Create a rota from a clear weekly view
Add employees, locations and teams, then build shifts directly in the rota. Reuse shift templates, repeat regular working patterns, copy previous schedules and move shifts when plans change.
Simple staff scheduling for small teams
Create staff rotas in minutes, not hours.
Rota Generator is an online rota planner for small businesses and shift-based teams. Build weekly staff rotas, manage availability and leave, find cover, publish changes and share schedules from one clear workspace.
Free for up to 20 active employees. No credit card required.
Unlimited rotas
Employee portal included
PDF, CSV and calendar sharing
Build rotas fasterTemplates, recurring shifts, copy tools and drag-and-drop scheduling
Keep staffing visibleAvailability, leave, hours and scheduling warnings in one workflow
Give staff a simple portalPublished rotas, availability, leave, swaps and open shifts
Share without spreadsheetsSecure links, PDF, CSV, print and calendar feeds
ONLINE ROTA PLANNER
A rota generator built around the weekly work managers actually do.
Creating a staff rota should not require a complicated workforce platform. Rota Generator keeps the core scheduling jobs together so a manager can move from an empty week to a published rota without jumping between spreadsheets, messages and separate leave records.
Plan around real availability
Employees can submit when they are available, unavailable or would prefer to work. Approved leave is shown alongside the rota so managers can spot problems before publishing the schedule.
Publish one version everyone can follow
When the rota is ready, publish it to employees and share it securely. Changes stay controlled by the manager, while staff can see the latest published schedule from their own account.
STAFF ROTA SOFTWARE
Everything you need to plan shifts without making scheduling complicated.
Rota Generator combines the practical tools small teams need each week. The interface stays simple, while the scheduling rules, permissions and records underneath are built for real business use.
Weekly rota builder
Create, edit, copy, move and repeat shifts from a staff rota grid. Switch between week, two-week, four-week and month views when you need a wider picture.
Availability and leave
Collect recurring or one-off availability, approve leave requests and see conflicts before assigning someone to a shift they cannot work.
Scheduling warnings
Check overlapping shifts, approved leave, weekly-hour limits, rest periods and consecutive working days. Managers can review warnings rather than relying on guesswork.
Shift swaps and open shifts
Let employees offer shifts, accept eligible swaps and claim open shifts. Keep manager approval where your organisation needs it.
Find cover
See suitable employees based on availability, team, role, location and current schedule. Invite the right people instead of sending the same message to the whole team.
Share and export
Create secure rota links, print schedules, export PDF or CSV files and let employees subscribe to published shifts through their calendar.
Notifications that matter
Keep people informed when rotas are published, shifts change, leave is decided, swaps move forward or a manager sends a cover request.
Hours and reports
Review scheduled hours, contracted-hour differences, night and weekend shifts, leave, labour estimates and other useful management signals.
Timesheets and approvals
Pull published shifts into weekly timesheets, record actual worked hours and breaks, compare scheduled versus actual time, then submit and approve each week.
Audit history and permissions
Keep important changes recorded and control who can manage employees, rotas, reports, billing and organisation settings.
CREATE A STAFF ROTA
Build next week from patterns you already know.
A useful rota planner should reduce repetitive work. Create common shift templates, repeat regular shifts, copy an employee's schedule or use the previous week as a starting point. You can still edit individual shifts whenever the week changes.
The rota grid keeps employees vertically and days horizontally, so managers can scan the week quickly. Scheduled hours are calculated as shifts are added, and overnight shifts are handled correctly when a shift runs past midnight.
Shift templatesSave common start times, end times, breaks, roles and locations.
Recurring patternsRepeat shifts weekly or on custom patterns, with conflict checks before creation.
Copy and undoReuse schedules and safely undo common rota actions when plans change.
Draft then publishWork privately until the rota is ready for employees to see.
AVAILABILITY AND LEAVE
See whether a shift works before you assign it.
Staff scheduling becomes difficult when availability lives in messages and leave lives somewhere else. Rota Generator brings those records into the rota workflow so managers can make decisions with the relevant information visible.
Employees can submit regular availability, one-off changes and preferences. Managers can approve leave, then see approved dates directly while planning. If a shift conflicts with availability or another scheduling rule, the warning explains the problem before the manager chooses what to do.
This keeps the system helpful rather than rigid. Managers remain in control, while overrides that matter can be recorded for accountability.
EMPLOYEE PORTAL
Give employees the schedule information they actually need.
The employee side is intentionally simpler than the manager workspace. Staff can check published shifts from a phone, submit availability, request leave, offer shift swaps, claim open shifts and respond to cover invitations.
Employees can also add published shifts to their calendar and see the team information your organisation allows. Private contact details are not exposed through shared rota pages.
That means fewer screenshots of spreadsheets and fewer questions about which version of the rota is current.
HOW TO CREATE A ROTA ONLINE
From team setup to a published rota in four clear steps.
The setup follows the order a manager naturally works in. You can start small and add more structure as your team grows.
Add your team
Create locations, teams and employees manually, or import employees from CSV when you already have a staff list.
Plan the rota
Add shifts, use templates, repeat regular patterns and copy schedules so the rota does not need to be rebuilt from zero every week.
Review conflicts
Check availability, approved leave, working-hour limits and other scheduling warnings while the rota is still a draft.
Publish and share
Publish when the schedule is ready. Employees see the current rota, and managers can share or export it in the format the team needs.
FOR SHIFT-BASED TEAMS
A practical rota planner for businesses where staffing changes week to week.
Different industries schedule people differently, but they share the same basic problem: the right people need to be in the right place at the right time, and everyone needs to know the plan.
Care and supported housing
Plan day, evening, waking-night and sleep-in patterns across teams or houses, while keeping leave and availability visible.
Hospitality and restaurants
Build weekly rotas around changing demand, split teams by role and make it easier to fill uncovered shifts.
Security
Schedule staff across locations and shift patterns, including overnight work, while tracking hours and coverage changes.
Retail
Plan store coverage, part-time availability and weekend shifts without maintaining separate versions of the rota.
Cleaning
Organise employees by team and location, then share clear schedules for recurring or changing client work.
Offices, charities and community teams
Use a straightforward rota for reception, events, volunteers, support teams or any workplace that needs shared shift planning.
BETTER ROTA PLANNING
What should a good staff rota help you answer?
A rota is more useful when it does more than list names and times. Managers should be able to understand coverage, employee availability and upcoming changes without searching through separate records.
Who is working and where?
Every shift should make the date, start and end time, employee, role and location easy to understand. When a team works across several sites, filters should make each location easier to review.
Is anyone unavailable or on leave?
Availability and approved leave should be part of rota planning, not an afterthought. Seeing these details before publishing helps reduce avoidable changes later.
Are working hours reasonable?
Scheduled hours, rest periods and consecutive working days give managers useful context. Rota Generator provides warnings and lets the organisation decide which scheduling rules to configure.
How will staff receive changes?
A rota only works when people know which version is current. Publishing, notifications, secure sharing and calendar feeds help teams stay aligned when shifts change.
START FREE
A useful free rota generator for small teams.
The Free plan supports up to 20 active employees and includes the core rota workflow. You can create unlimited rotas, manage availability and leave, use weekly timesheets and the employee portal, share schedules and export PDF or CSV files.
Paid plans are based on clear team-size bands rather than a charge for every employee. Upgrade when your organisation needs more capacity or advanced limits.
Compare all pricing plans
FREE£0per month
Up to 20 employeesA genuine small-team plan, not a short trial.
Unlimited rotasKeep building and publishing schedules each week.
Core scheduling includedAvailability, leave, swaps, sharing, employee access and more.
Start free
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions about creating and managing staff rotas.
Here are straightforward answers to the questions small teams commonly have when moving from spreadsheets or manual rota planning.
What is a staff rota?
A staff rota is a schedule showing who is working, when they are working and, where relevant, the role, team or location for each shift. A good rota helps managers plan coverage and gives employees one clear place to check their upcoming work.
How do I create a staff rota online?
Add your employees, teams and locations, then create shifts in the rota builder. You can use shift templates, repeat regular patterns, copy schedules from another week and review availability or leave before publishing.
Is Rota Generator free?
Yes. The Free plan supports up to 20 active employees and includes unlimited rotas plus the core scheduling workflow. No credit card is required to create an account.
Can I use Rota Generator for recurring shifts?
Yes. Managers can create recurring shifts and preview conflicts before the repeating series is applied. Regular patterns can be stopped or adjusted when the schedule changes.
Can employees submit availability and leave?
Yes. Employees can submit recurring or one-off availability and make leave requests. Managers can approve leave and see relevant conflicts while planning the rota.
Can employees swap shifts or pick up open shifts?
Yes. Employees can offer eligible shifts for swaps and claim open shifts. Organisations can choose whether manager approval is required before assignments change.
Can I share or export a rota?
Yes. Managers can create secure share links, download PDF or CSV files, use a printable view and let employees add published shifts to their calendar.
Can I manage more than one location?
Yes. Organisations can create locations and teams, assign employees accordingly and filter rota views around the part of the business they need to manage.
CREATE YOUR NEXT ROTA
Set up your team and start planning for free.
Create an account, add your employees and build your first staff rota. The Free plan supports up to 20 active employees with no credit card required.