5.40pm, a night shift at a warehouse
A guard texts the out-of-hours ops phone: sick, cannot do tonight's 7pm to 7am at the distribution warehouse. The duty manager opens the rota spreadsheet and starts thinking. Who has done that site before? Who is off tonight? Who did a day shift today and cannot go straight back out? Whose licence is current? The first guard does not answer. The second is at a family event. The third says yes, then realises he has not done that site's induction.
At 6.50pm the manager covers it by asking the day guard to stay on, which is not ideal, or by going in themselves. The control room is told by text. The client's site manager finds out the next morning that the guard was different. The whole evening has gone on one shift, and the same will happen again on Saturday.
Why cover is so hard to arrange quickly
In guarding, not just anyone can fill a shift. The guard needs the right licence, in date, the site induction and any client-specific training, and must not be breaking the rest and hours rules your company works to. That information is spread across the rota, the training records and the licence spreadsheet, so the manager checks it in their head for every name.
| Check before offering a shift | Where it is kept now |
|---|---|
| Licence type and expiry | Licence spreadsheet or HR file |
| Site induction done | Training records or memory |
| Client-specific requirements, such as vetting level | Contract file |
| Rest since last shift | Rota, worked out by hand |
| Already on shift or on leave | Rota and holiday sheet |
What your licensing, working time and client obligations require is for your company and its advisers. The system applies the rules you set.
The cost of ringing round
Managers spend evenings on the phone, which burns out the people you most need. Shifts are covered by whoever answers rather than whoever is best suited, and sometimes by a guard without the site induction, which clients notice. Guards on long shifts or doubling up are a welfare and service risk. And an uncovered shift, or a late guard, is the kind of failure that loses contracts.
Cover requests that check eligibility first
- The rota, guard records, licence details and site training records are brought together, from your workforce system if you use one, such as Timegate or TrackTik, or from the spreadsheets you keep now.
- When a guard drops a shift, by text, phone or the app, the duty manager opens the shift and presses 'find cover'.
- The system lists guards who meet your rules for that site and time: licence valid on the date, site induction done, client requirements met, enough rest since their last shift, not on leave or another shift.
- Guards who fail a rule are shown with the reason, so the manager can make an informed exception where your policy allows.
- A message goes to eligible guards at once by text or app notification, with site, times and any notes. The first to accept gets the shift, and the others are told it is filled.
- The rota updates, the control room is told who is on, and a client notification goes out if the contract asks for it.
- If nobody accepts within the time you set, the manager is alerted to escalate.
- Overtime or premium rates for short-notice cover can be shown in the message if you offer them.
- Guards can set when they do not want cover requests.
- Every cover request is logged, which shows where cover is regularly needed.
The same evening, with cover requests
At 5.40pm the manager opens the shift, presses find cover and sees six eligible guards. The message goes out at 5.42. By 5.55 one has accepted. The rota and control room are updated. The manager goes back to their evening. Over a few months, the log shows which sites and days need cover most, which helps with recruitment and rota planning.
Is your ops phone busy every evening?
- Cover is found by ringing round from memory.
- Licence and site training are checked in the manager's head.
- Guards sometimes cover sites they were not inducted on.
- Day guards are asked to stay on for nights.
- The client finds out about changes the next morning.