Online booking is only as good as the hours behind it. If a stylist's day off isn't in the system, a client books it, and someone has to call and apologize. If a therapist's lunch isn't blocked, they work through it.
This guide covers how to set hours, breaks, and time off so the booking page offers only times someone can take, and how to change a schedule when life changes.
Start from your opening hours
Set the business's opening hours first, for each branch. Everyone who works the same hours as the shop can simply follow them, and a change to the shop's hours moves them too.
Give a person their own week only when it really differs: a part-timer who works three days, a senior who starts at noon, or a doctor who is in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Block breaks inside the day
A break that lives only in someone's head gets booked over. Put it in the schedule as a gap between two blocks of hours, such as 10 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 7 PM.
- Stagger breaks so the whole team never stops at once at a busy shop.
- Keep the break at the same time each day where you can. Clients learn it, and so does the person.
- Leave buffer after long services if they tend to run over, so the next client isn't kept waiting.
Add time off the day you know about it
Leave, a training day, a doctor's appointment, or a family event: enter it the moment someone tells you, even if it is months away. Clients book weeks ahead, and the earlier it is blocked, the fewer bookings you have to move.
- A whole day or several for leave.
- A few hours for an appointment or a late start.
- Repeating time off for something regular, such as every Sunday morning.
- Holidays for everyone belong on the business's closures, not on each person.
Staff your busiest hours first
Look at when clients actually book, by day and by hour, before you set anyone's week. Many service businesses are busiest on weekday evenings and weekends, but yours may differ.
- Put your most-booked people on your busiest hours, and give quieter hours to newer team members who are building a following.
- Overlap shifts at the busiest time of day, so a long service running over doesn't leave the next client waiting.
- Review the schedule every few months. Demand moves with school terms, paydays, and the holidays.
Match services to the people who do them
Hours alone are not enough. A junior who doesn't do color shouldn't be offered for a color booking, and a front desk staff member shouldn't appear as bookable at all. Check that each person has only the services they actually perform, and that people who don't take clients are not bookable.
Change a schedule without stranding clients
When someone's hours change, some clients may already be booked in the hours that are going away. Don't cancel them. Move each one, with a message, to the same person at a new time or to someone else at the same time.
- Change the hours from the date the new schedule starts.
- List the bookings that now fall outside them.
- Call or message each client with two options, and move the booking when they choose.
Check your employment contracts and the Labor Code's rules on hours, rest days, and overtime when you plan a schedule. DOLE publishes guidance, and your accountant or lawyer can answer questions about your team.
Let the team see their own week
A schedule that only the owner can see means questions all day. Let each person see their own bookings on their phone, and change their own hours where you trust them to.
In Onsuki, each person follows their branch's hours until you give them their own week, with breaks and time off that can repeat. New hours show on your booking site right away, and any bookings now outside them are listed for you to move, not canceled. Team members can see their bookings in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar from a private link, and change their own hours under My Schedule. See Team.
