Lending staff between stores: how to fill an empty shift

Lending staff means covering a shift with an employee from another store of the same business, when nobody in the store itself can legally work it. It is done properly only if that employee passes the same checks across both stores’ shifts together: role, days off, 11 hours’ rest, consecutive days and contract.

Why a shift stays empty

Rarely because there aren’t enough people overall. Usually the people exist, just not for that shift:

• whoever has the role has a day off or leave that day;
• whoever is free closed the night before and wouldn’t get 11 hours’ rest;
• whoever could do it has already worked the shifts in their contract;
• whoever would take the shift would be on their seventh day in a row.

At another store, at the same time, there may be someone with the same role and room in their contract.

The five checks before lending someone

1. Role. Do they hold the role the shift needs, as main or secondary role?
2. Days off and leave. Are they free that day, and within their availability?
3. 11 hours’ rest. Counting their shifts at their own store, before and after.
4. Consecutive days. The shift doesn’t give them a seventh day in a row.
5. Contract. They still fit within their contract’s hours and shifts, counting the ones at their own store.

The third and fifth checks are the ones that slip, because the manager of the store asking sees only their own schedule. The previous day’s shift is in another schedule, and shows only if someone looks at both. Why the 11 hours slip so easily here is explained in the article on 11 hours’ rest.

Groups of stores

Not every store lends to every other. Two stores in the same neighbourhood can; two in different cities, probably not. Decide in advance which stores lend to each other, so the search only happens there.

The order when every store is built together

If all stores build their week together, start with the store that is shortest of staff. That way, whoever is spare goes first to where they are needed most, and fewer loans are needed afterwards.

After the loan

A loan changes two schedules, so it has to show in both:

• at the store being covered, who came and from where;
• at their own store, and in its timesheet, that they worked elsewhere that day, and the hours.

If the week has already been sent, the loan is also a change of hours to be declared in time.

How Postorunner does it

When nobody in the store can legally take a shift, Postorunner doesn’t force it: it leaves it as an empty slot. From there, “Pick from another store” lists the people available in the same group’s stores, and only those who can legally work it: with the right role, no day off that day, 11 hours’ rest and within their contract, counting all stores together. Like every change, the loan is checked again against every rule when it is saved.

• The Admin sets the groups of stores that lend to each other.
• Generate for every store starts with the store that is shortest of staff.
• The shift is marked as a loan at the store it covers, and in the ΩΡΟΜΕΤΡΗΣΗ timesheet of the employee’s own store it shows the other store’s name and the hours.

Frequently asked questions

Does the shift at the other store count toward the employee’s hours?

Yes. With the same employer, hours, rest and consecutive days count across all of their shifts together, wherever they are.

What if the stores belong to different companies?

Then the shift at the other store is work for another employer, with its own hiring and declaration duties. Talk to your accountant before organising it as a loan.

How does a loan show in the timesheet?

On the day the employee worked elsewhere, their own store’s timesheet shows the other store and the hours, so the day doesn’t look like a day off.