Rostering software for gyms and studios
Two peaks and a long middle. Somebody has to open at five, the desk needs cover until nine at night, and the instructors who take the classes are paid for the hours they actually work.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marisol D.Desk | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 7–12 |
| Tom H.Desk | 1–9 | 1–9 | 1–9 | 1–9 | 1–8 | off |
| Kirra D.Instructor | 5:30–6:30 | off | 5:30–6:30 | off | 5:30–6:30 | 8–9 |
| Sam T.Instructor | 6–7 | 6–7 | off | 6–7 | off | off |
| Ruby N.Cleaner | 9–11 | 9–11 | 9–11 | 9–11 | 9–11 | off |
The desk is covered five to nine on weekdays. Instructor shifts are the classes themselves, an hour at a time.
What makes a gym 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 gyms and studios get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a gym
What it is used for in a gym
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- A five in the morning open and a nine at night close on the same roster
- Classes rostered as short shifts, one hour at a time, for the instructor who takes them
- Desk cover kept separate from whoever is teaching, so one person is not both
- A clash flagged when an instructor is put on two things at once
- Casual instructors invited for a term and deactivated when the timetable changes
- Cleaning rostered in the quiet middle of the day, where it belongs
The evening two classes had the same instructor
A 24 hour gym with staffed hours, two studios and six casual instructors.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday 7pm | Next week is built from the timetable, studio by studio. | Each class is a short shift with a start and a finish, on the person taking it. |
| Sunday 7:12pm | One instructor ends up on a 6pm class in both studios. | The clash flags as the second shift is placed, with the reason on it. |
| Sunday 7:13pm | The second studio needs somebody else at six. | Availability shows who is free that evening, and the shift goes to one of them. |
| Tuesday 5:58am | The early class starts and the desk is already open. | Two people, two shifts, because opening and teaching are not the same job. |
| Sunday after | The gym’s week is approved. | Short class shifts are counted as the hours they are, with no gap time paid between them. |
Sixteen classes, one clash caught before it was published, and nobody teaching in two rooms at once.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Turning a class timetable into a roster | A timetable on the wall and a separate list of who is on | Each class as a shift, on the person who is taking it |
| Catching a double booked instructor | Finding out at 5:59pm | A clash flagged as the second shift is placed |
| Opening at five | One person who has done it for years and never gets a break | A shift with a reminder, and a shortlist when they cannot make it |
| Paying instructors for what they taught | Counting classes off a timetable at the end of the month | Hours from the shifts they actually worked, approved weekly |
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.
- Each class as its own shift, with the hours it actually ran
- Clashes that were flagged before the roster was published
- Clock ins from the floor, with the distance from the gym
- Who was on the desk while somebody else was teaching
- The approved week, with every correction and its reason
- Whether an instructor is an employee or a contractor, and what follows from that
- Qualifications, first aid and insurance, which are not held here
- Minimum engagement for a one hour class
- What early morning and evening hours are paid at
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
Four to twenty: a manager, front desk staff, a cleaner and casual instructors who take a class or two each.
What drives the wage cost
Early starts, evenings and weekends at the loadings you set. Because instructor shifts are short, the estimate makes it plain when a class costs more to staff than it brings in.
Questions people in gyms and studios ask
Does it manage the class timetable or member bookings?
No. It rosters staff and records their hours. Classes and bookings stay in whatever you use for them, and here a class is simply a short shift.
Can instructors be on a different rate?
Each person has their own rate for the estimate on the roster. What they are actually paid is worked out in your payroll system.
Can staff clock in from the floor?
Yes, on their own phone, with the distance from the gym recorded and a photo if you require one.
Instructors teach one class. Can I roster a one hour shift?
Yes, and it prices as an hour at that person’s own rate. A cover instructor on a different rate is priced as themselves rather than as whoever usually takes the class.
Can I see who has actually been opening at five?
Attendance compares rostered to worked and counts late starts, early finishes and no shows over four weeks, twelve weeks or a year. For a 5am open that is the difference between a suspicion and a record.
The desk and the floor need separate cover. Is that one roster or two?
Either. One roster with job titles beside each name keeps it on a single screen, and if you would rather keep the studio timetable separate from the desk, they can be two venues at no extra cost.