At the heart of Auckland’s Newmarket Innovation Precinct, a small team of founders is tackling one of the most universally frustrating problems in modern workplaces — the staff roster. What began as an academic curiosity RosterLab is now reshaping how hospitals and complex teams around the world schedule their people.
“We saw teams spending days just to create one roster,” says RosterLab co-founder Sunny Feng. “And even then, it wasn’t always fair or compliant. We wanted to fix that.”
The story of RosterLab starts at the University of Auckland, where CEO Dr Isaac Cleland was deep into a PhD exploring how advanced mathematical optimisation could solve large-scale rostering challenges. In most hospitals, rostering is a tangled mix of personal preferences, shift rules, fatigue limits, and compliance constraints — a puzzle so complex that most organisations still rely on spreadsheets and human trial-and-error.
Cleland knew there had to be a better way. He realised that the same algorithms used to schedule aircraft and optimise supply chains could also be applied to shift work — if they could be made accessible to non-experts. Turning that theory into reality meant building a product that could balance not just data, but people.
That’s where co-founders Sunny Feng and Daniel Ge joined the mission. Feng, a designer and product thinker, focused on making the system intuitive and human-centred. Ge brought experience from enterprise implementation and customer engagement. Together, the trio turned Cleland’s research into a commercial product capable of generating fair, compliant rosters in minutes instead of days.
Feng remembers those early days as both exhilarating and uncertain. “It was exciting but also quite daunting,” she recalls. “We were building something deeply technical, but the real test was whether people would trust an algorithm to make decisions that affect their daily lives.”
RosterLab’s solution now automates what used to be a painful manual process. Managers input their staffing rules, contracts, and skill requirements, while employees use a mobile app to submit preferences and leave requests. The system’s AI then generates a complete roster that meets all the conditions while optimising for fairness and staff wellbeing. It even allows teams to test “what if” scenarios, for example, how to cover shifts if someone calls in sick — and adjust the roster instantly.
The results have been striking. Early users in hospitals and aged-care facilities report that what once took a week now takes just hours. For overworked administrators, that means more time to focus on patients and less time buried in spreadsheets. For staff, it means fairer schedules and a greater sense of control over their time.
But beyond efficiency, RosterLab’s founders have always been driven by something deeper. “We talk a lot about fairness,” Feng says. “Our technology isn’t just about saving time — it’s about making sure people feel seen and treated fairly in how their work is organised. That matters, especially in industries like healthcare where burnout is such a huge issue.”
The startup’s growth has matched its ambition. In late 2024, RosterLab closed a NZ$1.75 million seed round led by Movac, with participation from Pacific Channel and the University of Auckland’s commercial arm, UniServices. The funding is helping the team scale across New Zealand, Australia and beyond, expanding into other industries where complexity and fairness collide — such as manufacturing, transport, and hospitality.
Feng says the decision to start with healthcare was intentional. “Hospitals are the hardest environment to roster,” she explains. “If you can solve it there — where the stakes are high, the rules are complex, and people’s wellbeing is on the line — you can solve it anywhere.”
With a strong foundation in academic research and a growing customer base, RosterLab is now positioning itself as a global leader in AI-driven workforce optimisation. The company’s focus on empathy, usability and trust has resonated with teams who’ve long felt the pain of outdated rostering tools.
For Feng, that human connection remains the most rewarding part of the journey. “When a nurse tells us the roster finally feels fair, or a manager says they’ve got their weekend back — that’s when it really hits home,” she says. “That’s what keeps us going.”
From the halls of academia to hospital wards, RosterLab’s story is a classic Kiwi blend of deep thinking and practical innovation. It’s proof that everyday frustrations can spark world-changing ideas if you care enough to fix them.
Story by Richard Liew
Innovation Nation is a series celebrating stories of innovation and diversity in entrepreneurship from around New Zealand.
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