Guide
How to build a shift schedule?
A shift schedule is the chart showing who works on which day, in which time slot, at which location for a period. A good schedule does two jobs at once: it organises the field's day and forms the reference against which lateness and overtime are calculated.
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Five steps to a schedule
- 01
Map the need
Write down how many people each location and time slot requires: how many in the morning, how many in the evening, what changes at weekends?
- 02
Build the template once
Put the recurring pattern (morning/evening slots, weekly rhythm) into a template; redrawing from scratch each week is the biggest time sink.
- 03
Subtract approved leave
Check approved leave before planning; a person on leave written into a shift is discovered at the door, one staff short.
- 04
Assign in bulk and publish
Assign by location and group, not person by person, and publish in one place everyone can see — not by word of mouth.
- 05
Compare against reality
Track actual clock-ins against the plan through the period: lateness and overtime only mean something relative to the plan.
Legal limits to plan around
- Working time is at most 45 hours a week. If both sides agree, it can be spread differently across the days as long as no day exceeds 11 hours; the weekly average over two months must still stay within 45 hours (Labour Law No. 4857, Art. 63).
- An uninterrupted weekly rest of at least 24 hours must be given within every seven-day period (Art. 46).
- Breaks: 15 minutes for work of up to 4 hours, half an hour for 4 to 7.5 hours, 1 hour for longer work. Breaks do not count as working time (Art. 68).
- Night work may not exceed 7.5 hours. "Night" starts at 20:00 at the latest, ends at 06:00 at the earliest and lasts at most 11 hours. In tourism, private security and healthcare, this can be exceeded with the worker's written consent (Art. 69).
- Where day and night shifts rotate, a worker on nights for one week moves to days in the following second week; a two-week rotation can also be used. A worker changing shifts must rest at least 11 uninterrupted hours before working the other shift (Art. 69).
Collective agreements and some sectors (tourism, for example) have different rules. This list summarises the general rules; check your own case with your HR or legal adviser.
Four common field mistakes
Announcing changes in a group chat
A WhatsApp message sinks in the stream; who saw it is unknown. Changes belong on the schedule itself, delivered to everyone through the same channel.
Scheduling someone on leave
When the leave list and the schedule live in different places, clashes are inevitable; they should live in one system.
Working without a template
A schedule built from scratch each week burns hours and breeds errors; the pattern should live in a template, with only exceptions edited.
Divorcing the plan from records
If the plan lives in one place and clock records in another, overtime becomes invisible; the plan must be compared with records in the same system.
Shift planning in Pepteam
Define the template once; open the new week from it and assign in bulk with date, location and group filters. Assigned shifts appear instantly on employees' phones; a bulk action gone wrong is undone in one step. The Daily Shift Report calculates lateness and absence against this plan.
Explore Shift PlanningRelated guides
Shift schedule FAQ
- How far in advance should the schedule be made?
- With the pattern living in a template, the question shrinks: a new period opens from the template in minutes, only exceptions are edited, and the team sees the schedule early on their phones.
- Where does an employee see their schedule?
- In one authoritative place: the published schedule itself. In Pepteam the assigned shift shows in the employee's app; on changes the schedule updates and everyone sees the same thing.
- How are last-minute changes handled?
- On the schedule: the shift is reassigned and reaches the affected people instantly. Changes managed by group message leave who-knows uncertain.
- How do leave and the schedule meet?
- Approved leave should reflect into the plan automatically: the person shows as On leave in the daily report and cannot be scheduled by mistake — in Pepteam this link is built in.
- How is a 24/7 rotating duty set up?
- The rotation is defined once in the template; who covers which night at which site is known months ahead. Handover times are tracked through clock records too.