The problem
A shop open six days a week with four part-timers can lose a lot of time to the rota. If the owner spends 45 minutes a week on it (45 x 4.3 = about 194 minutes) and 8 shift swaps or holiday messages a month take 5 minutes each (40 minutes), that's 234 minutes, 3.9 hours a month.
What the AI does
RotaCloud is rota software. Its site lists drag-and-drop rota planning, staff availability patterns, holiday management and shift swapping on the Standard plan, and leave request rules on Pro. Staff see their shifts and send availability and swap requests in a mobile app. You build the week from what staff have said they can work, then publish it. Pricing is by the number of employees, including you. Rota software doesn't calculate holiday pay or check working-time limits; your payroll and your own records still do that.
A worked example
A bookshop in Hay-on-Wye with the owner and four part-timers (five people in all, so the 1 to 5 price band) builds the rota in RotaCloud each Thursday and lets staff swap shifts in the app.
Before
About 45 minutes a week on the rota plus 8 swap and holiday messages at 5 minutes: 194 + 40 = 234 minutes, 3.9 hours a month
After
About 15 minutes a week building the rota (65 minutes a month) plus 8 swaps approved at 1 minute: 73 minutes, 1.2 hours a month
What it's worth
About 2.7 hours a month saved (161 minutes), worth around £54 if your time is worth £20 an hour. RotaCloud's 1 to 5 employee band is £10 a month on Standard or £15 on Pro, which adds leave request rules. The owner counts as one of the five; a sixth person moves you to a higher band, so check the price for your team size.
How to set it up
- Start the 30-day free trial, which needs no payment details, and add all staff including yourself.
- Ask each person for their usual availability and enter it as availability patterns.
- Build next week's rota by dragging shifts and publish it so staff see it in the app.
- Agree a rule that shift swaps go through the app and you approve them.
- Set the shop's holiday request routine and keep your own record of days taken for payroll.
What goes wrong
- Pricing is by headcount, and the page shows a plain price only for the 1 to 5 band; add a sixth person and the price rises.
- The pricing page shows time clock (Time & Attendance) and SMS notifications as separate add-ons with no clear billing period, so the £10 to £15 doesn't include them.
- A rota is not a record of hours worked or holiday entitlement; keep what your payroll and the Working Time rules need elsewhere.
- Staff need to check the app; agree what happens when someone doesn't see a change.