Best days for employees to work? Need Advice

[BigDreamer]

I am looking to take on three full-time staff members for a new store in the near future. The shifts will be Mon-Sat 9am-6pm and Sun 10:45-5:15

The issue I have is what is the best way to split these three staff members across all days to make sure I have at least two in each day. (In case one is sick or is on leave)

My original idea was to have two working Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and two separate weekdays each with the third working Monday to Thursday + Saturday. I would of course pay the two working all the weekend more as well as the fact they will have to do less hours overall.

I am worried it will be difficult to find people who want to work all weekend. Is there a better way to organise the rotas? Or will the higher pay/less hours be enough to convince them. (I am already paying quite a bit higher than the average salary for the area)

Thanks a lot for any advice!

 

[kulture]

Gosh, your question raises so many concerns. It comes across as if you have no retail experience and no idea regarding employing people. I hope that this perception is wrong.

If you want to have at least 2 staff in the shop on a 7 day basis you will need to employ a lot more than 3 people. You do realise that each employee is entitled to over 5 weeks leave? How will you cover even one person going on a two week holiday?

Likewise when you employ real people, it helps to talk with them and come up with a rota that is fair and which they agree with.

Have you managed a shop yet? Have you drawn up rotas and seen how they change almost as soon as they are published? Have you considered the potential headache if you pay different rates depending on what their normal rota is and they ask to swap one week with a lower paid person?

 

[Deleted member 335660]

I think @kulture has made some valid points.

Your Monday to Saturday slot is 9 x 6 =54 plus Sunday 4.5 hours so total coverage is 58.5 x 2 people that is 117 hours or between 3 people 39 hours each.

I would think a shift pattern that has them working Saturday or Sunday might be more attractive.

Person 1 does Sunday to Thursday = 40.5 hrs
Person 2 does Monday to Friday = 45 hrs
Person 3. does Friday to Sunday = 22.5 hrs
Need a 4th person for the first Sunday and the last Saturday and holidays.

So what ever you do you need 4 people to maintain 2.

 

[fisicx]

And people won’t want to work the same shifts every week. And you have to allow for sickness, hospital and doctor appointments, personal days as well as holidays.

You also need to think about opening and closing responsibilities. Will every member of staff have a set of keys or just one per shift.

You may also find some applicants can’t do a full day but can cover every day so you could end up with early and late shifts.

And people need to take breaks during the day, will the store still function with just one person on duty?

 

[intheTRADE]

The OP's username is apt for thinking 3 people can cover 7 days

 

[MOIC]

It might be better to employ 3 full time staff and 1 part time staff. The part time staff for peak hours and help filling in for holidays.

It's doable.

 

[Newchodge]

Don't forget the working time regulations. 11 hours between shifts. I day off in 7 or 2 days off in 14 (not including the 11 hours between shifts. You will need to be careful of this when people change shifts.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Three FT staff will not be able to cover those hours without significant overtime.

If you add up your opening hours over a year and divide by a 35-hour week, with 2 people on shift at all times you need 4 FTE without considering absence due to sickness/compassionate leave/jury duty etc.

Increasing the working week to 40 hours still means that you need 3.5 FTE, which with absences will be closer to 4 FTE.

Given a population that favours part-time roles of no longer than 16 hours per week, 8 part-timers could cover the hours.

Obviously a combination of 'core' full-time manager, supported by one or more full-time staff and a selection of part-time staff is likely to be the best compromise.

 

[MOIC]

Recalculated . . . .

Need a minimum of 3 full time & 2 part time.

Retail shops don't start coming alive until midday, so hours can be reduced.

 

[BigDreamer]

Thanks to everyone to their input. Some great Ideas to think about from some and I think I will have to do at least 3 full time and 2 part time as some have mentioned for the beginning. Obviously depending on demand and any problems we find, I will definitely look increase it to around 8 employees between part and full time once the ball gets rolling.

Unfortunately the only retail experience I have is from several retail businesses we have across Africa, never before in a developed country. As you can imagine, people in Africa will happily work 10 hours a day 6 days a week as long as they get paid coupled with the fact that holidays are usually not even taken as they prefer to work them and get paid double for their holiday time. Also, when you can get 10 staff there for the price of one in the UK, staffing is really the smallest problem one will have.

So while admin side and management of different parts of the business are not an issue, it is the minefield of UK employment law and that people here expect to work less and have more flexibility that is a new issue to me.