Free daily rota template (Excel)
One day, planned hour by hour. See exactly how many people are on at 12pm against 8pm, spot the gap before it happens, and print it for the wall.
Daily rota
Excel format (.xlsx) • Ready to download
No signup required. Works with Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
This rota template is a planning tool, not legal or payroll advice. It does not check working time limits, rest breaks or minimum wage for you. Check GOV.UK, or take advice, before relying on a rota for compliance. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.
Build this rota online instead
The spreadsheet works until you are chasing availability and recalculating hours by hand. Build and share the same rota in the browser — free, no signup.
What's in this template
A single trading day, hour by hour
Hourly columns
06:00 to midnight across the top, so cover is visible by hour rather than as a start and finish time you have to read.
Grouped by role
Kitchen, bar, floor — because four people on shift is meaningless if three of them are behind the same counter.
A live cover count
A total under every hour that recalculates as you mark shifts, so an understaffed hour shows itself.
Break slots
Mark breaks in the grid rather than assuming them, so you are not scheduling everyone off the floor at once.
Print-ready
One A4 landscape page with the header repeated. It is meant to go on a wall.
A shift-code legend
OFF, AL, BH, SICK, TOIL and TR mean the same thing here as in every other template on this shelf.
A day by the hour
Mark each hour someone is on. The count underneath is the number that matters — it turns “we have five people today” into “we have two people at 15:00”.
| Name | Role | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amelia Clarke | Manager | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Priya Sharma | Floor | ● | ● | BRK | ● | ● | ● |
| Zainab Ahmed | Zero-hours | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Cover | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
The red 15:00 count is the point of the template. On a weekly rota that hour looks fully staffed, because the rota shows who is working today — not who is standing on the floor at three in the afternoon.
How to build a daily rota in Excel
Four steps if you would rather build your own
1. Hours across the top
One column per hour of trading. Names and roles down the side, grouped by role rather than alphabetically.
2. Mark the hours worked
A single character per cell with conditional formatting. Fast to fill in and instantly readable from across a room.
3. Count the cover
A COUNTA row underneath each hour column. This is the row you actually read once the rota is built.
4. Place breaks deliberately
Over six hours there is an entitlement to an uninterrupted 20-minute break. Put them in the grid so they are staggered, not simultaneous.
The template already has the hourly grid, the conditional formatting and the cover count.
Who uses this template
UK teams whose cover needs vary within the day
Pubs and restaurants
Where a lunch rush and an evening service need completely different shapes of cover.
Retail
Deliveries first thing, footfall at lunch, cashing up at close — three different staffing problems in one day.
Events and venues
A one-off day where the pattern does not repeat and a weekly rota is the wrong unit.
Planning a whole week? The weekly rota is the same idea at seven days.
Or see the cover gap while you build it
A spreadsheet shows the gap once you have finished and read the count. RosterElf shows understaffed hours as you drag shifts, with live wage cost beside them.
Building and changing a rota
The practical side
How to make a rota in Excel
Building one from scratch, step by step, with the formulas that matter.
Read the guideRota changes and communication
Changing a published rota without losing the team, and what notice you actually owe.
Read the guideRota laws in the UK
The 48-hour average, the 11-hour daily rest, and what a rota can and cannot require.
Read the guideMore free UK templates and tools
The rest of the set
Attendance and timesheet templates
Attendance register, timesheets, overtime tracker and a 17-week hours tracker.
Browse the templatesMinimum wage compliance checker
Effective hourly pay once unpaid time and deductions are counted.
Open the checkerAll free UK tools
Calculators and generators for planning and costing your workforce.
See all toolsDaily rota FAQ
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Because cover is an hourly property, not a daily one. A day with five people on it can still have two people on the floor at 15:00 once you account for staggered starts and breaks — and a shift-based rota will not show you that. The cover row underneath the grid is the whole reason to use a daily view.
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06:00 to midnight as supplied. For a 24-hour site, use the rolling rota template instead — it is built around continuous cover across four teams rather than a single trading day.
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Yes. Upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets — the grid, the conditional formatting and the cover count all carry over.
Before you download
General information only — not legal advice
This document is a general HR template provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and may not reflect the latest changes in legislation or apply to every workplace situation. RosterElf Pty Ltd and the template provider accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this document. Users should seek independent legal advice and customise the template to ensure it complies with all relevant laws and workplace requirements.