Welcome to our new series where we walk you through the key features of the Stint platform, one by one.
First up, we show you how to use the business posting flow to make sure that you get exactly what you need from Stint, when you need it.
What does posting a Stint mean?
So, you’ve decided you want to staff more efficiently, and smartly opted to give Stint a try. But how do you actually use our platform to get what you need?
In this blog, we’ll be running you through how to post Stints — the process that makes sure we are able to best support you during the spikes when you need to call on an extra pair of hands.
Posting stints is simply the process whereby you let us know at what times you need help, and leave us to do the rest.
How long can we help for?
Once you login to your Stint business account, the first thing you will be asked is how long you’d like to post new Stints for.
That’s because our platform allows you to select a one-off Stint, giving you an extra pair of hands at any particular time during the week, or to post a number of Stints to help you throughout the week. Only by using the latter feature will you be able to maximise the benefits of using Stint.
That’s because our app allows you to customise a unique rota that ensures you are able to bring in exactly the right number of Stinters to make sure you have the right numbers of staff for every hour of every day.
When do you need help?
That leads us nicely onto the next stage of the posting process: selecting the times that you’re looking for some extra hands on deck.
Using a customisable timetable, you’ll be able to select the ‘spikes’ for which you’d like to bring someone in.
What exactly is a spike? We class a spike as a period in the day where trade is especially busy. For almost all hospitality businesses — and many in retail as well — these will follow formulaic patterns. You are almost certainly going to be busier during the lunch and dinner services than you will be at 4pm.
Our timetable allows you to choose which days you want extra help at these hours, tailored to fit the needs of your business.
Is Tuesday an especially busy day because you do a special two-for-one offer? Are you closed on Sundays? No bother — simply just tick the times that you need us, and leave out the times where your core staff can manage by themselves.
We provided default timings for spikes: 7.30am to 9.30am in the morning, 11.30am to 2.30pm over lunchtime and 6.30pm to 9.30pm in the evening, however you are easily able to customise these depending on the duration of your spikes on any given day.
What exactly are you looking for?
Now that you’ve decided when you need help, it’s time for you to input exactly what roles you are looking for and how much help you need.
At this stage, you’ll be asked to select the nature of the roles you are looking for. Firstly, you’ll be asked to name the role — we encourage going for something fun and descriptive — ie. for a kitchen porter try Wet N Wild. Then, you’ll be asked to submit details of the role by choosing three primary tasks and two secondary tasks that you’ll be asking the Stinter in this role to carry out.
Once you start typing, select the option from the drop down menu that best summarises the role you are looking for, as most of what you need will be consistent with other Stints taking place. However, if the nature of your role is unique (e.g. cutting stalks if you are a flower shop), you’ll be able to input the details of your role which will be swiftly reviewed and approved at Stint HQ.
Next, you’ll be able to add your uniform requirements. We expect all of our Stinters to have the basic clothes needed for any role, but you can select any additional requirements to help a Stinter decide whether this Stint is for them.
You can repeat this process for as many different roles as you need, enabling you to ensure that you have the right balance of staff, as well as some extra hands.
Templates
We may be biased, but we think all of our features are pretty cool, however this one might just be our favourite.
Once you’ve completed your weekly rota, you’ll be asked whether you’d like to save it as a template. Our recommendation is that you answer YES — after all, most weeks will follow a similar pattern — or at least repeat themselves at regular intervals.
If you create a weekly template of which Stints you want at which times, it’ll be incredibly easy to repost them in the future. Once you’ve created a template, you’ll be able to go from zero to having sorted your Stints for multiple weeks in advance in just FOUR clicks.
Even if you don’t want to save it as a template, you’ll still be able to choose which weeks you’d like to post your previously selected pattern of Stints, up to a year in advance. Now that’s what we call “organised”.
And if you do save it as a template, it means that even if you can’t plan too far ahead, when the time comes you’ll be able post Stints for any given week in a matter of seconds.
Payment
The final stage of posting Stints is the bit you would normally dread: payment.
But, thankfully, we make it as easy as possible for you to pay. Even better news is that we don’t actually extract payment until the Stints you post have been completed, meaning that you’ll be paying only out of revenue we’ve helped you make.
We use an integrated Stripe payment system, which enables you to pay both with credit card or direct debit.
Payment occurs on a weekly basis, but is taken on a Monday for Stints that have occured the previous week, meaning money never leaves your account in advance.
And, if you post a set of Stints in anticipation for a spike and later duly realise extra hands won’t be necessary, you won’t be charged at all if you cancel 24 hours in advance.
Still confused?
If any of this still doesn’t make sense, or you’d like a friendly face to walk you through our business posting flow, complete this form and one of our team will be in touch.
