Three venues, one rota, and Sunday back.
A small hospitality group running two restaurants and a bar, 47 staff, split shifts across all three sites and a duty manager building the rota at home on a Sunday.
This is a worked example built from the real product, not a testimonial from a named customer. Figures show what the workflow removes, and the maths behind them is stated on the page. We would rather show you an honest model than invent a case study.
A spreadsheet, a group chat and a clocking book.
The rota lived in a spreadsheet that was emailed on Sunday night and printed for the wall. By Tuesday it was wrong: someone had swapped a shift in the group chat, someone else had called in sick, and the printed copy said neither. Hours came from a paper clocking book behind the bar. Every Monday a manager typed them into a second spreadsheet, chased three people whose entries were illegible, then emailed the total to the bookkeeper — who re-keyed it a third time into payroll. Nobody could answer “how much holiday have I got left?” without opening a fourth file.
What the week looked like
- Rota built in a spreadsheet, printed for the wall
- Changes negotiated in a personal group chat
- Hours written by hand and typed up twice
- Leave balances in a separate file only the manager could see
- Certificates in a folder nobody checked until an inspection
What replaced it, step by step.
One rota, three venues
Locations set up with their own geofences, shift types and budgets. The rota is built once and published to every phone.
Cover moves to open shifts
A gap goes out to everyone qualified and free across all three sites; the first to claim it fills it.
Hours capture themselves
Staff clock in inside the venue geofence, or on the tablet behind the bar. The clocking book stops existing.
One approval to pay
Timesheets build from the punches with breaks deducted; the manager approves once and the pay run follows.
The rota that is right on Tuesday.
Publishing pushes the week to every phone, and any later change pushes again. There is no printed copy to disagree with, and no group-chat swap the manager did not see, because swaps and claims happen in the same place the rota lives.
- Open shifts pushed across all three venues at once
- Swaps requested by staff, approved in one queue
- Conflict flags catch leave clashes before publishing
- Live labour cost per venue while the rota is being built
| Employee | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie | 09–17 Front of house | 09–17 Front of house | 12–20 Front of house | 12–20 Front of house | |
| Amina | 08–16 Team lead | 08–16 Team lead | 08–16 Team lead | ||
| Leo | 10–18 Clashes with leave | 10–18 Kitchen | Open shift |
Monday morning stops being data entry.
Timesheets arrive already built from the geofenced punches, with breaks deducted and overtime applied. What is left is judgement — approving the exceptions — rather than transcription.
- Scheduled against worked, with discrepancies flagged
- Missed clock-outs raised before the pay run, not after
- Approve and lock, then pay from exactly those hours
- Payslip PDFs appear in each employee’s own app
| Employee | Location and shifts | Scheduled | Worked | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie Stone | Shoreditch · 5 shifts | 38.0h | 37.5h | Matches |
| Amina Okafor | Camden · 4 shifts | 32.0h | 34.25h | +2.25h OT |
| Leo Park | Shoreditch · 5 shifts | 40.0h | 36.0h | Missed clock-out |
Where the numbers come from.
Stated openly so you can check them against your own operation rather than take them on trust.
Modelled on the workflow described above. Your operation will differ — the point is which tasks disappear, not the exact figure.
| Task | Before | After | Saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building and re-issuing the weekly rota | 3.5 h | 0.75 h | 2.75 h |
| Arranging cover for absences | 2.5 h | 0.5 h | 2.0 h |
| Transcribing the clocking book | 2.0 h | 0 h | 2.0 h |
| Answering shift, leave and payslip questions | 2.5 h | 0.5 h | 2.0 h |
| Payroll preparation and corrections | 1.5 h | 0.25 h | 1.25 h |
| Weekly total | 12.0 h | 2.0 h | 10.0 h |
What this scenario usually raises.
Is a group chat really the problem?
Not on its own — it is that the group chat holds decisions the rota does not know about. Once claiming, swapping and publishing all happen in one place, the chat goes back to being a chat.
What about staff who do not want an app?
They can use the browser, and clock in on the tablet behind the bar. Kiosk mode means no one is forced to install anything on a personal phone.
How long did setup take in this model?
Three locations with geofences and shift types is an afternoon. Inviting 47 staff is a bulk invite; they complete their own profiles.
Does this need the Pro plan?
Core covers everything in this scenario except running pay inside TaskBit. Add Pro when you want the pay run and payslips too.
Test it against your own week.
Start free, or book a demo and we will build your rota into it first.
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