Staff Rota

Build Rotas.
Staff Know.
Everyone's Happy.

Drag-and-drop scheduling, shift templates, conflict detection, and a staff portal where your team manages everything themselves.

No credit card required. No contracts. Cancel anytime.

100% Built-In
No plugins or add-ons
Staff Portal
Mobile-first, no app needed
Auto Notifications
Email & SMS to your team
The Scheduler

Your Rota, One Screen

Managers build the rota. Staff see it instantly. Two views of the same week — always in sync.

Admin rota scheduler — weekly view with shifts, costs, and staff
Staff portal — team rota grid view
Manager View
Staff Portal

Same week. Two perspectives. Managers schedule, staff stay informed.

Features

Everything Your Rota System Needs

Teams, roles, shift templates, conflict detection, leave management, and a staff portal. All built in.

Teams & Roles

Organise staff into teams like Front of House and Kitchen. Assign roles with hourly rates. See everyone in one place.

Drag & Drop Scheduling

Create shifts by dragging on the timeline. Resize to adjust times. Move between staff rows to reassign instantly.

Shift Templates

Build reusable weekly templates. Apply them to any week with one click. Auto-assignment fills shifts based on availability and fairness.

Conflict Detection

Overlapping shifts, approved leave, and unavailability are flagged automatically. Fix issues before you publish.

Publish & Notify

Publish the week when it's ready. Every assigned staff member gets an email with their shifts. Changes after publishing trigger update notifications.

Leave & Availability

Staff request time off. You approve or reject with shift coverage options. Availability blocks show on the scheduler as background overlays.

How It Works

Three Steps. That's It.

1

Set Up Your Teams

Create teams, roles, and add your staff. Set contracted hours, max hours, and weekly availability. Two minutes per person.

2

Build The Rota

Drag shifts onto the timeline or apply a template. The scheduler auto-assigns staff based on availability, fairness, and max hours.

3

Publish & Relax

Hit publish. Staff get notified by email. They see their shifts, request time off, swap shifts, and claim open shifts from their phone.

Auto-Generate

A Full Week of Shifts.
In Seconds.

Build a template once with your standard shift patterns. Click “Apply Template” and the system generates a full week of draft shifts — with staff automatically assigned based on availability, fairness, and hours.

Smart Auto-Assignment
Staff are matched by preferred availability, weekly windows, team fit, and fair hour distribution.
Respects Constraints
Leave, unavailability, overlapping shifts, and max hours are all automatically excluded.
Then Fine-Tune
Generated shifts land as drafts. Drag, resize, or reassign before you publish.
Repeatable
Create multiple templates — “Core Weekly Coverage”, “Event Weekend Boost” — and apply the right one each week.
Shift templates — define weekly patterns and auto-generate rotas
The Result

One Click. Entire Week Filled.

22 shifts across 5 staff members, with hours, costs, and open shifts — all generated from a single template.

Generated weekly rota — full staff coverage with hours and costs
Admin Dashboard

Your Scheduling Command Centre

Build your rota, manage teams, track leave, and create reusable templates — all from one place.

Teams & Roles

Organise Your People

Create teams like Front of House, Kitchen, and Events. Define roles with hourly rates. Control staff portal permissions — who can see the full rota, claim open shifts, or propose swaps.

Team Groupings
Staff are organised into teams that map to your scheduler rows.
Roles & Rates
Define roles with default hourly rates. Assign multiple roles per staff member.
Portal Controls
Toggle team rota visibility, open shift claims, and shift trades per store.
Rota setup — teams, roles, and portal settings
Team members management — staff list with employment details
Team Members

Know Your Team

Add staff with employment type, contracted hours, max hours, and weekly availability windows. Invite them to the staff portal with one click.

Hours & Availability
Set contracted hours, max hours, and per-day availability windows for each person.
Portal Invites
Send a portal invite email. Staff set their password and access their schedule instantly.
Avatars & Profiles
Upload staff photos shown across the scheduler and portal for quick identification.
Leave & Availability

Handle Time Off
Without the Chaos

Staff request leave from their portal. You approve or reject with shift coverage options — reassign to another team member or convert to an open shift.

Leave Requests
Review pending leave with one-click approve or reject. Set shift coverage on approval.
Availability Blocks
Staff mark preferred or unavailable times. These show as overlays on the scheduler.
Conflict Prevention
Approved leave and unavailability are automatically factored into conflict detection.
Time off and availability management
Shift templates — reusable weekly patterns
Shift Templates

Build Once,
Apply Every Week

Create named weekly templates with shift slots for each day. Apply to any week and the system auto-assigns staff based on availability, team match, fairness, and max hours.

Smart Auto-Assignment
Considers preferred availability, weekly windows, team match, hours balance, leave, and max hours.
Reusable Patterns
Create templates like "Core Weekly Coverage" and "Event Weekend Boost". Apply either with one click.
Then Fine-Tune
After applying a template, adjust individual shifts with drag-and-drop before publishing.
Staff Portal

A Portal Your Staff Will Actually Use

Your team gets their own branded portal. View shifts, request time off, swap shifts, and claim open shifts — all from their phone.

Staff portal — Dashboard

Dashboard

Upcoming shifts, stats, and quick access to everything.

Staff portal — My Schedule

My Schedule

Week view with shift cards. Propose swaps on future shifts.

Staff portal — Time Off

Time Off

Request leave, track status, and view history.

Staff portal — Shift Trades

Shift Trades

Propose swaps with colleagues. Track pending and accepted trades.

Team Rota — staff × days weekly grid showing all published shifts

The Team Rota view — every staff member's shifts for the week, at a glance.

Shift Trades

Staff propose swaps with colleagues. Both parties agree, then you approve. Everyone gets notified.

Open Shift Claims

Unassigned shifts are visible to the team. Staff claim them, you approve. No more WhatsApp groups.

Time Off Requests

Staff submit leave from their phone. You approve with shift coverage actions — reassign or open the shift.

Smart Notifications

Published shifts, changes, cancellations, leave decisions, and trade updates — all delivered by email and optional SMS.

Use Cases

Works For Every Venue

Restaurants

Schedule front of house, kitchen, and events teams. Auto-assign shifts based on availability and contracted hours.

Cafes & Coffee Shops

Simple rotas for small teams. Staff see their shifts on their phone and swap when plans change.

Bars & Nightlife

Late shifts, split hours, weekend-heavy patterns. Templates make weekly scheduling effortless.

Hotels & Venues

Multiple teams across departments. Each with their own roles, rates, and availability windows.

Full Feature List

Every Feature, At a Glance

Everything included with the BookingNinja rota system. No add-ons, no hidden extras.

Scheduling

Day, week, and per-staff timetable views
Drag-and-drop shift creation and editing
Resize shifts to adjust times
Move shifts between staff rows to reassign
Multi-staff shifts (one shift, multiple people)
Open shifts (unassigned, claimable)
Draft and published shift statuses
Publish visible week with one click
Conflict detection for overlaps, leave, and availability
Conflict hotspot rail for the active date range

Teams & Staff

Multiple teams per venue
Roles with default hourly rates
Staff assigned to multiple teams and roles
Employment types (full-time, part-time, casual, contractor)
Contracted hours and maximum hours per person
Weekly availability windows per day of week
Staff avatars (uploaded to cloud)
Active and inactive staff statuses

Templates & Auto-Assignment

Named weekly shift templates
Per-day shift slots (day, times, team, role, staff count, break, rate)
Apply template to any week with one click
Smart auto-assignment based on availability
Preferred availability boosted
Weekly availability window matching
Team match priority
Fair hour distribution across staff
Max hours cap enforcement
Leave and unavailability exclusions

Staff Portal

Store-branded portal (your logo, your name)
Mobile-first responsive design
No app download required
Dashboard with upcoming shifts and stats
Personal schedule with week navigation
Team rota view (staff × days grid)
Time off requests from their phone
Availability management (preferred and unavailable)
Open shift claims
Shift trade proposals between colleagues
Profile editing with notification preferences
Portal invite flow with secure password setup

Notifications

Published rota email (one per staff member, all their shifts)
Shift changed notification (before/after diff)
Shift cancelled notification
Leave approved or rejected notification
Shift claim approved or rejected notification
Trade proposal, acceptance, and decision notifications
Manager notifications via custom trigger engine
Per-staff email and SMS notification preferences
Signed auto-login portal links in every email
Pricing

Included. No Extra Cost.

Staff scheduling is included on every BookingNinja plan. No upgrade required.

Included on all plans
£0

No extra charges for rota scheduling

Unlimited teams and roles
Unlimited staff members
Unlimited shift templates
Full staff portal included
All notification channels included
No per-staff charges
Start For Free

No credit card required. No contracts.

Ready to Stop Juggling
Spreadsheets?

Set up your first rota in under five minutes. Your staff will thank you. Your kitchen will run smoother. No credit card. No contracts.

Free up to 75 bookings/month. Upgrade anytime.

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