Rostering software for childcare centres
The doors are open twelve hours and no educator works twelve. The week is built out of staggered shifts that keep each room covered from the first child to the last, including the hour everybody would rather be at lunch.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadia O.Director | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 |
| Priya V.Room leader | 6:30–2:30 | 6:30–2:30 | 6:30–2:30 | 6:30–2:30 | 6:30–2:30 |
| Mei L.Educator | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 |
| Yuki S.Educator | 10:30–6:30 | 10:30–6:30 | 10:30–6:30 | 10:30–6:30 | 10:30–6:30 |
| Tom H.Float | 11–3 | 11–3 | 11–3 | 11–3 | 11–3 |
| Ana F.Cook | 8–2 | 8–2 | 8–2 | 8–2 | 8–2 |
The opener and the closer between them hold the twelve hours. The float exists to cover breaks through the middle of the day.
What makes a childcare centre 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 childcare centres get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a childcare centre
What it is used for in a childcare centre
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- A twelve hour day covered by staggered shifts rather than anybody working twelve
- A float rostered where the breaks are, as a shift like any other
- Rooms kept as venues when you want each one to read as its own week
- Sick calls that arrive with a reason and a shortlist of who can come in
- Approved leave visible on the roster before next month is built
- Hours approved weekly and sent to payroll, with corrections recorded as they are made
The morning the float called in sick
A 60 place centre, four rooms, doors open 6:30 to 6:30.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| 6:20am | The float, who covers every break from eleven, cannot come in. | The sick call is recorded with its reason, and the shift is marked for cover. |
| 6:35am | Three people are free today and one is already on a short shift. | The shortlist shows all three. Approved leave keeps two other names out of it. |
| 7:10am | Somebody takes it and can be in by half past ten. | The shift is moved and republished, and the rooms know before the first break. |
| 11:00am | Breaks start on time, room by room. | The cover shift is clocked in at the centre like any other shift. |
| Friday | The week is approved with one sick day and one cover shift in it. | Both carry a reason, and the hours go to payroll as they were worked. |
Breaks covered, a sick day recorded, and nothing decided by memory at four in the afternoon.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Covering a twelve hour day | Shifts written on a whiteboard that nobody outside the office can see | Staggered shifts in one week, published to every educator’s phone |
| Finding cover before 7am | Ringing down a list in the dark | A shortlist of who is free, with people on leave already excluded |
| Knowing who is in which room | A plan from Monday that changed on Tuesday | A roster per room, or one week read by job title |
| Closing the fortnight | Sign in sheets, a calculator and a Saturday morning | Exceptions first, approve each week, 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.
- Who was rostered in each room and who actually clocked in
- Sick calls and leave, with the reason given at the time
- Cover shifts, who moved them and when they were republished
- Corrections and approvals in order, readable months later
- Approved weeks locked before they are sent to payroll
- Educator to child ratios, which are not calculated or enforced here
- Qualifications, first aid and working with children checks, which are not held here
- What a programming hour or a non contact hour is paid at
- Anything your service approval or the regulator requires you to record
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
Ten to thirty: a director, room leaders, educators, a cook and a float who covers breaks.
What drives the wage cost
A steady weekday cost, where the variables are the float, any agency cover and the hours a sick call turns into. The estimate updates as you fill a gap, so a week with three absences is not a surprise at the end of it.
Questions people in childcare centres ask
Does it work out educator to child ratios?
No. It rosters people and records their hours, and the ratios you have to meet are yours to apply. What it gives you is a clear view of who is in each room at each hour.
Does it hold qualifications, first aid or working with children checks?
No. Those records stay where you keep them today. Nothing here verifies a check or warns you when one expires.
Can educators see their roster and request leave on their phone?
Yes. Published shifts, their own hours and leave requests, in the browser on the phone they already carry.
The centre is open twelve hours. Can staggered shifts cover that without anybody working twelve?
That is what the week grid is for. Early, middle and late shifts overlap where you need them to, and the cover for each part of the day is something you can see rather than something you have to work out in your head.
Somebody has to cover breaks. Can I roster a short float shift?
Yes. A two hour shift over the middle of the day is an ordinary shift, it prices in the estimate at that person’s rate, and it clocks in and out like any other.
Do the hours reach payroll without anybody retyping them?
Approved hours go to Xero, and only approved hours do. MYOB is coming soon, and without either the hours by employee report exports to CSV for whoever runs your payroll.