Small business roster
A simple staff roster for a small business
You need to know who is opening on Saturday, and your staff need to know too. FairTurns does that part, free: the shifts, who’s on them, and one link everyone can check.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
You don’t need a payroll system to answer “am I on Sunday?”
Ridgeline Garden Centre has the owners, two full-timers and four casuals. The plants need watering at 6:30 every morning, seven days a week, and spring weekends are flat out. The roster used to be a page torn from a diary and photographed into the staff group chat every Thursday. Half the team scrolled past it, and the other half asked again anyway.
A lot of staff rostering software is built around wages, timesheets and award rates. Plenty of small businesses already do pay through their accounting software and just want the other half: a clear, shared picture of who’s on when, handed out so the early waterings and Sundays go around.
That is the part FairTurns covers. It is a roster of who’s on, and it stops there.
What a small business gets, free
Your trading hours, set once
Click the first Saturday, set 8 till 5, choose “Every week on Saturday”. Dates are kept up to 12 months ahead.
The early starts shared
Fill gives each empty shift to whoever has had the fewest turns on it, so 6:30 watering isn’t always the same casual.
Owners on the roster too
Put yourself on by hand where you always work, and Fill shares out the rest around you without moving you.
Casuals’ other commitments
A casual at uni on Tuesdays marks Away regularly, and Fill leaves them off Tuesdays all semester.
Busy season, quiet season
Add extra spring weekend shifts as one-off dates, and cancel quiet winter ones one at a time.
One link for the team
Switch on the public roster and pin the link in the group chat. It opens on any phone with nothing to install.
Set it up
- 01
Create your business
Make an organisation and a team for each area, such as Counter, Yard and Watering.
- 02
Name the shifts
Add positions with headcounts, and limit trainees to the shifts they can do alone.
- 03
Add your staff
Invite them by email, share a join link, or add casuals by name only.
- 04
Set your hours
Click a day, set the start and finish, and choose how it repeats.
- 05
Fill a month and share
Press Fill for the next month, adjust by hand, then share the link.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails staff the roster on the day you choose and a reminder before each shift. A casual who can’t make it replies from the email, the team’s moderator is emailed, and the next person in line is put on and asked. How often lets you put a full-timer on More often and a school-age casual on Now and then.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- FairTurns shows who’s on and when. Wages, award rates, timesheets and leave balances stay in your payroll or accounting software.
- Staff don’t pick or bid for shifts. You or Fill put them on, and they mark the days they’re away.
- Repeats are weekly, every second week or monthly. If a casual works a set pattern, put them on those dates by hand and Fill shares out the rest.
- Roster a month ahead for casuals and three months for permanent staff, and refill as you go. Fill never moves anyone already on.
Questions
Is this staff roster app really free?
Yes. Teams, shifts, staff, Fill and the shared link are free with no limit on staff or dates. Pro is A$1 a month for the whole business, not per staff member.
Can I put myself on the roster without Fill moving me?
Yes. Put yourself on any date by hand. Fill only fills empty places and never moves anyone already on.
How do casuals tell me when they can’t work?
They mark the days they’re away in FairTurns, free, and you see those days greyed out. On Pro they can also reply “I can’t make it” to a particular shift.
Will it work out pay from the roster?
Your accounting or payroll software still does pay. FairTurns keeps the roster of who’s on, which you can print or share by link.
Can staff see each other’s shifts?
Yes. Everyone on a team sees that team’s roster, and the public link shows the whole roster with names and dates only.
Free templates and guides
Weekly roster template
Names down the side, Monday to Sunday across: the one-page weekly roster for a small team.
A roster for a small team
Rostering three, four or five people: patterns that work, covering when one is away, and keeping it fair.
Free roster maker
Type the names, pick the dates, get a fair roster. No sign-up.
Similar rosters
Cafés, small shops and market stalls
Open, close and the Saturday market stall: a café roster the whole crew can check from the bus.
Front desk and reception
Opening, closing and Saturday reception shifts handed out by turns, with the week on one page.
Departments and teams
One calendar for every team in the organisation, each in its own colour, with team leads running their own.