Rostering
Where possible ensure student workers can get a fortnightly roster in advance to help them plan ahead their work and study.
Helping your young employees to think and plan ahead is also helping them develop an important life skill.
Planning is the key to balancing the competing demands of school and work for students. This website includes a work/study planning tool called the "Time Tamer". If you have employees who are struggling to plan their time, please refer them to the Time Tamer section of this website.
Employers can help their employees manage their time by issuing rosters at regular intervals. A "rolling roster" - where a fortnightly schedule is always issued two weeks before it starts - is a good way of giving students adequate notice of their shifts so that they can plan their schoolwork and other commitments.
Allowing students to request time off prior to issuing a roster is a way of minimising changes. A good practice is to develop a roster request form that students can fill out and submit prior to the roster being created.
Posting the roster in a prominent place will help students identify potential replacements if they need to request a change or swap shifts.
Placing students "on call" can wreak havoc with their schoolwork and should be avoided if at all possible. Students must be paid a minimum of three hours for retail stores and two hours for fast food stores if they are called in for a shift.