---
title: "Event Staff Rota, Shift Offers and Timesheet Approval"
description: "Plan shifts by team and hour, fill gaps with offers to people who fit, find drop-outs the day before, check crew in and approve the hours they worked."
canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/staff-rota-and-shifts"
---

# Event Staff Rota, Shift Offers and Timesheet Approval

1. [Event Operating System](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system)
2. [Crew & volunteers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers)
3. Rota & hours

# Cover Every Shift and Pay for Every Hour Worked

A festival rota usually lives in a spreadsheet that is out of date by Thursday, a group chat full of "can anyone do Sunday?" and a pile of timesheets nobody can check against the agency invoice. With Ticket Fairy, you plan every team's shifts against the crowd you expect and see straight away which hours are still short. Fai offers each open shift to the people who fit, the first person to accept takes the place, and the day before, everyone is asked if they are still coming. On the day, the rota becomes your check-in list, and those check-ins become the hours you approve, line by line, with every correction and its reason kept.

  [Book a Live Demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo)

- Every team and hour covered before the gates open
- Open shifts filled by the first person who fits and says yes
- Approved hours you can hold against every agency invoice

   ![Ticket Fairy rota for a festival Saturday, with places filled, cover by team and hour, a clash warning and each team's shifts](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--rota.png)

## Start From the Staffing Your Crowd Needs

Tell Fai how many people you expect at the busiest moment, when doors open and when the last people leave, and she suggests how many people each team needs for every hour of the day. Add her shifts to your rota as they are, or adjust any of them first. You start from a plan sized to your crowd, and you spend your time on the judgement calls only you can make.

Your team may already keep the rota in a spreadsheet, or a staffing supplier may send you theirs. Drop the CSV or Excel file in as it is, and Fai matches each column to the day, the times, the department and the role. You see every row and any problem with it before a single shift is added, and every rota rule applies to the shifts you bring in. Bringing the same import in twice never doubles your shifts.

For the shifts you add yourself, repeat a shift over several days in one go, such as the same gate shift every day from build to break, and a shift that ends after midnight runs into the next morning.

- **Suggested staffing**: people for each team and hour, from the crowd you expect
- **Shifts from a spreadsheet**: your CSV or Excel rota, each row checked before it is added
- **Repeat over several days**: the same shift every day from the first day to the last

- [Build your event rota and check staff in](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/build-your-event-rota-and-check-staff-in)
- [Add shifts to your event rota from a spreadsheet](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/add-shifts-to-your-event-rota-from-a-spreadsheet)

   ![Ticket Fairy dialog with Fai's suggested staffing for a festival day, people per team for each hour and a button to add the shifts](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--suggest-shifts.png)

## See Where You Are Short While There Is Still Time

Choose a day and the rota shows how many places are filled, then the cover for each team hour by hour: green is covered, orange still needs people. Each shift says whether it needs people, is filled or has everyone confirmed, and opening it shows who is on it and the next step for each person. You see the Saturday afternoon bar gap on Monday, not on Saturday.

Set your rota rules once: the shortest rest between shifts, the most hours anyone works in a day and the most hours in seven days. A warning above the rota names each person on two shifts at once, working too long or without enough rest, so a tired steward is caught at planning and not at the gate. The seven-day limit counts shifts at every event your brand runs, so a bar worker doing your Friday club night and your Saturday festival is counted once across both.

The rules guide your team without boxing them in. You can still add someone to a full shift or someone a rule warns about: the rota asks first, then adds them as invited with a note to check them. Fai never suggests anyone who would break your rules.

- **Cover by team and hour**: places filled against places needed
- **Rota rules**: shortest rest, most hours in a day and in seven days
- **Clash warnings**: each person on two shifts at once or short of rest
- **Across your events**: a person's hours at every event your brand runs

    ![Ticket Fairy Rota rules dialog with the shortest rest, the most hours in a day and in 7 days, the switches for offers and still coming, and the safety lead](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--rota-rules.png)

## Fill Every Gap With People Who Fit

Ask Fai to fill the gaps and she lists people for each open place, starting with the same team or a matching role, and says why each one fits. Or offer a shift to a few people and let the first yes take the place. Either way, everyone Fai puts forward is free at that time at all your events, rested, old enough and has the skill the shift needs.

An offer goes to the people Fai ticks for you, with her reasons in plain words, such as has the skill, worked this before or always turned up, and a count of who she left out and why. Untick anyone you do not want and send it. Each person gets an email with a link to their own page, where they accept or say no thanks. The first to accept joins the shift as confirmed, and everyone else still deciding sees that the place has gone, so nobody turns up to a shift that is already full.

Before a place goes to anyone, Ticket Fairy checks again that the shift still has room and still fits them, so two quick yeses never fill the same place twice. You see every offer as waiting, accepted, declined or place filled, and you can take back an offer that is still waiting.

- **Fill the gaps**: Fai's picks for every open place, with the reason each fits
- **Shift offers**: the first person to accept takes the place
- **Who was left out**: counted by reason, such as too little rest or no skill
- **Offer answers**: waiting, accepted, declined or place filled

- [Offer open shifts on your event rota to crew and volunteers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/offer-open-shifts-to-your-crew-and-volunteers)

   ![Ticket Fairy Offer this shift dialog for an 18 and over bar shift, with the people who fit, the two Fai ticked and why, and who was left out](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-shift-offers--offer-this-shift.png)

## Find Out Who Is Still Coming the Day Before

The day before each shift, ask everyone on it whether they are still coming, and watch the answers add up as coming, can't make it and not answered yet. Anyone who can't make it frees their place straight away, and Fai suggests who to offer it to while there is still time to fill it. Drop-outs become a list you work through the evening before, not a surprise at the gate.

On the day, a warning names anyone who has not checked in after their shift started. One action marks them as not arrived and opens an offer for their place, so finding cover takes a minute. If they turn up after all, you check them in as usual.

Two switches in Rota rules let Fai send a shift's first offers as soon as it needs people, and ask the still coming question the day before each shift, without waiting for you. You still approve any further offers. Both switches start off, and you choose them for each event, so a festival with hundreds of volunteers can run on its own while a small club night stays fully in your hands.

- **Still coming?**: one question to everyone on the next day's shifts
- **Not arrived**: mark them and find cover in the same step
- **Offers by themselves**: off until you turn them on, for each event

    ![Ticket Fairy Offers view of a festival rota, with the still coming answers, a steward who has not arrived and a bar shift that needs two more people](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-shift-offers--offers.png)

## Give Everyone One Page for All Their Shifts

Every crew member and volunteer gets a private My shifts link that opens their own page, with no account or password. They see their shifts at every one of your events, accept your offers, answer still coming, tell you the days they can work and add their shifts to their calendar. Every answer shows in your rota straight away, so "what time am I on?" stops being a question for you.

The same page holds the documents their shifts need, your safety induction, their food needs for the crew kitchen and the hours they worked, with whether each line is waiting for approval or approved. It shows only their own shifts, offers and documents, never another crew member's name. When a person leaves your team, one action turns off every link you sent them.

- **My shifts page**: every shift at every event, with no account
- **Add to calendar**: one shift or all of them in their own calendar app
- **Days they can work**: so offers go out on the right days
- **Their hours**: hours worked, waiting for approval or approved

- [Give your event crew one page for all their shifts](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-your-crew-one-page-for-all-their-shifts)
- [Build a Crew and Volunteer Team You Can Call On Every Year](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/crew-and-volunteer-teams)

   ![Ticket Fairy My shifts page for a volunteer, with an 18 and over bar shift offered to her, a still coming question, the days she can work and her documents](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-shift-offers--my-shifts.png)

## Send Shifts Out and Check Your Crew In on the Day

When the rota is ready, send each person one email with only their own shift times, place and role for the day, and their replies come to you. On the day, switch the rota to its check-in list, find each person by name, and check them in, mark them as not arrived or check them out. Every step can be undone, and the list refreshes while your team works it.

Each check-in and check-out becomes the start and end of that person's hours, so nobody fills in a timesheet and nobody types times up after the event. Anyone on your event's team can ask Fai to check a steward in or out from their phone, such as a supervisor at a far gate, and Fai waits for their yes first.

- **Send people their shifts**: one email each with only their own shifts
- **Check-in list**: check in, not arrived and check out
- **Undo any step**: a wrong tap put right in a moment

- [Build your event rota and check staff in](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/build-your-event-rota-and-check-staff-in)

   ![Ticket Fairy check-in list for a festival day, with each person's shift and buttons to check them in, mark them as not arrived or check them out](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--check-in.png)

## Approve Hours From Check-Ins With Fai's Checks

Each person gets one line for each shift, timed from when your team checked them in and out. Fai checks every line first and flags anything odd in plain words: no check-out, did not check in, left late, very short, two shifts at once, or times that changed after approval. Approve every line with nothing odd in one go, then spend your time only on the lines that need a person.

Fix a line by adding or taking away time, or by setting the total it should have, and enter why, with common reasons such as an unpaid break or a forgotten check-out ready to choose. One action fills in the shift's scheduled hours. Every approved line shows who approved it and when, each change with its reason and its full history, and its hours and cost stay as approved. Change an approved line and it goes back for approval at the rate it was first approved at.

Your bar manager or head of security knows who really worked each shift. Make them the lead of their department, and they approve and correct their own team's hours from their My shifts page, with the same checks from Fai and no sign-in. Leads see hours only, never costs, never approve their own line, and every approval carries their name.

- **Fai flagged**: the lines to look at first, with what she noticed
- **Approve in one go**: every line with nothing odd
- **A reason for every change**: kept on the line for anyone who checks it
- **Department leads**: approve their own team's hours, never costs

- [Approve the hours your event crew and volunteers worked](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/approve-the-hours-your-crew-and-volunteers-worked)
- [Let department leads approve their team's hours at your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-department-leads-approve-their-teams-hours)

   ![Ticket Fairy hours line for a bar worker with no check-out, with what Fai checked, the times and the buttons to change or approve it](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-hours--flagged-line.png)

## Hold Every Agency Invoice Against Real Hours

Name the outside team that supplies a shift's people and its cost per hour, and the hours sort themselves by agency. Each team shows its people and lines, the hours recorded and approved, what is still waiting and the approved cost. When the security company's invoice arrives, you check it against the hours its stewards actually worked, not against their timesheet.

Approved hours times the cost per hour go into a Staff and crew section of your event's Budget, beside the scheduled cost of the hours not approved yet, so you see your staffing spend before the invoices land. Download the lines for any day, department or outside team, with times, changes, approver, rate and cost on each line, and each download is recorded with your name.

Ask Fai how many lines are waiting on Saturday, and she approves the lines you choose or every line with nothing odd, telling you how many first.

- **By outside team**: hours recorded, approved and still waiting for each agency
- **Cost per hour**: set on the shift and fixed when approved
- **Budget**: approved and scheduled staff costs on your event
- **Download**: times, changes, approver, rate and cost for each line

- [Know What Your Event Will Cost Before the Bills Arrive](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs)

   ![Ticket Fairy hours by outside team, with SecureCo Event Staffing, Northern Bars Ltd and your own people, each with hours recorded, approved and the approved cost](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-hours--by-outside-team.png)

## How Organisers Run Their Rota With Ticket Fairy

- ### A Three-Day Festival With an Agency Bar Team

  The operations manager imports the bar supplier's spreadsheet, names the supplier as the outside team with its cost per hour, and lets Fai fill the steward gaps from last year's crew. After the event, the supplier's invoice is checked against approved hours in one sitting.
- ### A Club With Weekly Nights

  The venue offers each open bar shift to its regulars and the first yes takes it. The seven-day hours rule counts the Friday and Saturday nights together, so nobody works a third long night in a row without the manager seeing it.
- ### A Conference With Room Hosts

  Room hosts are rota'd against each session room, and the still coming question goes out the evening before each day. Two drop-outs are covered by breakfast, and the hosts add their shifts to their own calendars.
- ### A City Marathon With Volunteer Marshals

  Fai suggests marshal numbers for every hour from the expected field, and offers go out by themselves. On race morning the not arrived warning shows two empty corners, and cover is offered from the marshals already on site.
- ### A Venue With Department Heads

  The head of security and the bar manager approve their own teams' hours from their phones the morning after each show. The office approves only the lines the leads could not settle, and payroll gets one agreed file.

    [Book Demo Call](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration)

## See It in Your Dashboard

- ![Ticket Fairy dialog with Fai's suggested people for open places, grouped by shift, with the reasons for each](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--fill-gaps.png) Fai suggests people for every open place, with the reason each one fits.
- ![Ticket Fairy dialog to send people their shifts for a day, with how many will get an email and the email one of them gets](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-staffing--send-shifts.png) Send each person one email with only their own shifts for the day.
- ![Ticket Fairy approved hours line for a bar worker, with who approved it, a 30 minute change for an unpaid break, the cost and its history](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-hours--approved-line.png) Every approved line keeps who approved it, each change with its reason and its history.
- ![Ticket Fairy Your team's hours on a security lead's My shifts page, with the stewards' lines waiting for approval and what Fai noticed](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-hours--team-hours.png) Department leads approve their own team's hours from their phone.
- ![Ticket Fairy Add shifts from a spreadsheet dialog, with a place to drop a CSV or Excel file or paste the rows](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-small-items--import-shifts.png) Drop in the rota spreadsheet your team already keeps, and Fai matches each column.

## Set It Up Step by Step

- [Build your event rota and check staff in](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/build-your-event-rota-and-check-staff-in)
- [Offer open shifts on your event rota to crew and volunteers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/offer-open-shifts-to-your-crew-and-volunteers)
- [Give your event crew one page for all their shifts](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-your-crew-one-page-for-all-their-shifts)
- [Add shifts to your event rota from a spreadsheet](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/add-shifts-to-your-event-rota-from-a-spreadsheet)
- [Approve the hours your event crew and volunteers worked](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/approve-the-hours-your-crew-and-volunteers-worked)
- [Let department leads approve their team's hours at your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-department-leads-approve-their-teams-hours)

## Questions About Your Rota and Hours

### Rota & hours

#### Who can build the rota and approve hours?

You need an owner, admin or producer role on the event, and you work from Shifts on the event's Operations page. A sports event shows Shifts from the start; on any other event, open it from More sections. A conference calls its crew list Event staff.

#### Are Fai's suggested shifts a safety plan?

No. They are a starting point. Follow your own risk assessment and the advice of your security and medical providers.

#### Does Fai email anyone without asking?

No. People Fai suggests to fill gaps join the shift as invited and nobody is emailed. Offers and the still coming question wait for your yes, unless you turn on the two switches in Rota rules that let Fai send a shift's first offers and the still coming question by herself.

#### What counts as rest, and what does the 7-day limit count?

A gap of 3 hours or more counts as rest, even on the same day. The limit on hours in 7 days counts shifts at all your brand's events and starts at 48 hours. Leave it empty for no limit.

#### How many people can one offer go to, and what if two accept at once?

Up to 50 people, and Fai ticks about three for each open place. The first accept counts. If the shift is then full, the second person's page thanks them, and their offer shows as Place filled.

#### When is the still coming question asked?

It goes to people on shifts that start 12 to 36 hours later who have an email address and have not been asked yet. The not arrived warning lists people who have not checked in 15 minutes after their shift started.

#### How long does a My shifts link work?

For 60 days, and it opens without a password. One link can make 60 changes a day. When it ends, the page asks the person to ask you for a new one.

#### How many shifts can I bring in from a spreadsheet?

Up to 500 shifts and 2 MB at a time, from a CSV or Excel file or pasted rows. Only the first sheet of an Excel file is read, and Fai reads the headings and the first five rows to match the columns.

#### How are a line's hours worked out?

From check-in to check-out, and never more than one hour past the end of the shift. A line with no check-out counts to the end of the shift and is flagged. Breaks are not taken off by themselves; change the hours with the reason Unpaid break.

#### What if two people change the same hours line?

The first change counts. The second person sees the new total and checks again, and an approval in progress leaves a changed line as it is, so nobody approves hours they did not see. A downloaded hours file waits for 7 days.

## Explore More of the Event Operating System

- [Crew & volunteer teams One record for everyone who works your events, volunteers recruited on a phone form Fai reads, a private page for each volunteer and rewards for the hours they give. Crew & volunteers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/crew-and-volunteer-teams)
- [Crew catering Meal times from your shifts, a live kitchen count with no names, every meal served from the pass, and invoices to outside teams for the meals their people ate. Crew meals & safety](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety/crew-catering)
- [Certificates & inductions Ask for the certificates each shift needs, collect each document once for all your events, run one safety induction with a short test, and check it before a pass is handed over. Crew meals & safety](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety/certificates-and-inductions)
- [Budget & act costs One shared event budget with planned against recorded costs, committed supplier spend, suggested totals from your own records and the all-in cost of every act. Budget & costs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs)

       [Back to **Crew & volunteers**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers) [Next **Crew & volunteer teams**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/crew-and-volunteer-teams)

Ticket Fairy in full: [event ticketing software](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/), with the features, pricing and support behind this page.

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The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is a fintech company and technology platform. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is not a bank, financial institution, or regulated financial services provider. Vault banking services are provided through regulated banking partners. Ticket Fairy Capital financing is provided by third-party private credit partners. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. does not make credit decisions, and all funding terms, approvals and conditions are determined by those lending partners.

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This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)