Rota

Chiefly a UK term. A rota is a schedule showing which team members are working which shifts, on which days, in which roles.

In US workplaces the everyday word is usually schedule. Roster is also used, more often for the list of people who can work than for the week-by-week plan, though the two overlap. A UK reader saying “the Saturday rota” is pointing at the same object a US manager would call the Saturday schedule.

Rotas matter in hospitality, retail, care, and volunteer teams because they are the public record of who is expected, not just a private plan. Once published, people arrange childcare, second jobs, and travel around them. A late change is not only an operations problem; it is a reliability problem.

In the US, the nearest terms are schedule and roster. See roster.