About the shift schedule maker
What is a shift schedule maker?
A shift schedule maker helps you build a weekly rota showing who works when. For a manager of a café, shop, clinic, warehouse or small team, the rota is one of the most important weekly jobs. It must cover every day, treat people fairly and keep paid hours under control. Doing it on paper or in a plain spreadsheet makes it easy to miss gaps or overload one person.
This free shift schedule maker lets you pick the week and your first day of the week, set the unpaid break per shift and a weekly hours threshold, then add each person and enter start and end times for every day they work. It calculates paid hours per person and shows how many people are on each day. Print the rota or download CSV. It runs in your browser with no account.
How to build a rota
- Choose the week and the first day of the week.
- Set the unpaid break taken in each shift, in minutes, and the weekly hours above which you want someone flagged.
- Add each person and enter a start and end time for each day they work, leaving other days blank.
- Check paid hours per person and how many people are on each day.
- Adjust until every day is covered and nobody is over their hours, then print or download.
Paid hours and breaks
For each shift, the tool subtracts the unpaid break from the time between start and end and shows the paid time. A person working 09:00 to 17:30 with a 30-minute unpaid break has eight paid hours. The weekly total appears for each person, and anyone above the threshold you set is flagged. This helps you notice overtime and fair distribution at a glance. The tool does not calculate pay and does not know local employment rules, so check legal limits, rest periods and break entitlements for your region.
Checking cover by day
The row showing how many people work each day is a quick test of whether the rota works. A day with one person might leave you exposed to sickness. A day with six might be overstaffed. Use it alongside what you know about your busy and quiet times. If Fridays are busy and Tuesdays are slow, the numbers should reflect that. If a day has too few people, move a shift or ask for volunteers before you publish.
Tips for fair and workable rotas
- Publish the rota as early as you can so people can plan their lives.
- Rotate unpopular shifts such as weekends and closing fairly.
- Leave enough time between a late finish and an early start.
- Ask for availability and requests in advance, and record them somewhere.
- Keep a list of people willing to cover for last-minute absences.
- Review each week’s rota to see what you would change next time.
Who uses a shift schedule maker?
- Small businesses: shops, cafés, salons and restaurants.
- Care, clinic and community organisations with volunteers or part-time staff.
- Event teams and sports clubs organising helpers.
- Households and families sharing caring duties or chores.
Planning around absence and peaks
A rota that works in a normal week can fail the moment someone is ill or a busy period arrives. Note known holidays and busy dates before you start, and keep one or two people with flexible availability for cover. If a day shows thin cover in the grid, fix it before you share the rota, not on the morning itself. Keeping previous weeks’ CSV files also shows how demand and absence follow a pattern, which helps with planning future weeks.
Related tools
If you need a timetable for one person’s week, use the weekly schedule maker. The daily schedule maker is helpful for planning one busy day in detail, and the project plan template suits one-off work such as an event or a refit. The meeting agenda template helps run a weekly team briefing.
Print, CSV and privacy
Print the rota for the staff room wall or save a PDF to send by message or email. Download CSV to keep records or edit in a spreadsheet. Names and hours are processed in your browser and are not sent to Just Plann. Tick “Remember on this device” to keep the rota between sessions, and clear it when you no longer need it, especially on shared devices.
Shift schedule maker FAQ
Can I create night shifts that cross midnight? Yes. If the end time is at or before the start time, the tool treats the shift as running past midnight and counts the hours accordingly.
Does it follow local labour law? No. It is a planning tool. Check your local rules on hours, rest and breaks.
How many people can I add? As many as will fit usefully on the page. For larger teams, split by department.
Build this week’s rota
Pick the week, add your team and enter the shifts. Within minutes you will see paid hours and cover for every day.