Rota Fairness Checker
Most rota tools make a rota. This checks one you already have: it counts every duty by person, works out each share, and reports the gap between the busiest and the quietest. A gap of one is unavoidable when the duties do not divide evenly; anything more is a choice, whether or not it was made deliberately.
What this generator does
Tallies every duty against the list of people, computes each person's share, and reports the busiest, the quietest and the gap between them. Names in the rota that are not in the list are reported separately rather than silently counted.
How to use this tool
- List everyone who should be on the rota.
- Paste the rota itself, one duty per line as slot and person.
- Read the counts and the spread.
- Check the note about anyone in the rota but not in the list.
Understanding the controls
- People
- Everyone who should be on the rota. Somebody with no duties at all still appears, showing zero — which is usually the point.
- The rota
- One duty per line as a slot and a person, separated by a comma. The slot name is only a label; the counting is by person.
Common use cases
- Checking whether an existing rota is evenly shared
- Counting duties per person across a term or a quarter
- Spotting somebody quietly doing far more than their share
- Auditing a rota before publishing the next one
- Finding names in a rota that are not on the team list
How this generator works
Each duty is matched against the list of people and tallied. A name that does not match anybody is collected separately and reported, since a typo in a rota otherwise disappears into a person who appears to have fewer duties than they do. Before display every count is recomputed from the assignments, the counts are confirmed to account for every recognised duty, and the spread is confirmed to be the genuine gap between the largest and smallest counts.
Randomness and fairness
Nothing here is random. A rota has exactly one set of counts.
For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.
Limitations and good to know
- All duties are counted equally, so a rota where some slots are far harder than others needs weighting this does not do.
- Availability, holidays and part-time patterns are not considered — an uneven rota can be perfectly fair once those are taken into account.
- Matching is exact, so a name spelled two ways counts as two people; the near-duplicate detector is the tool for that.
- This checks a rota rather than fixing one.
Privacy and your data
Names and rota stay in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or included in analytics — only how many duties were counted.
Related generators
- Shift Rota GeneratorBuilds a staffing rota that covers every shift, honours days off and rest gaps, and shares the unpopular shifts out.
- Duty Rota GeneratorBuild a duty rota across several rounds where everyone takes every duty once before anyone repeats one.
- Chore Rota GeneratorBuild a household chore rota over several weeks where everyone does every job once before anyone repeats one.
- Table Rotation Schedule GeneratorSeats a group across tables for several rounds, keeping company fresh and listing every pair who do end up together twice.