The problem
Removals work bunches up on Fridays and at month end, and much of the crew is part-time or casual. The rota lives in a WhatsApp group and the owner's head, and every week starts with a ring-round to see who's free. At 3 hours a week of calls and messages, that's about 13 hours a month, and a porter who didn't see the message means a move runs short-handed.
What the AI does
RotaCloud is rota software with a mobile app. Staff set their availability patterns and book holidays in the app; you build the week's rota by dragging shifts, starting from a template, and everyone gets their shifts by email and push notification. Staff can swap shifts with each other, and you see the labor cost of the week as you plan it.
A worked example
A removal company in Southampton has 2 drivers, 5 regular porters and the owner, 8 people in all. They move the rota from WhatsApp to RotaCloud's Standard plan and build each week from a template with the moves already booked.
Before
About 3 hours a week ringing round and rewriting the rota
After
About 1 hour a week to build and publish it, with swaps sorted between staff
What it's worth
About $343£258€307A$495C$485 a month in time saved, against $27£20€24A$38C$38 for the software. That is 2 hours a week, times 4.3, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour.
How to set it up
- Start RotaCloud's 30-day free trial, which needs no payment details, and add your staff, including yourself.
- Ask everyone to install the app and set their availability, especially which Fridays and Saturdays they can work.
- Build a template week around your usual crews, then each week drop in the moves you've booked.
- Publish the rota and stop sending shifts by WhatsApp, so the app is the one place to check.
- Agree a simple rule for swaps, such as both porters must be able to lift and the swap shows in the app.
What goes wrong
- Price depends on the number of employees, including you and managers. The 6 to 10 band is $27£20€24A$38C$38 a month on Standard; going to 11 doubles it to $53£40€48A$77C$75.
- Push and email notifications are included, but text messages are an add-on ($5£4€5A$8C$8 a month for 6 to 10 staff on the page's team-size selector), useful for porters who don't check apps.
- Casual staff may not keep their availability up to date. Ask for it by a set day each week.
- A rota app doesn't fix a crew that's too small for the busiest days; it just shows you sooner.