Shift-based business owners have experienced a lot of change in 2025, including operating in a tighter labour market with higher turnover and evolving employee demands. And, in 2026, you likely face similar challenges, with 8% of employees changing jobs in the past year, including 13% of young workers.
When even one worker leaving costs businesses thousands in recruiting, hiring, and training replacement staff, retaining your shift workers is crucial this year (and into 2026).
With the right strategies, you can improve employee engagement, reduce turnover, and create a happier, more motivated team.
Below, we’ll dive into five ways you can improve employee satisfaction and retention in your shift-based business, and share how Deputy’s workforce management software will help make it happen.
Make flexible rostering your top priority
Flexible rostering is quickly becoming one of the top drivers of employee retention, especially for businesses that rely on shift workers. 58% of Australian workers say flexible work is the most valuable benefit for them. With predictable rostering, your team saves time while also gaining more control over their shifts, something you’ll have to make a priority in 2025 and beyond.
To get started with flexible rostering so you can meet both your business and employee needs:
Try Deputy's Auto-Scheduling, which uses AI to help you create rosters based on demand and employee preferences (plus, it makes complex compliance more manageable).
Let teams self-manage by swapping shifts, which you can do with Deputy Shift Swapping.
Experiment with micro-shifts, a trend that’s becoming more popular among younger, multi-job workers.
Engage your employees before they disengage
Beyond the demand for more flexible rostering, shift workers and other hourly employees are looking for more engaging workplaces and empathetic employers—49% of Gen Z workers, for example, will leave a job within two years if they feel dissatisfied with the company culture, or the lack of work-life balance.
Investing in their well-being, testing rewards programs, and implementing recognition go a long way in creating a work culture that retains your shift workers.
Communication is also a significant factor in engaging your shift workers, which includes allowing workers to share feedback. Communicating clearly — and often — can help keep your teams engaged, and there are a few key ways you can do that:
Try Deputy’s News Feed, where you can share updates and recognition with your staff.
Use Deputy’s Shift Pulse™ to gather real-time feedback from employees at the end of every shift.
Look for patterns in feedback so you can adapt quickly and take action when teams start to show signs of disengagement.
Give workers the option of managing their shifts, swapping shifts, or checking in about rosters with Deputy’s Messaging feature.
Offer learning and development (even for hourly roles)
No one wants to feel stuck in their role, especially with younger generations of shift workers prioritizing skill development and career advancement. With 45% of workers planning to leave their jobs due to a lack of career opportunities, 2026 is a big opportunity to improve shift worker satisfaction through learning and development.
For example, you can:
Use Deputy’s workforce analytics to look for high-potential employees.
Let team members opt into cross-training, development programs, or mentorship/shadowing senior employees.
Test online learning programs that fit into shift workers’ lives, so your teams can upskill and apply what they learn at work.
Ask your teams for feedback on the development opportunities they want.
When it comes to shift worker retention, you can start planning career development activities now so you’re ready to meet the demand for them in 2026.
Use AI to align your business goals to shift worker satisfaction
Come 2026, business owners can no longer afford to guess what their shift workers need — demand is shifting too quickly, and employees want more say in how they work. That’s where AI and analytics come in.
With AI, you’re able to better predict rosters, demand, labour costs, and employee engagement, because you have automated insights at your fingertips. It frees your team to focus on your people, and gives shift workers more control over their work-life balance. Not to mention, data-backed decisions regarding rostering, shift swapping, and more enable you to maintain fairness in the workplace.
Deputy is helping business owners do just that:
Deputy’s Auto-Scheduling feature looks at sales, demand, employee availability, and compliance rules so you can create fair rosters automatically.
With demand forecasting, you can use Deputy to plan ahead and avoid things like overstaffing or understaffing, both of which can burn employees out and harm morale.
You can also leverage Deputy’s workforce analytics, which helps you spot trends in overtime costs and employee engagement.
By combining data and insights with feedback from your teams, you can spot potential issues with shift worker morale before they become a problem.
Create a better workplace culture with work-life balance
Unpredictable workplaces don’t just pose a problem for business owners, but also the satisfaction, retention, and well-being of their shift workers. 52% of Australian workers feel their work-life balance is poor; inconsistent rostering, overstaffing, and burnout makes it more challenging than ever to create happy workplaces.
To foster more work-life balance for your hourly employees, focusing on well-being, mental health, and offering more control over what balance looks like for your staff are crucial this year and beyond.
Many businesses turn to Deputy to ensure that:
Their employees are getting (and taking) the breaks they need, thanks to Deputy’s Break Planning feature, which also keeps managers informed if breaks are missed.
Workers aren’t burning out with back-to-back shift rostering, which Deputy’s Advanced rostering features help prevent.
Staff can easily request time off or swap shifts with Deputy’s mobile features, which help team members balance their personal lives with work.
Make 2026 your best year yet for shift worker retention
2025 has been a busy year for business owners, but now is the time to think ahead so you can meet the needs of your shift workers in 2026.
To improve shift worker satisfaction and keep your employees engaged:
Start planning how you can use flexible rostering next year to give your teams more control over how they work.
Put engagement and recognition activities in place now, so you can gather feedback and improve employee engagement ahead of 2026.
Test learning and development now, gathering insights from your hourly workforce.
Consider integrating AI into your everyday operations, especially for more flexible rostering!
And don’t forget to prioritise work-life balance for your teams, keeping a close eye on break planning and shift swapping.
Build a happier, resilient workforce with Deputy
Over 385,000 workplaces use Deputy's workforce management platform to run their shift-based businesses and build happier teams.
With Deputy, your teams gain access to smarter rostering, in-depth analytics, and an all-in-one management solution that provides you with more control over your business.
Try Deputy for free to discover how businesses are building happier, more resilient workforces.
