Funstation

Funstation operates 13 family entertainment venues across the UK, delivering exciting arcade experiences and cutting-edge attractions to thousands of visitors each week. From thrilling arcade games to adventure golf to laser tag and much more their sites offer a diverse range of entertainment options designed with families in mind. Their safe and welcoming environment, makes them a leading destination for family outings, celebrations and group events.

Finding the right solution

With over 200 employees across multiple sites, Funstation recognised the need for a more comprehensive workforce management solution that could adapt to their growing operation. While they had experience with similar systems, their existing solution couldn’t provide the depth of functionality needed for their evolving business requirements.

We used a system similar to Rotaready, but it was limited in what it could do, so we were looking into alternatives. One of the big things for us was for the solution of choice to be able to handle holiday accrual and work out hourly paid holidays. When I discovered Rotaready I sought referrals from some industry peers who sung your praises. So that’s when we decided, yep, we’re going to move over

After researching market options and speaking with industry peers, the positive testimonials and comprehensive feature set made Rotaready stand out as the clear choice for their needs. The system’s ability to handle holiday management for hourly paid employees and its easy employee self-onboarding process aligned perfectly with Funstation‘s operational requirements.

Navigating the implementation

The transition to Rotaready marked a significant step forward in Funstation’s journey toward streamlined workforce management. The implementation process was efficiently managed through dedicated support sessions, with the Rotaready team providing comprehensive guidance on system configuration and customisation.

"I was told the customer support is outstanding, and that has proven to be right!"

The onboarding experience proved both thorough and efficient, with the training sessions being particularly valuable for the team. Pettitt notes the effectiveness of this approach: "We had 6 hours of dedicated implementation support, and we used them all effectively - it was great, really helpful."

Transforming operations

Since implementation, Rotaready has revolutionised several key areas of Funstation’s operations:

1. Cost control and reporting

The system’s comprehensive cost control functionality has transformed how Funstation monitors and manages labour costs. Management now has real-time visibility of staffing costs against sales, enabling more informed decision-making and better resource allocation.

The Rotaready feature I use the most has got to be cost control. The fact you get a true figures of staffing costs vs sales is excellent. This isn’t something we had before.

2. Employee engagement and accessibility

The introduction of Rotaready’s mobile app has significantly improved how the team interact with their schedules and manage their time. Managers can now make real-time rota adjustments directly through the app, while employees enjoy easy access to holiday bookings and balance checking. This self-service capability has notably reduced administrative burden while improving staff satisfaction.

The app is very useful, and what’s even more useful now is you’ve introduced where managers can amend rotas using the app,” says Pettitt. “For employees, the ease of applying for holidays and the fact staff can see how many holidays they have left is great.

3. Streamlined HR processes

Perhaps one of the most transformative impacts has been on HR operations. The employee self-onboarding functionality has drastically simplified document management and new starter processes. What was once a manual, multi-step process involving scanning document after document has been transformed into a streamlined digital workflow.

The system's holiday accrual feature has proven particularly valuable for managing the holiday entitlement of part-time employees with variable hours. This functionality automatically calculates holiday entitlements based on hourly worked, and the average hours per day that's crucial for absence bookings, thereby making it an exceptional tool for businesses with flexible staffing.

Beyond onboarding, the organisation utilises most of the available HR functionality and is currently working on implementing document signatures. Managers particularly appreciate the ease of completing routine HR tasks through the system.

The employee self-onboarding functionality is a fantastic feature, it’s dramatically improved our onboarding process and saves us a huge amount of time.

Measuring success

The implementation of Rotaready has delivered tangible benefits across the business. In addition to those already mentioned, the integration with Funstations payroll solution has significantly reduced processing time and improved payroll accuracy. Rotaready’s ability to handle time and attendance data with such precision has eliminated the risk of any payroll errors without the need for manual input.

It’s absolutely a time-saving solution,” emphasises Pettitt. “The payroll integration saves a lot of time - time and attendance data from Rotaready feeds into payroll ensuring accurate payroll with no manual input.

Building for the future

The partnership between Funstation and Rotaready continues to evolve, with the system delivering an impressive 426% ROI and optimising staff deployment by 47 hours 40 minutes each week.

These figures represent not just financial gains but also significant operational improvements across the business.

With strong customer support and ongoing system developments, Funstation is well-positioned to continue optimising its workforce management and operational efficiency through Rotaready. The rota software has become an integral part of their operation, supporting their growth and enabling more efficient management of their expanding team.