When it comes to keeping your employees happy and retaining them, flexible rostering is quickly becoming a must for businesses, especially those that thrive on shift-based work. Just consider that 8% of the Australian workforce changed employers in 2024, withhospitality leading at 15.7% turnover (the highest of any industry).
With today’s competitive labour market, flexible rostering isn’t a "nice-to-have" perk anymore, it’s essential for employee motivation and retention. When 27% of workers believe that flexible work provides them with a better work-life balance, your business needs to stay ahead of the curve in meeting employee demands.
It’s also crucial that business owners take into account the Fair Work Commission's framework for flexible working arrangements (eligible employees have rights to request flexible work after 12 months). This framework helps support what employees are increasingly demanding from their employers: real work-life flexibility.
Let's look at how flexible rostering increases employee satisfaction and boosts employee engagement in the workplace.
The real cost of employee turnover (and why flexible rostering is a must)
Turnover happens fast, especially if you’re unprepared for changes in employee demand. Unsurprisingly, it can be costly to replace those employees:
The average cost of bringing on a new hire can be upwards of $40,000.
For healthcare workers, organisations can face costs of up to $48,000 per healthcare employee, such as nurses.
Flexible rostering can help you not only improve employee retention and employee satisfaction, but also reduce turnover.
Bloodwood solved that very challenge using Deputy. By giving their employees the ability to swap shifts and request leave, they can create a happier workplace culture that thrives on flexibility. Their team no longer spends hours on creating rosters and timesheets, and Deputy helps take care of pesky admin tasks (like calculating award rates). Bloodwood gives its teams freedom to schedule shifts flexibly, and eliminating payroll + rostering errors has become a breeze.
Meeting your employees’ demands today to retain them tomorrow
Flexible rostering and employee retention go hand in hand, something that couldn’t be more clear for younger generations of shift workers; 61% of Gen Z workers, for example, feel flexible rostering is extremely important.
Giving your teams the option to manage rosters, swap shifts, or balance unpredictable demand means they're more likely to stay. It’s not just about fostering happier employees; it’s about developing effective strategies for employee retention. For example, 36% of workers now regularly work from home, signaling a very real need for companies to embrace flexible rostering.
The good news is that you can meet these demands and retain happy employees with a few proactive rostering changes.
5 ways you can transform your rostering
Let’s walk through 5 ways you can make flexible rostering a key advantage for your business.
1) Give your employees more predictability
If you’re drowning in constant shift changes or posting shifts at the last minute, your employees are feeling the strain, too. Creating a more predictable rostering environment can help reduce that stress, while reducing time waste and frustration for everyone.
2) Make it easy for employees to swap shifts
Deputy's shift swapping feature allows your team to trade shifts with just a few clicks, giving employees the opportunity to pick up extra shifts when needed or cover one another’s time when unexpected situations arise. Your team gets peace of mind that shifts are covered, while Deputy helps minimize compliance guesswork.
3) Let AI do the heavy lifting
Not knowing how your team’s needs might change makes it difficult to schedule shifts at all.
Deputy's auto-scheduling feature uses AI to create rosters that balance your business's needs with your employees’ preferences automatically. By looking at sales patterns, labour costs, and employee availability, auto-rostering builds rosters that work for everyone.
4) Master break planning and compliance
Missing breaks, or overstaffing to cover them, can quickly put you at risk of non-compliance, not to mention, it negatively impacts employee satisfaction and retention.
Deputy's break planning features help ensure your employees all get proper breaks, while maintaining coverage and making compliance simpler. Messy break planning isn’t just a compliance concern, but can do more harm when trying to find ways to improve employee retention in the workplace.
5) Use data to make more informed rostering decisions
When you know what’s happening in your business, you can better roster your teams based on demand, labour changes, and more. It’s why businesses use Deputy's analytics features to get real-time insights into labour costs and productivity patterns. For example, if you have insights into which shifts consistently run over budget, you can spot patterns that lead to employee dissatisfaction or turnover.
How flexible rostering benefits your whole business
Giving employees more control over their rosters has a ripple effect throughout your entire business.
Your company culture improves
When employees feel they have more control over their rosters, you’re nurturing a positive company culture that’s built on trust. 23% of workers want more control over where they work (and when), while more flexibility and control over rostering have led to a better work-life balance for 30% of workers, demonstrating the significant impact of flexible rostering on employee happiness.
Recruitment costs drop
It’s no secret that hiring, training, and retaining new employees can be costly. Meeting the demands of your employees today means you can save on hiring replacement talent and juggling lengthy recruitment processes, tomorrow. 76% of Australian Public Service employees, for example, have access to flexible work arrangements, with 82% reporting more employee satisfaction thanks to flexible working options.
Your bottom line improves
Research shows that happier, engaged employees can actually boost sales productivity—and improve customer loyalty. When your teams aren't constantly training new hires, covering extra shifts, and have control over predictable rosters, it makes a tangible difference across your business.
Getting on track with more flexible rostering
It’s never too late to start putting strategies in place to boost employee retention by meeting the demands your teams have for more flexible rostering. And to do that, you’ll need to start with a few key steps.
Look at your current rostering and ask teams about their preferences
Implement high-impact changes (like shift swapping if you're handling last-minute coverage manually)
Scale what works across your business
Use data to help you determine which changes have the most impact
Say goodbye to turnover with flexible rostering
Over 385,000 workplaces use Deputy's workforce management platform to help solve their rostering challenges and keep their best people.
With Deputy, you give your team the rostering flexibility they crave while keeping control of your business. It's not just about rostering — it's about building a workplace and culture your employees stick by.
