Doubles, agency shifts and a rota that changes when someone calls in
Care assistant schedules are set per unit and adjusted constantly, because staffing is tight and somebody is always off. Many people work across more than one employer or through an agency, which means two or three rotas that nobody else can see at once.
The schedules this actually has to cope with
Freeish is built around these, not around a nine-to-five with the occasional exception.
Twelves and eights
Long days or split into earlies and lates, often both in the same week.
Doubles
Two shifts back to back when the unit is short. Common, exhausting, and usually agreed at short notice.
Agency on top
Shifts picked up through an agency around a main rota, in a completely separate system.
Short-notice cover
The phone call that turns a day off into a working one.
What it sounds like at home
- “I work for two employers and nobody at home can see both.”
- “I picked up a double and my family found out when I did not come home.”
- “Agency shifts land at short notice and wreck whatever was planned.”
- “The rota changes weekly and childcare has to change with it.”
- “Nobody knows which of my jobs I am at.”
Where Freeish fits
Both rotas in one place, so the people at home see the whole week rather than half of it.
Import each rota from a photo instead of copying two of them by hand.
A picked-up shift is visible the moment you add it.
Which employer you are at is yours to share or leave out — the times are what matters at home.
One week, start to finish
Grace, care assistant
- Grace photographs the home’s rota and imports the fortnight.
- Agency shifts go in as she accepts them.
- Her sister, who has the children, sees one combined week.
- A double gets added on the day and everyone sees it.
- Nobody asks which job she is at, because the times are the question.
Questions CNAs and care assistants ask
Can I combine two employers’ rotas?
Will either employer see this?
What about a shift I pick up today?
Stop being the schedule. Start sharing it.
Now on iPhone — Android coming soon. Free to start. Import a photo of your next schedule and see who stops asking.