Rostering software for bakeries
Two businesses under one roof: a production crew that starts when the street is empty, and a counter that opens when the bread is out. They barely overlap, and they have to be rostered together.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Declan M.Baker | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 1–9 |
| Yuki S.Pastry | 3–11 | 3–11 | off | 3–11 | 3–11 | 2–10 |
| Marisol D.Counter | 6–2 | 6–2 | 6–2 | 6–2 | 6–2 | 6–2 |
| Tom H.Counter | off | 9–3 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 7–3 |
| Ruby N.Counter | 11–4 | off | 11–4 | off | 11–4 | 9–4 |
Saturday starts an hour earlier for the bigger bake, and the counter carries a third person.
What makes a bakery hard to roster
Four things that come up in every one of these weeks, and what happens here instead.
What changes once it is running
What bakeries get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a bakery
What it is used for in a bakery
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- A bake shift starting at two in the morning and a counter shift starting at six
- Shifts that begin before midnight counted as the hours worked rather than split at twelve
- A reminder sent the evening before, because nobody is awake to send one at one
- The distance from the bakery recorded on a 2am clock in, with a photo if you require one
- Two crews that barely overlap, read as one week on one screen
- A heavier weekend bake rostered by copying the week that matched it
The 2am nobody heard the alarm
Two bakers, three on the counter, doors open at six thirty.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| 2:10am | The second baker has not clocked in. | The shift shows as started with nothing against it, ten minutes in. |
| 2:25am | He answers the phone. He slept through it. | You know before the dough does, and the head baker starts the second mix. |
| 6:05am | The counter opens with less on the shelf than it should have. | The counter shift is untouched. Only the bake shift changed. |
| 6:40am | He arrives four hours late and works through to eleven. | The clock in is recorded at the time it happened, against the shift it belongs to. |
| Monday | The bake week is approved. | The late start is a row with a reason on it, not a conversation months later. |
One missed alarm, a shorter shelf, and hours that match what was actually worked.
The jobs that stop being jobs
Where the hours in a week like this go. No stopwatch: the left column is what the work takes without it, and the right is what is left of the same task.
| The job | Usually | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing the bake started | Driving in at three to check for yourself | A shift with no clock in against it, visible from bed |
| Rostering a crew that finishes as the other arrives | Two rosters and a handover nobody wrote down | One week with both crews in it, and the overlap where you put it |
| Counting a shift that begins at eleven at night | Splitting it across two days and adding it up twice | One shift, the hours it is |
| Reminding a baker about a 2am start | A text you have to remember to send before you go to bed | A reminder before every shift, at the interval you set once |
| Getting a weekend of bake hours to payroll | Adding up a wall calendar on Sunday night | Approve the week and send it |
What the record shows, and what stays yours
Roster Flow keeps the record. Meeting the obligation is still the workplace's job, and these are the parts of it nothing here decides for you.
- The clock in time on an overnight shift, and how far from the bakery it was
- Shifts that cross midnight, kept whole rather than cut in two
- A photo at clock in where you require one, stored with the time
- Corrections to an overnight shift, with who made them and why
- The approved week, locked before it goes anywhere
- Night and early morning penalties, which payroll applies
- Breaks on an eight hour bake, and the rules your award sets for them
- Food safety and allergen training records, which are not held here
- Whether a four hour late start is paid as rostered or as worked
What has to be kept, and for how long, is set out by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Nothing here interprets an award or certifies that a workplace complies with one.
Who is usually on the team
Commonly five to twenty: bakers and pastry hands overnight, counter staff and a supervisor through the day, plus weekend casuals.
What drives the wage cost
The overnight crew is the expensive half, and what you pay for it depends on the rates and loadings you set. The estimate totals each day as you build, so the Saturday bake is a number before it is a decision.
Questions people in bakeries ask
Does a 2am to 10am shift count as one shift?
Yes. Place it as one shift with a start and a finish. Worked time is taken from the clock in and clock out, so a shift that spans midnight is counted as the hours worked.
Can we roster the bake and the shop separately?
They are in the same week and the same grid. If you want them fully separate, set up production and the shop as two venues and switch between them; staff can belong to both.
Can the counter staff see the bakers’ hours?
No. Staff see their own shifts and their own hours. Managers see everybody’s.
Does a two in the morning crew get a reminder that suits that hour?
The reminder interval is yours to set, so a baker can be nudged the evening before rather than twenty minutes ahead of a 2am start. If somebody does not appear, you are told and given a shortlist of who is free.
Can the bakers and the counter staff be on different rates and titles?
Each person has their own rate, which is what the estimate prices, and their own job title, which shows beside their name on the roster and when you are picking who works a shift.
Nobody is awake to check the 2am start. How is it verified?
Each person clocks in from their own account on their own phone, and there is no shared kiosk and no shift code. The clock in keeps its time, the distance from the bakery and a photo if you require one. A start well outside the radius is flagged for you to look at.