Free Weekly Rota Template

This is the simple, proven weekly rota layout: one row per person, one column per day, and a headcount check along the bottom. It is above in full, so you can judge it before you take it. Copy it into your own document, or download the spreadsheet and plan this week in a few minutes.

How to use it

1. Put the week-commencing date at the top and list everyone who could work this week, including casual staff.
2. Fill in shifts as start and end times (08:00-16:00). Write Off explicitly rather than leaving blanks, so an empty cell always means "not planned yet".
3. Use the daily headcount row as your coverage check: if Saturday needs six people and the column says four, you can see the gap before Saturday does.
4. Publish it somewhere everyone can see it, and note the date you shared it. Late rota changes are the single biggest cause of no-shows.

What a spreadsheet rota cannot do

A spreadsheet is fine at ten people and painful at twenty. What it will never do:

• Warn you that a shift clashes with approved holiday or someone's availability
• Tell staff their shifts changed, or let them confirm they saw them
• Show the wage cost of the week while you plan it
• Let staff swap shifts within rules you control

Those are the reasons rota software exists as a category. OtisIO does all four and has a free plan for up to 10 people with no time limit. If the spreadsheet is starting to creak, the rota planning tour shows what the upgrade looks like.

Tips that outlast any template

• Publish at least a week ahead, two if you can. Predictability is the cheapest retention benefit you can offer.
• Keep shift patterns boring. Rotating fairness matters more than perfect optimisation.
• Write down who covers what when someone calls in sick, before it happens.