Small teams have different problems
A roster for forty people is mostly about coverage. A roster for four is about the turns nobody wants. Who does Saturday morning? Who stays for the late close? Who has the Monday after a long weekend?
In a small team, people notice everything. If Zara has had three Saturdays this month and Jack has had none, everyone knows. The upside is that a small team can talk about it directly, and a clear, visible roster makes that conversation short.
Small teams also have no slack. When one person in a team of three is sick, the other two cover everything. So a small-team roster needs two things a big one can take for granted: a fair way to share the unpopular turns, and a plan for absences.
Patterns that suit three to five people
Start by listing the turns that need covering in a normal week: opening, closing, weekends, a late night, the on-call phone. Then pick a pattern.
| Team size | A pattern that works | Each person’s share of a weekly turn |
|---|---|---|
| 3 people | Rotate weekly: one person takes the weekend or late turn each week | One week in three |
| 4 people | Pair up for two-person turns, swapping partners each time | One week in four, or two in four as part of a pair |
| 4 people | Two on early, two on late, swapping each week | Every second week on late |
| 5 people | Weekly rotation with one person “off the list” each week | One week in five |
For a single weekly turn, a straight rotation is simplest: A, B, C, then back to A. For turns that need two people, avoid always pairing the same two. With four people there are six different pairs, so over six weeks everyone can work with everyone.
Fortnightly patterns suit some small teams better: one person takes every second Saturday, and the others share the weeks in between. It reduces how often everyone thinks about the roster.
Count the unpopular turns separately
In a small team it’s not enough that everyone works roughly the same number of turns. What people remember is who got the Saturdays, the late closes and the public holiday Mondays.
- Keep a separate count for each kind of turn. Saturdays in one column, late closes in another.
- Rotate the day of the week, not only the person, so the same person doesn’t always get Fridays.
- Treat public holidays as their own list. Over a year, each person gets a share of them.
- Look back at the end of each month. A two-minute check catches imbalances while they’re still small.
Some people genuinely prefer certain turns. If Wiremu would happily do every late close because he’s not a morning person, that can suit everyone. Just agree it openly, and make sure it’s still his choice in six months.
When someone is away
Plan absences before they happen. In a team of three, a fortnight of leave means the other two do half as much again.
- Ask everyone for their planned leave a term or a quarter ahead, and put it on the roster first.
- Avoid two people being away in the same week, if the work allows it.
- Agree who covers for whom when someone is sick, so it’s not a scramble at 7 am.
- Keep a casual or a willing ex-staff member on a short list for real emergencies.
- After someone’s leave, don’t give them the next three Saturdays to “catch up”. Share forward from where things stand.
For long absences, like parental leave, it is better to reshuffle the rest of the roster than to tack the absent person’s turns onto one colleague.
Rostering a small team in FairTurns
FairTurns is free for any size of team, and it suits small ones well. Make a team for each kind of turn that matters, since they fall at different times: Early, Late, Saturday. Click a day, set the hours and choose a repeat such as Every week on Saturday or Every second Saturday. The dates are kept up to 12 months ahead.
Press Fill and each empty place goes to whoever has had the fewest turns on that team, so Saturdays and late closes are counted separately without you keeping a tally. Turns booked shows the count for each person. People mark leave as Away for a stretch, and Fill leaves them off those days. If someone joins or leaves, Redistribute shares the future turns out again and shows who gains or loses a date before anything changes.
The roster lives on one link the team can open on their phones. More on the small business roster page, or try the free roster maker for a quick rotation without signing up.
Questions
How do you make a roster for three people?
List the weekly turns, then rotate them so each person takes each turn once every three weeks. Keep a separate count for weekends and late turns so those are shared out too.
How do I stop the same two people always working together?
Rotate the pairs as well as the people. With four people there are six possible pairs, so a six-week cycle lets everyone work with everyone.
How far ahead should a small team roster go?
Four to eight weeks suits most small teams. It gives people time to plan, and short enough that leave and changes don’t mean rewriting months of roster.
What if someone in a small team is always asking for changes?
Have one simple rule: changes are arranged with a colleague, then the roster is updated. A visible count of turns keeps the conversation about the roster, not about the person.