Key staffing allows you to identify staff members who are key to the business and will typically have roles such as keyholder, fire marshall and first aid etc.

Importance of having key staffing

You can set up key staffing to make sure important roles are always covered on your rota.

It’s mainly about control and safety. For example, you might need certain people on shift who have specific responsibilities, like:

Keyholder
Fire marshal
First aider

With Key Staffing, you can:

Identify which employees have those roles.
Set the days and times you need them on the rota.
Define how many people with that role are required per shift.

When you build the rota, the system shows whether the requirement is met, under, or over, so you can quickly spot if a key role is missing. This helps ensure critical positions are consistently filled with the right people and improves overall operational efficiency.

Set up key staffing descriptions

To set up a description of a key staffing role that can be assigned to employees, follow the below steps:

Click Settings usually located under Configuration, Set Up or System Admin.
Expand Module Settings.
Select HR then click into Key Staffing Descriptions.
Click Add Key Staffing Description button then enter the name of your key staffing role.
Click Save.

Assign a key staffing role

To assign a key staffing role to an employee, this is done within an employee's profile, by following the below steps:

Locate an employee through the organisation search then click into the Payroll menu.
Click into the Rotas tab then click the Edit button.
Click Organisation then click Create Key Staffing.
- Set the Expiry Date for the role against the employee, if applicable.
Click Save.

Configure when the role is required

You can create the schedule for the key staff on a section specific basis within the Rotas area. You will be able to configure the specific days and shift times you require somebody with a specific key staffing skill to be present on the rota for that section.

To do this, follow the steps below:

In the left-hand menu, click into Team Rotas located under the My Team menu.
Within the rotas screen, select Key Staffing from the top banner.
Use the organisation button to filter to the required section then click the Create Key Staffing button.
Select the required Key Staffing description from the drop down.
Select the days and times for employees with this description to be scheduled in for.
- You can select multiple shift times.
Enter the number of staff required per shift.
Click Save.

Once the rota is created, the rota day view will show whether the key staffing requirement is met, under, or over.

Colour coded key staffing

On the rota, the key staffing requirement is shown using colours so you can quickly see if the role is covered:

Green means key staffing requirement met in schedule.
Red means under key staff requirement in schedule.
Black means over key staff requirement in schedule.

This visual indicator helps you quickly spot if a key role like a keyholder or fire marshal is missing or if you have more than needed on the rota.

📌Note: The key staffing chart will update following shift times against employees on the rota with the key staffing descriptions being added or amended and the daily rota view refreshed.