Can yards work with a conventional staff rota? Nick Alexander shows they can...

Nick Alexander has said his yard has benefited in recent years from what many have long called impossible within racing: having stable staff working to a conventional rota.

The strain placed on British racing's workforce has come into sharp focus since the publication of the 2022 fixture list and the Racing Post has spoken to many different trainers and stable staff for a major investigation into staffing issues in Sunday’s newspaper.

Along with the likes of Daniel and Claire Kubler and Ruth Carr, Alexander is one of several trainers looking to modernise his yard’s working practices in a bid to attract and retain more staff and he revealed that having his team work to a rota, as in other industries, has had a beneficial impact.

The Fife trainer has 50 horses and a pool of 24 staff, 17 or 18 of whom work on any set day. Staff work 7am-1pm and 4pm-6pm five days a week. They work a five-hour Sunday, one Sunday in four, which is one of their five working days that week. If he has to ask them to work an extra Sunday for any reason, they get a day off in lieu that week, meaning they always get two days a week off.

"It's a pain having to sort out a slightly complicated rota but I do think it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation," he said. "If you make the hours attractive you won't find it so difficult to attract employees. Whereas if you have very unattractive hours, then you'll find it very difficult to attract employees.

"I've only done it for two years but I unquestionably think that I benefit from it. It takes a couple of hours a week to sort out a rota but I think I reap the benefit of it, because they're not exhausted the whole time. They're fresh and enthusiastic and work much better as a team, because they're not overtired and getting on each other's nerves. You've got to have enough staff to do it but maybe the reason why you haven't got enough staff is that [the hours are unattractive]."

On what measures the sport could do as a whole to help staff, Alexander felt that having no racing on Mondays would be a better move than reducing the weekend schedule.

He said: "I think the BHA's initiative of granting extra Saturdays providing they put on a minimum of £100,000 is quite hard to argue with, and I would much prefer that there was no racing on a Monday. No-one wants to go racing on a Monday. It's pretty drab stuff and you're just providing something to keep the wheels of the betting industry turning over. Ireland doesn't seem to have to do that, so why should we?"

Read more on British racing's staffing crisis in the Big Read, available online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday or in Sunday's Racing Post newspaper. Not a member? Click here, select 'Get Ultimate Monthly' and enter the code JUMPOFF to get your first three months for just £10 per month.

Read more on this subject:

'Everyone needs a day off' – Ed Bethell issues warning over 2022 fixtures

Stable staff are fine with racing at the weekend – if it's not for peanuts

'Racing has to get with the times' – McDonald hits out over extra fixtures

'A slap in the face' – stable staff boss's fury over weekend fixtures

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