Spreadsheet rota or scheduling app for a small team
Published
Set up your first rota in one sitting.
A spreadsheet rota suits a small team that rarely changes its shifts, and a scheduling app suits a team where people swap, call in sick or work across sites. Both can work well. This page compares them point by point, so you can pick the one that fits the team you have today.
We make a scheduling app, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to be fair to the spreadsheet, because many of our own customers used one for years before they needed anything else.
The two side by side #
| Spreadsheet rota | Scheduling app | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free with software you already have | A monthly fee per team or per person |
| Setup | Minutes, if you know spreadsheets | An hour or so to add people and shifts |
| Where staff see it | A shared file, a printout or a photo in a group chat | Their phone, with a reminder before each shift |
| Swaps and cover | By text, then you edit the file | Staff ask and accept in the app, you approve |
| Hours and breaks | You add formulas and check by eye | Checked as you build the rota |
| History | Old tabs, if you keep them | Every past week kept and searchable |
When a spreadsheet is enough #
Pros
- It is free and already on your computer
- You can shape it any way you like
- Nothing new for the team to learn
Cons
- Every change is your job
- Copies drift when people keep their own
- It cannot remind anyone of a shift
If you plan for a handful of people and the week rarely changes, keep the spreadsheet. Our guide on building a weekly staff rota works just as well in one.
Signs it is time for a scheduling app #
You spend more time fixing the rota than making it. Staff ask you which version is current. Swaps happen by text and you find out on the day. Someone works more hours than you meant, and no one noticed until payday.
Any one of these is a nudge. Two or more, and a scheduling app is worth a trial on one real week. Features such as open shifts the team can claim remove the texting rounds when a gap appears.
A written policy for shift swaps helps either way. It makes swaps fair before any tool gets involved.
Try both on one week #
Copy next week's spreadsheet into a scheduling app and run them side by side. Count the messages you send and the minutes you spend. The numbers from your own week are a better guide than any comparison page, this one included.
If you want a neutral view of spreadsheets as a tool, the history of the spreadsheet on Wikipedia shows how far they stretch, and where people start to build databases inside them.
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About the author
Head of product at Fernhour
Experience Ran a neighbourhood cafe and planned its rota by hand for six years
Isla planned shifts on paper, then in a spreadsheet, before she helped build Fernhour. She leads the product team and writes the guides on rotas, cover and fair shifts, using what she learned behind a counter.
