Sick leave, vacations, and the like lead to substantial leave factors. Rota
design techniques for covering leave are not always feasible. A small comp
any was helped to develop a new rota. The main requirements were an ergonom
ically better rota, less overtime caused by leave, and a rota that lets emp
loyees take their vacation during the summer. The internal evaluation was u
nanimously positive after 1 year. A prospective leave coverage was used, wi
th different workhours during summer and spring and with a mixture of shift
work and flexible day work. Later the rota was further refined, and broade
r qualifications of the workers made a much simpler rota possible. The expe
riences of this study indicate that problems with leave can be reduced if e
xpected variations in leave are considered in the rota design by including
variations in workhours. A further promising strategy is to mix shift work
with other types of work when time is not a critical factor.