Holiday rota planning: stay in control of staffing, availability and holiday pay
At Christmas, Easter and other public holidays, employees want time off. But in hospitality, leisure and retail, these are often the busiest days of the year. If staff can enter their availability without any rules, you'll soon be asking: who's actually left on the rota?
With Tiemdo, you set up public holidays in advance, limit unavailability, monitor minimum staffing levels and apply holiday pay automatically. That way, you stay in control of your staff scheduling.
Sound familiar? Twenty employees, but no one in the kitchen
The holidays are coming and the requests start pouring in. One person wants Christmas Day off, another Boxing Day, and a third simply marks themselves as unavailable. Before you know it, you have twenty employees but no one to cover the kitchen, the floor or the shop.
Public holidays visible in your rota planner
In Tiemdo, you can import national public holidays, which appear straight away in the planner. That lets you plan your rota with the expected rush, extra staff, different opening hours, surcharges and leave requests in mind.
You can also add regional holidays and create your own dates, such as a Sunday trading day, festival, street fair, company party or busy holiday period. For each holiday, you choose which departments it applies to. Is your restaurant open while your office is closed, or does one location have a regional holiday? Your rota still matches how your business actually works.
Block availability on busy days
Know you'll need lots of staff at Christmas? Block that date for unavailability. Employees can no longer simply mark themselves as unavailable. If someone still wants the day off, they can request it by agreement. The planner stays in charge.
Set a maximum for unavailability
You don't always need to block a day completely. You can also set how many employees may be unavailable on a given day, for example a maximum of five. Once that limit is reached, others can no longer mark themselves as unavailable. Staff keep some flexibility, and you avoid an empty rota.
Minimum staffing per role
A company-wide limit isn't always enough. Say you have thirty employees and ten are allowed to be unavailable. If those ten happen to be all your chefs, your guests still won't get fed.
That's why Tiemdo also lets you set limits per role, for example:
Chef:
at least five available
Front of house:
at least eight available
Dishwashing:
at least two available
This way, you look beyond the total headcount to the people you really need.
More availability rules
You can also set:
How far ahead
employees can enter their availability, so no one blocks dates a year in advance.
A minimum number of available hours
, so someone on a flexible contract can't block out almost everything.
A maximum number of unavailable days
per week and per month.
Calculate holiday pay automatically
Does your company or collective agreement include a surcharge for working on a public holiday? Set it up in Tiemdo, with factors for wages, unsocial hours allowances and time off in lieu. When an employee works that day, the correct surcharge can be applied automatically.
No more working out afterwards who worked on Christmas Day or which hours should be paid at a higher rate. It saves checking time for time tracking and payroll, and reduces the risk of errors.
Everything in one place
Planning a holiday properly takes more than adding a name to the calendar. You want to know who can work, who wants time off, which roles must be covered, which surcharge applies and what it means for labour costs. Handling it all in one system means no more separate spreadsheets, WhatsApp messages and lists.
Stay in control
Sharing availability doesn't mean unlimited time off. With Tiemdo, you set the rules in advance: employees know where they stand, and you keep enough people available for the busiest days of the year.
Want to see how to set up holidays, availability, limits and surcharges? Explore our staff scheduling or try Tiemdo free for 30 days.