The words a rota is made of
The terms a manager or a shift worker is most likely to look up, each defined plainly, then explained in terms of what actually happens to it in a small workplace and what Weeksort does with it.
Every term
- Shift schedule (rota)
- Who works which shift over a stretch of days, usually one week.
- Open shift
- A shift on the schedule that nobody has been assigned to yet.
- Shift swap
- Two people trading shifts, or one handing a shift to another.
- Split shift
- Two separate blocks of work in one day, with a long gap between.
- Opening and closing shifts
- The first and last shifts of the day, needing somebody trusted to do them.
- Availability
- When somebody can work, and which shifts they would rather have.
- Time off request
- Somebody asking in advance not to be scheduled on given dates.
- Rest between shifts
- The minimum gap between the end of one shift and the start of the next.
- Days in a row
- The longest run of consecutive working days somebody may be given.
- Published schedule
- The version of the week staff can see, and the one that counts.
- Join code
- A short code a workplace hands out so staff can ask to join it.
- Position
- The job a shift is staffed for — the till, the grill, reception.
- Qualification
- A skill or certificate a position requires before somebody may work it.
- Shift coverage
- How badly a shift needs filling: mandatory, important or optional.
One thing none of these words means
None of them means attendance. Weeksort records who is scheduled to work rather than who turned up: it is not a time clock, it does not calculate pay, and it is not anybody's statutory record of hours worked.