Guides › Managing a Team
Build a fair weekly staff schedule in less time
A draft weekly schedule that covers every shift, respects people's availability and spreads unpopular shifts fairly, ready for you to adjust.
When to use it
Every week or fortnight before the schedule goes out
Step by step
Collect availability
Make a short Google Form asking each person which days they can't work and any preferences, linked to a Google Sheet.
Note your cover needs
Write down how many people you need on each shift, which roles or skills each shift needs, and any rules such as maximum hours or rest between shifts.
Ask for a draft schedule
Paste the availability and your rules into your AI assistant.
Prompt to copyCreate a staff schedule for [week dates]. Shifts and cover needed: [e.g. Mon-Fri 6am-2pm: 4 people incl. 1 forklift trained]. Staff, contracted hours, skills and availability: [paste from the sheet]. Rules: [e.g. max 5 shifts a week, 11 hours' rest between shifts, weekends shared fairly]. Give me a table with days as columns and people as rows. Then list: any shift that's under-covered, anyone over or under their contracted hours, and how weekend and late shifts are shared out. Don't break any rule; if you can't fill a shift, say so instead.Check and adjust
Paste the table into your schedule sheet, check every rule yourself and fix any gaps before publishing it.
Share it
Share the finished schedule as a view-only Google Sheet link so everyone sees the latest version.
What you get
Under-covered: Thu late shift (needs 1 more forklift-trained). Over hours: none. Weekend shifts: Priya 1, Tom 1, Ana 1, Lee 1. Unavailable respected: 12 of 12 requests.
Tips
- Check the schedule against working time rules and your company's policies; the AI can miss things.
- Keep last month's schedules in the sheet so you can ask the assistant whether late shifts are being shared fairly over time.