish” again.

Frequently asked questions

Can one person work in two branches?▾

Yes. A person has a primary location and can be given more, and their hours add up in one place. The “Available for substitution” switch on their card also makes them a candidate for swaps and open shifts in branches where they do not normally work.

How do I staff to footfall?▾

By shape, from what you already know about the shop. InShift does not read your till, but a shift type can be any length and limited to certain days, so “Peak 11:00–16:00” on Saturday and “Late 12:00–20:00” on late-night Thursday are types like any other, and the week header shows how many shifts each day has. The rota is built by picking a type in a cell.

Can Saturday staff see only their own shifts?▾

Each person sees their own shifts, “Who else is working” on the same day, their requests and their hours. Rates, other people’s pay and the rest of the rota are not shown; who sees what is set by role on the “Access rights” tab.

Can an area manager see every branch while a store manager sees only their own?▾

Yes. A role sets “View rota” and “Edit rota” to “Own”, “My locations” or “Entire network”, and the same for the team and payroll. A store manager with “My locations” builds their branch; an area manager with “Entire network” sees all of them and the payroll if you allow it.

How do I hand out the rota to people without a work email?▾

With an invite code from the person’s card. It goes by WhatsApp, Telegram or email, is valid for seven days, and in the app the person taps “Sign Up”, “I’m an employee” and enters the code with their own email. From then on the rota, changes and requests are on their phone.

What does it cost for a shop of twelve?▾

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.

Get the whole shop on one rota

Shift types and the first week take an hour, and the team sees the rota in the app the same day, in both branches.

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