How to make a staff rota for a small business (with a simple template)

A good rota puts the right number of people on at the right times, keeps you within the working time rules and doesn't change at the last minute. Here's a simple way to build one, with a template layout you can copy.

Updated 9 October 2026 · DeskKit Tools, Belfast

Step 1: work out the cover you need, hour by hour

Start with demand, not with people. Pull a few weeks of sales from your till or booking system and look at them by hour and by day. Most small businesses find a clear pattern: a lunchtime peak in a café, Saturday mornings in a salon, late afternoons in a convenience shop.

Turn that into a simple cover plan, for example:

Include opening and closing time, deliveries and cleaning. These jobs are easy to forget and are often why shifts overrun.

Step 2: list your people and their limits

For each person, note:

• contracted hours (minimum and maximum)
• days or times they can't work (childcare, college, a second job)
• skills: who can open, cash up, use the coffee machine, do colour
• approved holiday for the week
• whether they are under 18, because different rest rules apply

Step 3: build the core shifts first

Fill the shifts that need specific skills first, such as opening, closing and your busiest hours. Then fill the rest with the people who still need hours. Try to give each person a regular pattern where you can. Staff can plan their lives around the same days each week, and you get fewer swap requests.

Avoid a closing shift followed by an opening shift the next morning. Besides being unpopular, it can break the daily rest rule below.

Step 4: check the working time rules

In Northern Ireland the rest break rules come from the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. The main ones for a rota are:

• Rest break: adults working more than six hours in a day are entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute break. Young workers (over school-leaving age but under 18) get 30 minutes if they work more than four and a half hours.
• Daily rest: 11 hours in a row between working days for adults, 12 hours for young workers.
• Weekly rest: an uninterrupted 24 hours each week (or 48 hours each fortnight) for adults, and 48 hours each week for young workers.
• Weekly hours: no more than 48 hours a week on average, unless the worker has chosen to opt out in writing. Young workers can't opt out and are limited to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.

The Labour Relations Agency has more detail, including the exceptions for some jobs.

Step 5: total the hours and the cost

Add up each person's hours for the week and compare them with their contract. Then multiply by their hourly rate to see the wage bill. If wages are creeping up as a share of sales, the hour-by-hour cover plan from step 1 shows where you can trim without leaving the busy times short. Make sure every hourly rate is at least the current National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the person's age.

A simple rota template layout

You don't need special software to start. A spreadsheet with these columns works well:

Add a row at the bottom that counts how many people are on at each key time, so you can see the gaps against your cover plan. Mark holidays and bank holidays in a different colour.

Step 6: publish it early and keep changes rare

Share the rota at least a week ahead, two if you can. Put it where everyone can see it, such as a printed copy in the staff room plus a photo in the team chat, or an app. Agree a simple swap rule (for example, "swaps are fine if you find cover with the same skills and tell the manager"). Keep last week's rota with the actual hours worked. It is your record if there is ever a question about pay or holiday.

Common rota mistakes

• Building the rota around people instead of demand, so you are overstaffed at quiet times.
• Forgetting approved holiday until the week itself.
• Giving bank holidays only to whoever works Mondays, which is unfair on other part-timers.
• Changing shifts at short notice by text, with no record of what was agreed.

Checking this week's and next week's rota for gaps is the first item on the Belfast Desk Kit weekly admin checklist for NI small businesses, which comes with a free printable Monday sheet.

General information for small businesses, not legal or professional advice. Rules change, so check the official sources linked above before you rely on them.