AI rotas save managers time, but most say staff have questions about them

More restaurants are building rotas with AI scheduling tools, and the people running shifts are the ones fielding the questions, Onrec reports on new research for restaurant tech company Toast.

Toast surveyed 400 UK restaurant managers and 500 UK diners in late July. Among managers using AI scheduling, 95% said the tools delivered on their promises, and a third said the biggest change was less time spent building rotas. Of all active AI users, 91% said they save at least three hours of admin a week.

But 73% of AI scheduling users said staff had raised concerns directly, about fairness, hours or flexibility. Those are managers' reports, not a survey of staff.

Try this when someone asks "why have I got these shifts?" - Explain what goes into the rota: availability, the shifts that need covering, and any rules the tool follows - Make it clear a manager checks it and can change it - Show people how to flag a mistake, swap a shift or update their availability, and who actually picks that up - If you don't know why, find out and come back to them

Toast's Gaurav Nakhare says the teams that get this right "explain how the rota is built" and are honest about what the tool is for.

So what for your shift: the software builds the rota, but trust in it is down to you. A clear answer and a named person to go to does more than any feature.