How to cover a sick call before opening time

A sick call is the message every manager dreads: someone cannot come in, and the shift starts soon. You cannot stop people falling ill. You can decide now how you will cover the gap, so the early morning becomes a short routine instead of a scramble.

This guide comes from the questions managers send our support team most often. It works whether your rota lives on paper, in a spreadsheet or in an app.

Make a cover list before the next sick call #

A cover list names the people who have said they are happy to pick up extra shifts, and the hours they can do. Ask once a month. Keep it short and keep it current.

• Who is willing. Only list people who said yes. Pressure on the day breeds resentment.
• When they can come. Early only, weekends only, any time.
• What they can do. Someone who can open the till, or someone who can only help on the floor.

Ask in a fair order #

When a sick call comes in, ask the cover list in turn, starting after the person who covered last time. The same keen person should not take every extra shift, and the rest should not feel skipped.

When no one can come #

Decide in advance what you will drop. Open later, close a section, or move one person from the back to the counter. Write it down, so whoever opens can act without waking you.

Rotating the hard shifts helps here too, because more people know how to open. See how fixed and rotating patterns differ if only one person can open today.

After the shift #

Thank the person who covered, and note it on the list so the order moves on. Your policy on swapping shifts should say how a cover shift counts, so no one feels short-changed.

In Fernhour, you can post the gap as an open shift that the team can claim. Everyone on the cover list sees it at once, and the first yes fills it.

Sick pay rules differ between countries. In the UK, the official page on statutory sick pay explains who qualifies and when.