Hospitality: the rota and the clock in one place
Split shifts, last-minute cover, students on limited hours and a close-then-open that quietly breaks the rest rules. This is the hardest rota in any industry, and it is usually kept in a notebook.
The close-then-open problem
An adult worker is entitled to eleven consecutive hours’ rest in each 24-hour period (regulation 10(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998). A 23:00 close followed by an 08:00 open gives nine. It happens in almost every venue, it is nobody’s fault, and it is invisible until somebody counts.
The rota draft will not place that shift, and if you place it by hand it says so before you publish rather than after. Same for the weekly rest under regulation 11 and for under-18s, who get twelve hours and cannot be averaged. The rules in full.
Cover, swaps and the Saturday problem
- Staff offer and take shifts in the app; you approve or let it run. No group chat, no misunderstanding, no nobody turning up.
- Everyone sees the current rota, including the people who never open e-mail — it is on the terminal when they clock in.
- The draft already knows who is on holiday, who is under contract for how many hours, and how many people you want on the floor at seven.
Clocking that survives service
- A tablet by the staff entrance: card or PIN, a second per person, working with no connection.
- Break prompts before the break is missed, which is when it can still be taken.
- Twelve languages, one per person — the single biggest reduction in clocking mistakes on a mixed team.
What payroll gets
Hours by person and by day, with night, Sunday and public-holiday premiums already calculated on the hours actually worked rather than the hours planned. For irregular-hours and part-year staff, holiday accrues at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period under regulation 15B — a calculation you simply cannot do without the hours.
Price
The base plan covers clocking, records and holiday. The rota module is €5 a month up to 5 people and €17 up to 30. Free up to 3 employees. All prices.
Questions we get
Can staff swap shifts themselves?
Yes, if you allow it. One offers a shift, another takes it, and you approve it or let it run automatically. Everything is recorded, so the argument about who agreed to cover Saturday does not happen.
Does it stop us breaking the rest rules?
It flags them while you are still planning. A close at 23:00 followed by an open at 08:00 breaks the eleven-hour daily rest under regulation 10, and the rota draft will not place it. The break prompt appears on the terminal before the six-hour point, not after.
What about under-18s?
They carry their own limits: eight hours a day, 40 a week, twelve hours’ daily rest and a 30-minute break after four and a half hours (regulations 5A, 10(2) and 12(4)). Those are hard caps, not averages, and the rota checks them as such.
Free for up to 3 employees, forever
Thirty days with everything included, AI assistant and all, no card and no automatic renewal. When the trial ends, companies with up to 3 employees simply keep working for free. And within the first 60 days you get your money back if it does not fit.
Questions? Write to time@irot.com. We answer on working days, usually by the next one.