Free rota templates: Excel, Google Sheets and PDF downloads

Every template on this page is free to download, with no email or sign-up. Each one comes as an Excel file that does the adding up for you, and as a PDF to print and fill in by hand. They're built for hospitality and care, so they cope with split shifts, staff areas, late finishes and night shifts, which generic office rota grids don't.

Which rota template do you need?

Each Excel file has the same tabs: a blank Rota, a filled-in Example week so you can see how it works, a Cover planner, a Before you publish checklist, and a Lists tab where you rename staff areas or roles to suit you.

Weekly staff rota template (Excel, Google Sheets and PDF)

Download the staff rota (Excel) · Download the staff rota (PDF)

This is the general one: twelve people, Monday to Sunday, for a venue with a bar, kitchen and floor. What it does for you:

• Split shifts without a mess. Each person has two rows per day. The first block goes on the top row, the second block on the grey row underneath, each with its own start, finish and area.
• Staff areas from a list. Pick Bar, Kitchen, Floor, KP, Café, Cellar and so on from a drop-down. Rename them on the Lists tab and the drop-down follows. Type OFF or HOL and the cell shades.
• Late finishes handled. A shift from 18:00 to 01:00 counts as seven hours, not minus seventeen.
• Hours and cost. Shift hours per person, unpaid breaks taken off, paid hours, and cost at each person's hourly rate. Hours and wage cost per day along the bottom.
• Labour % of sales. Type in what you expect to take each day and it shows labour as a share of sales, by day and for the week. Our guide to labour cost percentage explains what to aim for.
• A flag for long weeks. Anyone rota'd over 48 hours in the week turns amber, and the 48-hour tracker tab averages each person's hours over up to 17 weeks.

The PDF version is the same layout for pen and paper: a split line in every day box, rows for hours, cost, the manager on duty and day notes, and the cover planner and checklist on page two.

Bar and kitchen rota templates

Bar staff rota

Download the bar rota (Excel) · Download the bar rota (PDF)

Bars live and die on the late shift, so this version adds a named closer and cellar duty for every day, plus areas for door and glass collecting. The cover planner works in time bands (open to 17:00, 17:00 to 20:00, 20:00 to 23:00, 23:00 to close) rather than meal services, because that's how a bar fills up. The bar staff rota template page walks through a worked week with a quiz night and a match.

Kitchen rota

Download the kitchen rota (Excel) · Download the kitchen rota (PDF)

Kitchens split shifts more than anyone, so the two-row layout earns its keep here. The areas are sections (pass, grill, larder, pastry, prep, KP), and the cover planner sets how many chefs each section needs for lunch and for dinner. There are rows for the opening and closing chef and for deliveries. Chefs are also the people most likely to run long weeks, so the 48-hour tracker is included. See the kitchen rota template page for a brigade example and our guide to split shifts in hospitality.

Care home rota template: days, twilights and nights

Download the care home rota (Excel) · Download the care home rota (PDF)

Care rotas are written in shift codes, not times, so this template works differently. You set your codes on the Shift key tab: long day, early, late, twilight, night, plus annual leave, sickness and training. Give each one its own start, finish and unpaid break, and say whether it counts towards day, twilight or night staffing. Then type codes into the rota.

The sheet works out each person's rota hours and compares them with their contracted hours. Along the bottom it counts how many staff are on each day, twilight and night, and turns the cell red if that's below the minimum you set. There are rows to name the lead on days and on nights. A Staffing levels tab gives you somewhere to record the minimum staff, lead role and skills for each period, and when you last reviewed them.

The care staff rota template guide covers common care shift patterns and how to set staffing levels from residents' needs. If you run a home, see ShiftComplete for care homes.

How to use the templates in Google Sheets, Excel or Numbers

• Excel: open the file and start on the Rota tab. Type times as 09:00 or 17:30. Shaded cells have formulas, so leave them alone.
• Google Sheets: upload the .xlsx file to your Google Drive and double-click it. Google opens Office files in Sheets, and the formulas, drop-downs and shading carry over.
• Apple Numbers: open the .xlsx file as normal.
• Paper: print the PDF. Each rota fits on one A4 landscape page, with the cover planner and checklist on the second page.

A tip that saves arguments: each week, duplicate the Rota tab (right-click the tab, then Duplicate or Copy) and rename it with the date, rather than overwriting last week. Old rotas are your record of who worked when.

Rolling rotas and 4 on 4 off

If your team works a repeating pattern, such as 4 on 4 off or a fixed rotation of earlies and lates, use the weekly template as a pattern sheet. Fill in one cycle (an 8-day pattern spans two weeks), then copy it forward and change only the exceptions: holidays, sickness and swaps.

Two things to watch with rolling patterns. First, the cycle and the calendar week don't line up, so someone can work five days in one week and three in the next: check their weekly rest and their average hours, not just the pattern. Second, long days add up quickly. Four 12-hour shifts in a row is 48 hours of shift time before you take breaks off, so watch anyone picking up extra shifts on their days off.

How to fill in a rota template in 10 minutes

1. Start from the cover planner. Write how many people each session needs, by area. Note events: a party, a match, a delivery, a quiet Monday.
2. Mark the fixed points. Holidays, regular days off and anyone who can only work certain hours.
3. Place your managers or leads first. Every open, every close, every day and every night needs someone in charge.
4. Place the hardest-to-cover roles next. Chefs in a kitchen, nurses or seniors in a care home.
5. Fill the rest around the cover planner, sharing late closes and weekends fairly.
6. Check the totals. Hours per person, hours and cost per day, and labour as a share of sales.
7. Run the checklist on the Before you publish tab, then send one version to everyone at the same time.

Rules to check before you publish

The templates flag long weeks, but they can't check rest for you. These are the GOV.UK rules most rotas trip over:

• Breaks: an adult working more than 6 hours is entitled to one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break during the working day. It doesn't have to be paid; that depends on the contract.
• Daily rest: 11 hours between working days. A 01:00 finish means no start before 12:00 the next day.
• Weekly rest: an uninterrupted 24 hours without work each week, or 48 hours each fortnight.
• Average hours: no more than 48 hours a week on average, usually worked out over 17 weeks, unless the worker has opted out.
• Under-18s: no more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, a 30-minute break if they work more than 4.5 hours, 12 hours' daily rest and 48 hours' weekly rest.
• Night workers: no more than an average of 8 hours in each 24-hour period, usually over 17 weeks. GOV.UK lists exceptions, including jobs that need round-the-clock staffing, like hospital work.

Our guide to UK working time rules for hospitality covers the detail and the exceptions.

When a spreadsheet stops working

A template works well when the team is stable and one person writes the rota. It starts to creak when availability changes every week, when people work across two areas or two sites, and when the rota has to reach twenty phones and you're never sure who has seen the latest version. That's when the Sunday-night rota starts taking two hours.

ShiftComplete does what these templates do, without the copying and chasing:

• Staff set their availability on their phones weeks ahead (available, partial or off, with a note), and you can see it while you build.
• You add events, like a Saturday match that needs two extra on the bar, and ShiftComplete builds a draft rota in seconds, fair across the team.
• Up to four time blocks per person per day, each tagged with a staff area you define, plus day notes.
• Labour cost shown while you build, and holidays recorded so nobody is rota'd while they're off.
• Publish once and the rota appears on every staff member's phone, and can be emailed.

It runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and as an Android app. It costs £1.49 per staff member per month with every feature included and no contract, and it's free for 60 days with no card needed. For a fuller comparison, see the best rota apps for UK hospitality or our guide on how to write a pub rota.