What is a staff rota?

A good rota has the right people in at the right times: enough for the rush, not a crowd for the quiet hour after. Get it wrong one way and service suffers; the other way and labour cost eats the day's profit.

Building one

1. Start from your sales by hour. Your busiest hours, not your opening hours, decide who you need.
2. Set the shape of the day. Opening, the rush, the lull, close. Each needs a different team.
3. Fill the key roles first. A shift without someone who can open, cash up or lead the kitchen is not a full shift.
4. Check the cost. Hours × rates against the sales you expect.
5. Publish it early. People have lives; a rota shared a week or more ahead is a rota people turn up for.

Labour budget

Labour budget = expected sales × target labour %

If you expect £18,000 of sales next week and aim for 28% labour, you have about £5,040 to spend on the rota, including employer's National Insurance, pension and holiday pay.

Why it matters

• It is the biggest cost you set each week.
• It is what staff feel most: fair shifts and early notice keep people.
• Compared with clocked hours, it shows where shifts run long.

Common mistakes

1. Copying last week. Sales change with the weather, the season and the school holidays.
2. Rota by availability only. Who can work matters; who is needed matters more.
3. No record of actual hours. Without clock-ins, you cannot compare the plan with what happened.

Tracking it in DUMA

Build the week's rota and publish it to the team, with open shifts for people to pick up. Staff clock in and out on the device, so planned and worked hours sit side by side. The Sales by hour report shows when you trade, and Labour vs sales shows labour %, and sales per labour hour, against what you took.