Loading...
Build a weekly staff rota that totals hours, splits overtime, prices the week and shows the hours nobody is covering.
An employee schedule, or staff rota, sets out who works which shift over a week. Beyond the grid of names it has to answer three things a printed grid cannot: how many hours each person is on for, who has crossed into overtime, and whether every hour you are open has somebody rostered.
The last box is the unpaid break in minutes. An end time at or before the start is read as the next morning, so 22:00 to 06:00 is eight hours.
| Person | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dana | 09:00-17:00 | 09:00-17:00 | 路 | 09:00-17:00 | 09:00-17:00 | 路 | 路 | 30 |
| Luis | 12:00-20:00 | 路 | 09:00-17:00 | 路 | 12:00-20:00 | 路 | 路 | 22.50 |
| Ravi | 路 | 12:00-20:00 | 12:00-20:00 | 路 | 路 | 路 | 10:00-16:00 | 21 |
| Chloe | 路 | 路 | 路 | 12:00-20:00 | 路 | 10:00-18:00 | 路 | 15 |
Overtime is anything above 40 hours in the week, paid at one and a half times. Several states also require it past eight hours in a day, which this does not model, so check the rule where you operate before the total goes anywhere near payroll.
An .xlsx with three sheets: the rota to print, the arithmetic behind it, and the gaps.
1. Rota
One row per person and one column per day, with shift times in the cells, hours down the right and a count of who is on each day along the bottom. This is the sheet that prints for a staff room wall.
2. Hours and cost
Shifts, hours, the basic and overtime split and the pay for each person, with the wage bill at the foot. The overtime split and the pay are live formulas, so editing hours in the sheet re-splits them rather than leaving a figure that no longer follows.
3. Coverage
Day by day: how many people are on, how many hours are rostered, and every hour inside your opening times with nobody working it.
Names and pay rates are typed into your browser and stay there. The workbook is built on your machine, so payroll figures never reach a server.
Excel
Double click the download. If Excel shows a yellow protected view bar, click Enable Editing so the formulas calculate.
Google Sheets
Upload it to Drive and open it, or use File then Import then Upload inside an existing sheet. Formatting and formulas both carry across.
Numbers on a Mac
Open it directly. Numbers converts the workbook and keeps the totals working, though the yellow header fill may shift slightly.
Formula
paid hours = (end - start) - unpaid break 路 pay = basic x rate + overtime x rate x 1.5unpaid break = deducted from the shift. Federal rules treat rests of about twenty minutes or less as paid, so only genuinely unpaid breaks belong here
overtime = hours above the weekly threshold, forty under the federal standard. Some states add a daily threshold past eight hours, which this does not model
coverage gap = an hour inside opening times with nobody rostered. Checked hour by hour, because two shifts that between them span the day can still leave a hole in the middle
overnight shift = an end time at or before the start is read as the next morning, so 22:00 to 06:00 is eight hours rather than minus sixteen
Worked Example
A nine to five with a half hour lunch, five days
Did you know? The forty hour week was not a government idea first. Ford went to it in 1926, having already cut to eight hour days in 1914, on the argument that rested workers made fewer mistakes and that people with time off buy things. The Fair Labor Standards Act followed in 1938, which is where the time and a half above forty comes from.
Build a chore chart that rotates automatically and shows how many turns each person gets.
Build a cleaning rota from how often each job is really needed, spread over four weeks so no day is overloaded.
Set a countdown with start/pause/reset and audio alert. Quick presets included.
Generate formatted standup updates with yesterday, today, and blockers for async teams.
Write up a standup and download a Word file that opens in Google Docs, filled in.
Sort tasks by urgency and importance into four action quadrants.