Making seniority-based scheduling work for your IATSE hiring hall

Handling seniority-based scheduling is a big part of how many IATSE hiring halls operate. Every hall has its own way of calculating seniority—some base it on hours worked, others on tenure, and some use a mix of different factors. Whatever your system, you need an easy way to apply it in real time when filling shifts, without the constant back and forth.

A lot of halls still rely on spreadsheets or paper logs to track seniority. It works, but it can get messy when you’re trying to:

• Keep up with last-minute schedule changes
• Make sure the right members get first access to shifts
• Prove that assignments followed the hall’s rules

Roosted is designed to help with this. It makes seniority visible in real time, automates shift offers based on your rules, and keeps an audit trail of every action—so there’s no second-guessing when someone asks why a shift went to a certain person.

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Bringing Seniority into Scheduling (Without the Hassle)

If you’re still tracking seniority manually, you know how easy it is for things to slip through the cracks. Maybe you miss a name when filling shifts, or you’re spending too much time checking records to make sure everything lines up.

With an automated system, you can:

• See seniority rankings while scheduling so the right workers get shifts first
• Offer shifts in order of seniority—automatically, without manually sending texts or emails
• Keep a log of every assignment so you can always check back if questions come up

That last part is key. When members ask how a shift was assigned, you don’t have to dig through emails or spreadsheets. The system tracks everything, so you can pull up an answer in seconds.

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How a Seniority-Based Scheduling Workflow Can Look

Every hall runs a little differently, but here’s one way a seniority-based system can work:

1. Find the right workers – The system filters for members who are available and qualified for the job.
2. Sort by seniority – Members are listed according to your hall’s rules.
3. Send shift invites in groups – Instead of one-by-one invites, the system can notify batches of workers in order of seniority.
4. Manage responses – If the first group doesn’t take the shift, the next group is invited automatically.
5. Lock in the schedule – Once the shift is filled, every step is logged for easy tracking.

Your hall’s process might be a little different—maybe shifts are posted all at once, or maybe they go out individually. Either way, the system should give you the flexibility to set it up the way you need.

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Why This Matters for Compliance

Tracking seniority manually isn’t just time-consuming—it makes it harder to prove compliance. A system that keeps an automatic audit trail means you always have records showing that shifts were assigned fairly and according to the hall’s rules.

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Making Seniority Visible to Members

Another thing that comes up a lot—members want to know where they stand. When seniority isn’t transparent, it can lead to frustration and scheduling disputes.

With Roosted, members can check their seniority ranking anytime, either through their profile on a browser or directly in the mobile app. If the hall updates seniority manually, it’s easy to adjust—just edit the field like you would any other detail.

If the system is calculating seniority automatically (based on shifts worked, tenure, or a combination of both), those updates happen in real time. That means:

• Members see their rank as soon as they log in
• No one has to call or email just to ask where they stand
• There’s always a record of how seniority is being determined

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How Roosted Helps with Seniority-Based Scheduling

Roosted is built to handle the way IATSE halls schedule shifts. You set the rules, and the system makes sure they’re followed. That means:

• Seniority rankings are always visible when assigning shifts
• Invitations go out automatically, following your hall’s order of priority
• Every scheduling action is logged, so there’s no confusion about why a shift went to a certain person

Want to see it in action? In this video, we walk through how Roosted makes seniority-based scheduling easier, more transparent, and fully auditable for IATSE halls.

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Watch Now

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