Free Shift Rota Planner & Schedule Maker
Plan rotating morning, afternoon, and night shifts for any team. Build 24/7 cover rotas and export to Excel in seconds — completely free.
Plan Your Shift Rotations
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Why use our Shift Generator?
Everything you need, built in — for free.
Rotating Shift Patterns
Build morning/afternoon/night rotation cycles with ease.
24/7 Cover Planning
Set schedules from midnight to midnight for round-the-clock operations.
Night Shift Support
Schedule overnight shifts without any time-format limitation.
Excel Export
Export shift rotas to Excel for HR and payroll systems.
Colour-Coded Staff
Assign a unique colour per employee to track coverage at a glance.
Printable Rota PDF
Download a clear PDF shift schedule for the staff noticeboard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I schedule night shifts?+
Yes — the editor supports any time window including overnight and 24-hour shifts. Simply set the start and end hours accordingly.
How do I create a rotating shift pattern?+
Add your morning, afternoon, and night shift blocks for Week 1, then adjust the pattern for Week 2. Most rotating cycles repeat every 2–4 weeks.
What is the difference between a shift schedule and a work schedule?+
A shift schedule is specifically for businesses with multiple daily shift windows (e.g. 6am–2pm, 2pm–10pm, 10pm–6am). A work schedule is for standard office or retail hours with a fixed working day.
Can I plan a 4-on-4-off or continental shift pattern?+
Yes — use the shift editor to block out the exact days and times for each rotation. The colour-coding makes it easy to track which employees are on each pattern.
How do I share the shift rota with staff?+
Export as Excel to share digitally, or download the PDF to print and post at your workplace.
How to Create Your Shift Generator
Set 24-Hour View
For hospitals, factories, or any 24/7 business, expand the editor settings to cover the full 00:00–24:00 range.
Build Your Rotation Pattern
Assign each shift window (morning, afternoon, night) a distinct colour, then assign employees across the week.
Export to HR
Download the Excel file to copy shift hours directly into your payroll or workforce management system.
Building a Fair Rotating Shift Pattern
Rotating shift work is one of the most complex scheduling challenges a manager faces. A fair rota must balance night shift distribution, legally required rest periods between shifts, employee availability, and skill coverage at all hours. Getting this wrong leads to burnout, grievances, and costly staff turnover.
Our free shift rota planner gives you a visual 24-hour grid where every shift is immediately visible. Colour-coding by employee means you can instantly spot if one person is consistently landing the unpopular night shifts, and redistribute the rotation before it becomes a problem. The shift editor supports common patterns including 4-on-4-off, continental rotating shifts, and simple morning/afternoon two-shift systems.
Planning 24/7 Cover Without Expensive Software
Businesses that operate around the clock — care homes, security firms, warehouses, hotels — need a planning tool that handles overnight and multi-day shifts without distorting the visual grid. Most free calendar tools break when you try to schedule a shift that crosses midnight. Our free online shift schedule maker handles this natively, displaying overnight blocks clearly across the correct days.
Once your shift pattern is built, the Excel export gives HR a ready-to-use spreadsheet of hours per employee, per day — making wage calculation and payroll processing significantly faster. For small businesses that can't justify expensive workforce management subscriptions, this free shift rota generator provides the essential core features at no cost.