Guide
How to schedule staff without spreadsheet pain
The moment a second person joins, scheduling changes shape: it’s no longer “is 3:00 free?” but “is 3:00 free with someone who does color and isn’t on lunch?” Spreadsheets can technically model this. Nobody keeps them updated.
Give every person their own calendar
The foundational move. One shared calendar with initials scribbled on bookings collapses past two people. Per-person schedules make double-booking structurally impossible: a booking claims one person’s slot, not a slot in the void. In Reservy, each team member you add gets exactly this.
Model breaks as blocked time, not memory
Lunch that lives in everyone’s head gets booked over by whoever forgot. Set each person’s break window in the system so those slots simply never appear as bookable — to clients online or to whoever’s at the counter.
Assign services to people explicitly
Not everyone does everything: one barber does designs, one stylist does color, the new hire does cuts only. Set each person’s service list and the booking engine enforces it — a client booking color only sees the people who do color. No tribal knowledge required at booking time.
Let “anyone available” do the balancing
Many clients don’t care who serves them — they care when. An “anyone available” option at booking assigns them to whoever is genuinely free, spreading load across the team instead of piling onto the famous name. Regulars who want their person still pick their person.
Read the week like a manager
With per-person schedules, patterns surface: whose Tuesdays are empty, who is booked out two weeks, which services nobody can serve on Saturdays. That’s staffing data you can act on — shift a schedule, train a skill, hire for the gap — instead of vibes.
Frequently asked questions
What about staff who work different days?
Model it with breaks and closed days at the business level, plus per-person breaks for partial days. For fully different rosters (Mon-Wed-Fri vs Tue-Thu staff), the pragmatic pattern is booking the off-days solid with a “not in” placeholder appointment — one tap each morning.
Can staff see each other’s schedules?
In Reservy the account owner sees every schedule and switches between team members with one tap. Many owners open the day view each morning and send each person their day — or just leave the phone at the counter, logged in.