Rosters

Creating a roster doesn’t have to be a complicated exercise. It can be as simple as a calendar or wall planner at the cowshed. Some like to set their roster out on a spreadsheet while other farming businesses use purpose built rostering tools. Your roster should be visible to everyone on the team, clearly showing days on and off, including breaks. It’s up to you and your team to determine the best way to roster for your business.

Creating a great roster

Involve your team in planning the roster system. Choose two or three roster rotations and weigh up the pros and cons of each. Discuss time-off preferences with team members, including whether they prefer weekends or weekdays off. You can try to accommodate their needs while still meeting your own requirements for running the business and taking time off.

Look around at farms of a similar size and set-up to see what rosters they are using and why. Consider the following:

• The minimum number of people you need to be rostered on for day-to-day work to be achievable.
• If you want to set your team up to have the same days off each week, this will limit your options as your rotation will need to be devisable by 7.
• How often the roster options you are considering only have minimal team members rostered on.
• Make sure you plan for statutory holidays and annual leave.
• Remember to include all management in the roster so they get their planned time off.
• You may see some obvious gaps in your rosters that could be covered by a part-time/casual team member or relief milker.
• If there's any ability for you to plan early finishes and late starts as a way of reducing worked hours and meeting your team’s work-life balance goals.
• Allow time for team meetings, planning and training.

After a month or so, check in with your team to see how the roster is working and discuss any tweaks that could make it better.

Many employers change their roster throughout the year, so team members get adequate rest over high workload periods, such as in spring. You can also consider having people on different rosters to suit your business and their personal needs.

Roster pitfalls to avoid

To prevent being understaffed, make sure you consider your team's planned leave and avoid scheduling too many days with minimal team members rostered on. When there are fewer people available to complete the same work, they are less able to respond to problems that crop up and it increases the hours they have to work. This can lead to stress and fatigue which will ultimately make your business less productive and your team less motivated.

Roster options and features

Roster options used on dairy farms are featured below. When choosing your roster, it’s important you consider how competitive it will be in attracting and retaining your team.

Try the Job Competitiveness Calculator to compare the farm assistant roles you are offering against other comparable jobs.

International labour standards advise employees should not be expected to work more than 48 hours each week. These standards also advise that any work above 48 hours should be paid by the hour. The additional hours also need to be agreed with the team member, rather than expected.

There are no legal standards in New Zealand around a working week, rather, the employer is required to ensure that people at work are safe. Extended working hours can significantly impact employee fatigue, which in turn can impact productivity, accident rates and employee health. The 48-hour standard is therefore useful when considering the potential impact of any roster on team members and demonstrates the importance of gaining employee consent to your roster.

Features of 5:2

• Same days of the week off each 7-day rotation.
• Some staff could regularly have weekend days off.
• Research tells us that this type of roster, which is equivalent to many ‘in town’ jobs is likely to be more competitive when seeking to find or retain people in your business.

5:2 works well for

• Teams of 2 requiring min. 1 person rostered on.
• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Larger teams if part-time, relief staff or management were to regularly cover shifts.

Things you would need to manage

• Staff may not want their days off during the week, every week.

Features of 7:2, 7:2, 7:3

• Same days of the week off each 28-day rotation.
• All staff in a 3 person team could have 2 weekend days off each month.

7:2, 7:2, 7:3 works well for

• Teams of 2 requiring min. 1 person rostered on.
• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Larger teams if part-time, relief staff or management were to regularly cover shifts.

Things you would need to manage

• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Features of 6:2

• Irregular days of the week off each rotation.

6:2 works well for

• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on.
• Teams of 4 requiring min. 3 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Larger teams if part-time, relief staff or management were to regularly cover shifts.

Things you would need to manage

• There would be no day when all staff are rostered on together, making fully attended team meetings difficult.
• Irregular days off may not suit all staff.
• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Features of 8:2, 8:3

• Same days of the week off each 21-day rotation.
• Can be worked so that each person in a 3-person team regularly gets a weekend day off every 21 days.

8:2, 8:3 works well for

• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Larger teams if part-time, relief staff or management were to regularly cover shifts.

Things you would need to manage

• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Features of 11:3

• Same days of the week off each 14-day rotation.
• Can be worked so that every team member (in teams of up to 4 people) can have at least one weekend day off every fortnight.
• Poor ratio of days on:off (but some staff may prefer this if it allows them to have regular days off, and 3 days in a row off that include some weekend days).

11:3 works well for

• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Teams of 4 requiring min. 3 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.
• Larger teams if part-time, relief staff or management were to regularly cover shifts.

Things you would need to manage

• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Features of 8:2

• Irregular days off, and not many falling on the weekend.

8:2 works well for

• Teams of 4 requiring min. 3 people rostered on.
• Teams of 5 requiring min. 4 people rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover them.

Things you would need to manage

• Irregular days off may not suit all staff.
• There would be no day when all staff are rostered on together, making fully attended team meetings difficult.
• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Features of 4:3, 6:1

• Same days of the week off each 14-day rotation.

4:3, 6:1 works well for

• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on, but the dairy would need a relief milker every second Sat/Sun.
• Teams of 4 that could operate with only 2 staff at the weekends.

Things you would need to manage

• Only 1 day off after 6 days on may not be enough for some staff to rest before starting their next work period.

Features of 5:2, 6:1

• Same days of the week off each 14-day rotation.

5:2, 6:1 works well for

• Teams of 3 that need 2 people on, but 2 or 3 play Saturday sport. Would just need a relief milker (or management) to milk every Saturday.

Things you would need to manage

• Only 1 day off after 6 days on may not be enough for some staff to rest before starting their next work period.

Features of 9:3

• Irregular days off and not many days off falling on a weekend.

9:3 works well for

• Teams of 3 requiring min. 2 people rostered on.
• Teams of 4 that require at least 3 people to be rostered on, but any staff on leave would require relief staff or management to cover.

Things you would need to manage

• Potential for employee fatigue with longer working week.

Who else can help

There are several software options available to help you create rosters, but the two that have been developed primarily with dairy farmers in mind are PaySauce and AgriSmart. They both have the functionality within their payroll systems to create farm rosters. Follow the links to contact them for further information and pricing.