What should I check about a store’s staff schedule and who opens and closes?
Ask for several recent schedules and compare them with payroll and with what you see in person. Find out who holds keys and alarm codes, who handles cash at close, and what happens when someone is sick. A store that depends on one person to open is fragile.
Request schedules from a few different weeks, including a busy one, and match them against the payroll records. If the pay and the posted shifts do not line up, ask why. Watch for an owner who quietly covers many shifts, because that unpaid labour will not be in the statements and you will have to hire for it.
Then look at trust and routine. Who opens the doors, counts the till and locks up? Are those tasks written down, or do they live in one person’s head? Ask how keys, alarm codes and safe access are controlled, and whether that control would change at a sale. You will want to reset access on day one.
Finally, talk to staff if the seller allows it. Ask how they feel about the hours, how shifts are swapped, and who they call when there is a problem. Their answers show whether the schedule is stable or held together by goodwill. Plan which people you must keep and which tasks you need to document early. Notice, too, whether late arrivals and early departures are tolerated, since habits like that tend to continue under a new owner.
Key takeaways
- Compare several weeks of schedules with payroll and the owner’s own hours.
- Find out who holds keys and codes, and plan to reset access at takeover.
- Ask staff how the schedule really works when someone is away.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to reduce employee turnover
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
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