Features to Look While Purchasing a Staff Rota Software for Business – Business owners who decide to purchase rota software for their company take a giant leap from scribbling rosters on a piece of paper or maintaining them on Excel spreadsheets. A rota software can make the life of managers and CEOs a lot easier by planning shifts for the employees.

But, they can often get confused by the multitude of options while trying to choose a staff rota software. That is why we have compiled a list of features that business owners and managers should look for when selecting an ideal rota software. It will enable them to place better control on their time tracking and shift scheduling capabilities.

Smartphone Access

Business leaders and managers may not be sitting in front of the computer every day. They often have to conduct various business activities these days while on the move. Therefore, it is crucial to choose rota software that can be accessed using an app on smartphones.

Business owners and CEOs should always choose software that offers an app for both iOS and Android. That way, they can easily create and edit the rosters for the team members conveniently through their phones. All the employees would also be able to check their schedules on their mobile devices and update availability or adjustments in real-time.

Free Trial

It is always advisable to try any software before purchasing it, especially for business purposes. Managers and CEOs often think that a particular software ticks all the boxes to fit the company requirements, but they cannot see the shortcomings until they use it.

So there is no better way to judge the performance of the software before using it for some time. Therefore, business leaders looking for rota software providers in the UK, US, or anywhere else in the world should look for options that offer a free trial.

It will allow them to understand how the software works and get a hang of the interface/features before they commit to paying the monthly plans. However, company leaders should avoid free rota software downloads from unreliable sources as they can contain malware.

Time Logging

Maintaining manual timesheets can be a tedious and repetitive task for business owners and managers. Therefore, they should always choose a rota software that also provides a clock-in and clock-out application. That way, the team members can clock in and clock out through their smartphones.

The information gets recorded automatically for further use or integration. Business leaders should choose the software carefully that provides a location-specific clock-in feature.

That way, they can ensure that team members can only clock in once they have reached the premises. Alternatively, the software can place restrictions so employees can clock in once they get connected to the company Wi-Fi.

HR Integration

Business owners need to ensure that the rota software they choose offers integration for various human resource systems for the company. That way, they can optimize payroll and other employee accounting aspects to streamline the crucial human resources activities automatically.

These additional HR features are especially required for small businesses, as they probably cannot invest in robust HR tools and software. The HR integrated features of rota software allow them to use human resource management for business growth.

Shift Swapping

Business leaders can give their employees some control over schedule management by giving them access to a shift swapping feature. It also means that CEOs and managers will not have to get involved with the tedious and boring task of looking for replacements for employees that need a break. Instead, they can concentrate on finding ways to grow the business.

Holiday Planning

A holiday planning feature will enable business owners to keep track of leaves planned and applied by their employees. Managers will not be able to schedule staff for a shift if they already have approved leaves on those dates, which can avoid confusion and hassles.

Employees can easily request holidays or leaves to the software, and business leaders can ensure that they have optimum human resources during that time to maintain productivity.

Forecast Shifts and Generate Reports

It can be difficult for business owners to get an overview of future tasks to forecast the shifts. However, an ideal software has the details of every employee’s skill set. Therefore, it can automatically suggest shifts that can provide maximum productivity for a given task.

The software can also combine the data from shift patterns to generate necessary reports, which can streamline several administrative tasks. Business leaders should look for report features that enable them to pull up weekly and monthly details regarding employee attendance and leaves.

We hope that business owners can choose an ideal rota software that contains these essential features. It will allow them to streamline a lot of their employee management needs, such as shift planning, shift swapping, holiday planning, employee punctuality, absenteeism, payroll calculation, and several others. Getting the right rota software can be an essential factor for the success of any business.