Fully booked, understaffed? Yeah, we’ve been there too. So we made a brand campaign about it. 

Fully booked, understaffed? Yeah, we’ve been there too. So we made a brand campaign about it. 

At Planday, helping hospitality isn’t just our mission - it’s where we come from. And that’s why it’s at the heart of our all-new brand campaign.  

“Overbooked. Understaffed. Yeah. You’re gonna need help with that.”  

It’s an exciting day at Planday as we unveil our integrated new brand campaign showcasing how Planday helps thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK keep their staff in sync and on schedule. 

And it’s one that’s very close to our hearts. 

Why do we feel so strongly about supporting the hospitality industry? Well, it’s not just because it’s our mission to make the day work for shift-based businesses. 

It’s also because we’ve been there too. Overbooked. Understaffed. 

Born in a Copenhagen bar 

In fact, the idea for Planday was born in a small Copenhagen bar. Developed by two bartenders who needed a solution just like …well, Planday. 

Back in 2004, Anders Frederiksen and Mikkel Lomholt were overwhelmed by the work of managing bar shifts. Manually creating shift plans was time-consuming, and juggling everyone’s changing availability was resulting in error.  

The schedules weren’t often meeting their needs either. They’d wind up with too many people doing nothing on quieter nights, or understaffed on wildly busy evenings. And that’s not to mention those days where a staff member just wouldn’t turn up because they misread the shift plan on the noticeboard, or forgot to record a shift they’d agreed to swap. 

The resulting chaos wasn’t just impacting the bar’s ability to delight customers – it was stressing out the team and depleting good work vibes. 

Yeah. They needed help with that. 

Really, what Anders and Mikkel needed was a single shift plan that everyone could easily access at any time – and one that instantly updated in real-time when anything changed. 

That’s when they came up with Planday. 

And as it turned out, Anders and Mikkel weren’t alone – plenty of hospitality businesses needed the same kind of help, too.  

Is scheduling the biggest source of hospitality stress?  

In crafting this campaign, we went back to our roots and spoke with dozens of hospitality businesses in all sizes, from neighbourhood eateries to multi-venue hotel groups. 

We heard things like: 

• Unexpected absences and understaffing are costing us customers 
• We’re constantly losing track of our staff costs 
• I’m using an entire work day creating rotas 
• My staff are constantly ringing me up to double check the shift plan 
• It’s such a pain to chase everybody to adjust a shift or share last-minute menu changes 

Sounds like…you’re gonna need help with that?  

Look, managing shift-based work is tough - few other sectors rely so much on casual staff as hospitality, or experience such high staff turnover. Some of these hospitality businesses simply saw this as the way things were – soldiering on through the chaos, getting more and more tangled, as costs racked up.  

Some of them didn’t realise that shift management was something they could outsource. 

That’s what our brand campaign speaks to. 

With cloud-based technology and features to instantly connect teams now part of daily life, scheduling headaches aren’t something businesses need to put up with anymore. It’s just something they need a little help with. 

And the solution is easy. 

All you can do with Planday’s help 

Who better to tell us about the benefits of Planday than our hospitality customers? 

We’ve helped thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK solve these hurdles with Planday - you’ll hear from a few of them in this campaign. 

They reported things like: 

• Now, creating a shift plan for 70 staff takes me less than 3 hours! 
• We’ve saved so much money by allocating shifts more wisely 
• It’s so easy to spot scheduling gaps or clashes, and fix them straight away 
• No more miscomms - I can instantly tell the whole company what’s going on 
• Staff are happier because they know their shifts and hours are safely in one place  

How scheduling is a secret weapon to success 

Planday’s also come a long way from an idea in a bar. 20 years on, we are even more than a cloud-based shift plan that updates in real-time. 

Of course, we’re still incredibly proud of our advanced scheduling features which let you quickly create live rotas across multiple venues and roles (like kitchen or bar). And our customers love having staff availability data quickly accessible at the touch of a button. 

Plenty of customers also celebrate the option to assign specific skills and roles to different staff, like “certified bartender,” because it makes it easier to allocate those qualification-dependent shifts (and figure out who needs training.) And because managers are instantly notified about shift swap, absence and leave requests - businesses can rest easy now that everyone’s on the same page. 

But Planday can help you do even more with your scheduling: 

It’s also a communication hub, where team members can reach each other quickly and managers can send out company-wide updates. Is Pepsi out of stock? Is the back door jammed? A delivery delayed? With Planday, everyone’s now in sync at all times - in their language of choice. Meaning work is easier, staff are happier, and the customer experience is better. 

It’s a precise time-keeper - where staff can open the Planday app on their phone and punch in and out of shifts via a digital, geo-located punch clock. Everything gets recorded instantly and accurately to the cloud, so you and staff never need to worry about clarifying hours again. 

It’s a payroll tool - Data about staff hours can easily be exported to a payroll provider – and Planday also integrates with the most popular payroll software used by hospitality businesses. That means accurate payslips and no more disputes with staff about pay that might hurt team culture. 

It’s a source of unique data on your business - Planday generates reports that give you an overview of labour costs, helping you allocate staff better for peak hours and downtime – saving money (and staff from stressful shifts.) 

Our history is something we’re deeply proud of. And if nothing else, we hope this campaign helps you see you’re not alone in your scheduling stress – and that there’s a solution designed to tackle just that. Because no one ever made it without a little help. We know - we’ve been there. 

Need help for that? Explore the campaign universe here.