Blog
Shifts, retail, surprises and organisation: field notes for anyone managing people in stores or on the ground.
62 articles · page 2 of 6
Volunteer rotas start from availability, not from demand
In a voluntary organisation nobody can be required to turn up: how to build reliable cover starting from what people can genuinely give.
Why volunteers drop out: what the rota can prevent
Almost nobody leaves for lack of motivation: they leave because of organisational friction, and much of that friction comes from the rota itself.
Excel shift schedule template: download it and use it well
A free weekly template that adds up the hours for you, handles shifts running past midnight and compares the total against contracted hours.
How to calculate worked hours without botching the minutes
The five-step method, converting minutes to decimals, shifts past midnight and rounding policy: where the expensive mistakes actually come from.
Night work: who counts as a night worker, limits and rotas
Night time, the three-hour threshold, the eight-hour average and the free health assessment: what actually changes once someone becomes a night worker.
Overtime: limits, how it is paid and how to plan it down
There is no statutory overtime premium in the UK, but there is a ceiling: the 48-hour average. Where overtime really comes from, and how to cut it.
Rest breaks during a shift: when they are required
Past six hours of daily working time a break is owed: how long it has to be, what the rules for young workers are and how to make it survive a busy floor.
Weekly rest: 24 hours, Sundays and the shop worker opt-out
Twenty-four uninterrupted hours in every seven days, or 48 in a fortnight: how weekly rest works in a business that trades every day of the week.
How many hours can you work per week: the 48-hour average
Forty-eight hours as an average ceiling including overtime, measured over seventeen weeks: how the weekly limit actually reads, and what it means to plan.
Rest between shifts: how the 11 hours actually work
Eleven consecutive hours between the end of one shift and the start of the next: what the rules say, where the exceptions sit and how to plan around it.
Evening closing and safety: the last one out is not just turning off lights
Cash, alarm, shutters and a dark street all land in the same twenty minutes. How to plan closing shifts so nobody is left improvising alone.
Low footfall and security: not the time to switch off
An empty shop feels like an easy day, but fewer people on the floor means fewer eyes on the door. How to cover quiet hours without dreading them.