Shift scheduling and team rotations: a practical method

Attendance figures are only as good as the schedule. Software compares each passage with the shift planned for that day: if the schedule is wrong or incomplete, lateness and overtime will be too. Here is a method for building a schedule that actually serves the calculation.

Step 1: list the real shifts

List the shifts actually worked, not the ones in the standard contract. Typically:

• Fixed shift: 08:30–17:30 with a break.
• Flexible shift: a duration to work within an arrival window.
• Split shift: 11:00–15:00 then 18:30–23:30 (restaurants, retail).
• Night shift: 22:00–06:00, crossing midnight.
• Long shift: 12 hours (security, healthcare).

Give each a short code (M, A, N, D…) and state whether the break is paid.

Step 2: build the cycles

A cycle repeats shifts:

• a standard week from Monday to Sunday (offices);
• a rotation over N days from a first day: three shifts, 2 days on / 2 off, 4 days on / 3 off…

For a three-shift system, create three shifts (morning, afternoon, night) and a rotation; each team starts the rotation on a different date, which is enough to cover all three.

In Morocco, the Labour Code requires weekly rest of at least 24 hours, midnight to midnight, and lets continuously open establishments organise it on a rotating basis (articles 205–207). Check that every cycle leaves that rest.

Step 3: set minimum staffing

For each shift, state how many people are needed. That is what lets you see, before the day, that an opening slot or a night shift is not covered. In Atlaxys Tempo, the planner’s coverage line flags the gaps.

Step 4: handle exceptions without breaking the cycle

Leave, a replacement, a shift swap: the exception goes in that day’s cell, not into the cycle. The cycle then resumes on its own. If an employee permanently changes team, assign them a new cycle from a date: earlier history stays calculated with the old one.

Step 5: watch for conflicts

A good tool flags them before they cost money:

• two shifts that overlap for the same person;
• too little rest between two shifts (a night followed by a morning, for example);
• an overloaded week;
• an employee scheduled during their leave.

Tempo flags by default less than 11 hours of rest and more than 48 hours in the week. These are planning warnings: adapt your policy with your adviser, considering the normal 44-hour week (article 184 in Morocco) and the exceptions provided for.

Step 6: plan public holidays

State for each cycle whether the team works on public holidays (hospitality, security, continuous production). In Morocco, religious holidays depend on the lunar calendar: their dates are estimates to confirm each year at the official announcement.

The most common mistakes

• One schedule for everyone “to keep it simple”: every difference becomes fictitious lateness or overtime.
• Night shifts cut at midnight: one night counts as two incomplete half days.
• Editing the cycle to handle an absence: history is wrongly recalculated.

Once the schedule is in place, define your rules for lateness and overtime.