Thousands of businesses get new free rota planning tool from BrightHR to support rising costs

Staffing issues can cause havoc for businesses. Avanti West Coast has come under fire after announcing it is slashing timetables and suspending ticket sales due to severe staff shortages and sickness. We’ve also seen unprecedented delays at airports across the country for months now, causing havoc for travellers.

This might be on the extreme scale in terms of a scheduling mess up, and many businesses may never face such a combination of events that have led to this outcome. However, the lessons are clear. Getting staff rotas and schedules wrong can negatively affect a business both financially, reputationally and from a staff morale perspective.

Alan Price, CEO at BrightHR, says: “The first step to avoiding issues like this is to have a rota management plan in place, to monitor and record shift patterns and absences accurately.

“For any modern business to run smoothly and accurately the best solution is a software one. However we know that rising costs are hitting businesses hard, so investing in new technology may not be an option right now.

“At BrightHR our goal is to make things as easy as possible for employers – that’s why we are launching a new rota management tool completely free of charge.

“Many industries rely heavily on shift patterns or flexible/hybrid working and constantly changing rotas can cause headaches for many. We’ve designed this new software with them in mind, and it makes sense to offer it for free. All industries have been hit hard as people tighten their belts amid the cost-of-living crisis, nowhere more so than the travel and hospitality industries.

“BrightHR Lite will ensure that employers are never left understaffed due to avoidable scheduling issues. We hope this will help businesses run more smoothly while making managers’ lives easier as well as ensuring staff get the downtime they need.”

Kate Nicholls OBE, CEO at UK Hospitality, says: “The tens of thousands of our members’ venues across the hospitality industry know all too well how quickly staffing situations can change, requiring constant changes to the rota which can lead to confusion, mix-ups, and overlapping shifts.

“Rota management is pivotal for the functioning of a hospitality business and is one of the most important aspects of how bars, restaurants and cafes are run. BrightHR Lite makes rota management easier, by ensuring employees are constantly aware of which shifts they have been assigned and saving managers the trouble of drawing up new rotas when changes need to be made. This frees up time to focus on the many other challenging aspects of running a venue.

“Gladly, we’ve moved on from having handwritten rotas on a wall and employees having to come in/call up to find out when they are working.”