What a rota tells you about a clinic
Alex Morgan
1 min
Three months of shifts say most of what a manager would like to tell you, and some of what they would not.
Before I visit a clinic I ask for its last three months of rotas. It takes ten minutes to read them, and I learn more than I do from the first hour of the meeting.
Who covers the gaps
Look at who picks up the shifts nobody wants. If it is always the same two people, you have found your best staff and your next two resignations. If it is an agency, look at the day of the week: a gap on the same day every week is a contract problem, not a staffing one.
Where the changes happen
Count the edits made in the last 48 hours before a shift. A few are normal. A clinic that rewrites a third of its rota at the last minute is usually planning around one person who cannot be asked to change, and everyone knows who.