As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a holiday cover rota.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your current staff list, approved annual leave record and availability information, then remove unnecessary personal details before copying the relevant facts.
   2. Gather the rota period, shift times, minimum staffing levels, required skills, contracted hours, rest rules and any existing commitments from your scheduling or HR records.
   3. Paste those details into the prompt under the matching headings and ask the chatbot to create the draft rota.
   4. Export or copy the draft into your usual spreadsheet or rota system, then compare every assignment with the annual leave record, availability and required skills.
   5. Check the uncovered-shift, conflict and assumption lists, resolve each issue with the relevant manager or staff member, and ask the chatbot to regenerate only the affected shifts.
   6. Have a colleague check the final dates, hours, coverage and fairness against the source records before sending the confirmed rota to staff.

   Prompt

   Create a holiday cover rota for [team or department] covering [start date] to [end date].
   
   Use only the information below and do not invent availability, qualifications, leave approval, working hours or staffing requirements.
   
   Staff and roles:
   [Paste each person or role, including required skills and any limits]
   
   Annual leave and other absences:
   [Paste approved leave, sickness cover or other unavailable periods]
   
   Availability and working limits:
   [Paste each person's available days, preferred shifts, contracted hours and maximum or minimum hours]
   
   Shifts and required cover:
   [Paste the dates, shift times, number of people needed and skills required for each shift]
   
   Rules and preferences:
   [Paste rest requirements, fairness rules, existing commitments, internal policies and preferences]
   
   Produce:
   1. A clear table with date, shift, assigned person, role and hours.
   2. A list of uncovered shifts, conflicts, missing information and assumptions, with the affected date and shift.
   3. A count of shifts and hours assigned to each person.
   4. A short list of alternative swaps that resolve any remaining gaps.
   
   Prioritise approved leave, stated availability, required skills and the stated staffing levels. Do not treat a preference as a hard constraint. Do not claim the rota complies with employment law or company policy unless the relevant rule is provided. Show your working when a choice involves a trade-off. Wait for me to confirm any unresolved conflict before presenting the rota as final.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.