Team calendar

One salon calendar for the whole team, set up for Canada

Three stylists, an esthetician who only works Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a colourist on alternate Saturdays: a calendar for a team is mostly about the exceptions. In Slotora every person has her own column, her own week and her own days that differ, and the booking page offers exactly what the calendar says — nothing more, nothing she has not agreed to work.

Put your team in one calendar

Three ways to look at the same day

They draw the same bookings. What changes is the question each one answers fastest.

The day, a column each

Everybody working today side by side, one wide column per person, so reception can see at a glance who is free at 2:15 and who is running late from a long balayage.

The week, the team stacked

Seven days across, with each day's appointments stacked from the whole team. It is the view for spotting the thin Wednesday before it arrives, not for booking into.

The month

How full each day is across four or five weeks — the view an owner opens when deciding whether to hire for the spring wedding season.

Diary mode: only the gaps

Instead of the grid, a list of the free stretches each person has left. A stylist who prefers it keeps it; the setting is remembered for her, not forced on the team.

Hours that belong to the person, not the salon

Each team member has a usual week of her own. On top of it sit two kinds of exception, and they are different on purpose. Time off closes hours she would normally work — a dentist appointment, a week at the cottage. A date override changes one date only, and it can open a day as easily as close it, so the stylist who comes in on her usual day off for a bridal party is bookable for that Sunday without touching any other Sunday.

A stylist works only her own column unless you widen her login to see everybody's, which is useful for a senior who books juniors in. Widening the calendar does not widen the money: she still sees only her own figures in the reports.

Moving a booking is a drag in the browser and a press on the phone, and every move is written into the salon's activity log with who made it, so the question of who moved Mrs. Singh to Thursday has an answer.

Alternate weekends, typed once

The commonest rota in a team salon is a fortnight, and most calendars make you retype it. Here is how it is set up instead.

Every week
Type the ordinary days once
Tuesday to Friday, ten till six. These lines carry no week at all, which means every week.
Odd weeks
Add the Saturday that comes round
Saturday nine till four, marked for odd weeks. Slotora counts weeks by their number in the year, so odd and even never drift apart over a holiday.
Even weeks
And the one for the other half of the team
Her colleague gets the same Saturday on even weeks. Between them the salon is covered every weekend and neither works two in a row.
Any week
Swap one by hand when life happens
If they trade a Saturday, change those two dates only. The fortnight carries on untouched afterwards.

Statutory holidays, from your postal code

A Canadian salon's statutory holidays depend on its province, and they do not line up: Family Day is in February in Ontario, Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, Manitoba has Louis Riel Day instead, and Boxing Day is on Ontario's list of public holidays and no other province's. Slotora reads your province from the postal code on your account and lists that province's days on the opening-hours page.

Tick the ones you close on and the whole calendar closes: nobody can be booked online on that date, for any team member. If you open, leave it unticked and each person's usual hours apply. Who is paid what for working a statutory holiday is a payroll question under your province's rules, and Slotora does not work it out.

Questions about the team calendar

Can one client book two of my team in one visit?

Yes. A client booking several services online can choose a different person for each, back to back, with one confirmation naming who does what. A self-employed renter is never part of a shared visit.

Can a stylist see the rest of the team's columns?

Only if you widen her login. By default she works her own column. Widening it shows her the whole calendar but not anybody else's takings.

Do statutory holidays close the calendar automatically?

Not until you tick them. Your province's list is offered on the opening-hours page, and the ones you tick close online booking for everyone on those dates.

Does it work on the phone?

Yes. The Slotora app for iPhone and Android draws the day, week and month views and the diary mode, with a filter for each team member.

How long can I try it before paying?

14 days, with no card needed. Then a monthly or yearly subscription in Canadian dollars, counted by how many people clients can book.

What the calendar does not check for you

Provincial employment standards set rest periods between and around shifts, and they differ. Ontario's guide requires at least 11 consecutive hours off each day and, separately, eight hours off between shifts in most cases.[1] British Columbia requires 32 hours in a row free from work each week and eight hours off between shifts.[2] Slotora does not test anybody's hours against these rules. If you set a stylist to close on Friday and open on Saturday, it will offer both.

That is a decision, not an oversight: the rules have exceptions and agreements we cannot see, and a calendar that silently refused to book a shift would be worse than one that leaves the judgement with you. Build the week with the rules in mind once, and the calendar keeps to the week you built.

What to expect, plainly

No text reminders to Canadian clients yet: Every booking in every column sends an email confirmation and reminder. Texts to Canadian numbers are not sent at the moment.
No rota longer than a fortnight: Weeks can alternate, odd and even. A three-week or four-week cycle has to be entered as date changes.
One time zone for the whole calendar: The account runs on the zone your postal code gives it. A team split between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, which are in different zones, cannot share one calendar correctly.

Enter the fortnight once

Add the team, give each person her usual week and the Saturdays that alternate, and watch the booking page offer exactly that.