By alisonbarlow|Jun 20, 2024|1:35 pm BST

Picture the scene – your restaurant is gearing up for a busy couple of weeks. As you pull together the schedule, you identify a number of open shifts that you are struggling to fill; perhaps due to staff vacancies, holidays or absences. Meanwhile, another location in your restaurant chain has the opposite problem – they have some part-time employees looking to pick up extra shifts, but none are available.

The above is exactly the problem that the ‘Shift Pooling’ feature in Fourth’s scheduling solution solves. Integrated with Fourth’s My Schedule App, it allows employees to volunteer for extra shifts across multiple locations in a business, helping managers fill empty rota spots and maximise labour efficiency. Shift Pooling is a key feature in Fourth’s recent Level Up product release, delivering a range of new capabilities designed to help hospitality operators meet today’s economic challenges.

Flexibility is key

A whopping four-fifths of hospitality workers say flexible working hours are important to them, a perk valued particularly highly by younger employees. Yet, less than half have access to flexible working, and 53% are actively looking to improve their work-life balance. And they can afford to jump ship in search of it.

The job vacancy rate in hospitality is around the 8% mark (or 120,000 jobs) and is most keenly felt among head chefs and production chefs, where vacancies in January 2024 topped 10% and 21%, respectively. It’s a competitive job market, where operators struggle to fill shifts, and employees have their choice of employers.

Shift Pooling saves the day

Fourth’s Shift Pooling feature enables managers to advertise open shifts and employees across locations can apply for them. This ensures shifts are filled quickly and efficiently, saving managers time and increasing individuals’ access to work. This degree of flexibility is particularly well suited to part-time employees and those who can’t commit to regular hours, such as students and caregivers, offering them the ability to fill shifts as and when they’re available.

Accessed directly from the My Schedule App, Shift Pooling enables managers to set criteria for shifts that ensure they get the skill sets they need. They can limit visibility to those within the business who have certain titles, are trained for specific brands, or work within a defined region. Or, if the shift doesn’t require specific training or experience, roles can be advertised to all staff.

Employees search for shifts in the My Schedule App and make offers for those available at the times and locations best suited to them. The manager then receives a list of employees who have offered for the open shift and can award it to their preferred candidate.

Shifts can also be advertised to external agency staff through our dedicated Shift Pool User Interface, which allows agency workers to view and apply for available shifts. It also includes reconciliation reporting so operators can ensure invoices for agency staff are accurate and paid without delay. Fourth currently partner with Limber for external shift pooling, with more agencies in the works.

Maximise the potential of the entire workforce

Labour shortages are an ongoing challenge for hospitality operators, adding pressure to teams and negatively impacting service levels while creating a highly competitive hiring market. Shift Pooling from Fourth gives operators and managers a solution to both issues. It means fewer shifts go unfilled, and staff can pick up additional work from other locations and brands at a time and place that suits them – a win-win for everyone.