Attendance, shift and leave process for Domestic travel operators: tour manager rosters
A tour manager's calendar is a run of departures, returns and short gaps. When leave and rest are left to chance, the best people burn out in the two months that earn the most.
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Share your requirementsWhy attendance, shift and leave process matters in domestic travel operators
In a domestic operator the office keeps ordinary hours and the field does not. A tour manager may leave on a night train, spend six days with a group and be asked to cover another departure two days later. Leave is granted when the desk remembers.
A season roster fixes this. It shows each departure, the manager assigned, the reserve and the rest days between. Leave moves into the quiet months by agreement. Imagine a manager who has led eleven departures between April and June with no rest day written anywhere. The roster is what lets the owner see that before the person resigns.
How to set it up
1. List the season's departures
Pull dates, group sizes and destinations from the sales sheet into one calendar, updated weekly as bookings change.
2. Assign managers and name a reserve
Match each departure to a manager by experience with the destination, and name a reserve for every peak week.
3. Set a minimum rest between trips
Agree a number of rest days after each return, and write the exceptions and who approves them.
4. Move leave to the quiet months
Offer a leave window after the peak and ask managers to plan it early. Link it with attendance and leave for the office desk.
5. Record each trip's start and end
A short entry from the manager at return, used to check the roster and to settle days worked on the road.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Count consecutive days worked by your busiest tour manager last season.
- Check whether every peak departure had a named reserve.
- Ask managers whether they could take leave when they wanted last year.
- Compare days on the road recorded by the desk with days the manager remembers.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach attendance, shift and leave process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
It depends on the length and difficulty of trips, so agree a figure with your managers and write it down. A fixed minimum after every return is simple to follow and easy to check.
Name a reserve and a plan before the season, covering how the group is looked after and who the manager calls. Decide in advance who travels and how the cost is met.
Yes. Put them on the same calendar, mark their available dates and pair new guides with an experienced manager on early trips, so the standard does not depend on the day.