How Rotamate works
From “who's free?” to “you're all paid” — without the WhatsApp scramble.
Who are you?
- Open your personal link (sent once on WhatsApp or email). Signed in with one tap — no password.
- Tap Available, Maybe or Can't when an event appears. Only free part of the shift? Add your times and the rota works around them.
- Booked? Your shift shows the time, place, dress code and your rate.
- Driving? Type your miles on the event — mileage is added to your pay.
- Month end: one tap confirms every shift. Something wrong? Tap “That's not right”.
- New event — blank, from a template, or “repeat last”. Staff lines read like your old messages: 2 x serving staff.
- Bulletin writes the WhatsApp announcement for you.
- Auto-fill staffs it from the replies: fair rotation, drivers where required, no double-booking. Everyone else waits on Standby.
- Somebody drops out? One tap swaps in the best fit from standby.
- Everyone gets told — emailed automatically when email is connected, with ready-made WhatsApp messages as a one-tap extra.
- Month end — who's confirmed, who to chase, pay already worked out.
Appointing another rota manager is one tap on the Staff page. Somebody who is on no rota at all — an office manager, a second owner — joins with the same crew code and ticks “I'll be helping run the rota”; it puts them in your approval queue marked as asking, and the tick alone grants them nothing.
- Tell them what you need — date, venue, what's happening. No account.
- They confirm — your request becomes a staffed event, usually the same day.
Regular clients get repeat bookings in one tap.
Questions people ask
What is Rotamate?
Rotamate is rota software for catering and event staffing companies. It collects availability, builds the rota, fills gaps when somebody drops out, and works out what everyone is owed at the end of the month.
Do my staff need to install an app?
No. Crew get a link that signs them in on its own — no app, no password, no account to create. It opens in whatever browser is already on their phone.
How do staff say they are available?
They tap Available, Maybe or Can't on the event. That is the whole job, once per event. Somebody who can only do part of a shift picks a start and finish from the event's own hours, in half hours.
What does Rotamate cost?
From £39 a month. The fee is based on how many shifts you staff — one person on one event is one shift — and there is no per-person charge, so you can hold as many staff on your books as you like. Automation Bureau is not VAT-registered, so no VAT is added.
Is there a free trial?
Thirty days, with no card taken. If you do nothing at the end of it, nothing is charged.
Is there a minimum term?
No. There is no minimum term, no notice period and no cancellation fee. You keep full use until the end of the period you have paid for.
What happens when somebody drops out?
The next person on standby goes on in the same tap, the rota manager is told, and it is logged with how much notice it carried.
Does it replace our WhatsApp group?
It replaces the part of it that goes wrong. Rotamate writes the message and you send it from your own WhatsApp; the replies come back onto the event instead of scrolling away up the chat.
Where is our data held?
In the UK, on AWS in London (eu-west-2). It is never transferred outside the UK, it is backed up daily, and there are no third-party trackers or analytics of any kind.
Who owns the data we put in?
You do. Rotamate processes it on your instructions under a UK GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement, you can export everything at any time including on the way out, and a lapsed licence makes the app read-only rather than deleting anything.