How to build a fair shift rota
A fair rota is one people can plan a life around. The hours can add up and still feel unfair, if the same person always opens, always closes, or always works the weekend.
Start with the work, not the names
List the shifts the site needs before you place people. A breakfast shift and a close are different jobs. If only some of the team can run the close, say so before the grid is filled. Filling names first is how a quiet Tuesday looks fine and Saturday falls apart.
Share the shifts people mind
Weekends, opens and closes should move. Count them over a few weeks, not one week on its own. If the same three people take every Saturday, the rota is not fair, even when the total hours match.
Write the rule down. “Weekends rotate” is something you can point at. A favour you cannot explain will not feel fair the second time you say no.
Write a draft, then publish
A draft is where clashes get fixed. A published week is what the team should follow. In Shiftbrook you draft the week in private, then publish it. Open shifts stay on the grid when a gap is still unfilled, so the hole is visible instead of living in a message.
Leave belongs on that same week. Shiftbrook tracks leave in hours and shows it on the grid. A sickness reason stays with the person and their manager. It is not a score, and the product does not tell you that a pattern is unfair. The grid shows the week. The judgement stays with you.
Give people time to see it
Publish before the week starts, with enough time to arrange childcare or travel. A late change should be a conversation, then an update to the published week, so the phone and the office match.
Keep a short record
Who works which site, how weekends rotate, and how much notice a change needs. Next month you will not remember why Wednesday moved. The rota will.
Shiftbrook holds the draft, the published week, open shifts and leave. It does not build the rota for you, and it does not warn you about working time.