How do I set up rotating shifts?

A rotating pattern describes a repeating cycle of shifts and days off once, for example two early shifts, two late shifts and two days off. You assign the pattern to people or teams like a single shift template. Rotating patterns are included in the Growth and Pro plans and in the free trial, need Shift scheduling turned on in Workspace settings, and need at least one shift template.

Owners and co-owners create patterns on the Patterns tab under Tracking > Shifts. Managers can see the list but cannot change it.

How do I create a pattern?

• Choose a name and the number of days in the cycle, from 1 to 56. For each day pick a shift template or Day off.
• The preview shows the next 2 to 4 weeks in the template colors, starting on a date you choose, so you can check the rhythm before saving. That date is only for the preview.
• Without a shift template, the screen points you to the Templates tab.
• A pattern that is used in an assignment cannot be deleted. Remove those assignments first, then try again.

How do I assign a pattern?

Go to the Assignments tab, choose New assignment and then A repeating pattern, and pick the pattern. The cycle starts on the assignment's start date: that day is day 1 of the cycle, the next day is day 2, and after the last day the cycle starts again. The same rule applies to dates before the start date, so the rhythm continues backwards consistently. The preview in the assignment window shows how the next weeks will look. The same pattern gives two people different rhythms only if their start dates differ.

Assign a pattern to many people or teams at once

Turn on Assign to several people at once (or Assign to several teams at once) in the New assignment window and select everyone who should get the same pattern and the same dates. You can select at most 100 people or teams at a time. Managers can select people and their own team only.

The assignments are saved together: either all of them are created or none. If one is rejected, nothing is saved, and the message names the person or team that was rejected and explains why. If the cause is the selection itself, for example a duplicate target, someone from another team or a deleted person, choose Done and create the assignment again without that target. If the cause is temporary, such as a connection problem, Try again for all sends the same selection again. Editing an existing assignment always applies to that single assignment.

How do I see which pattern a day comes from?

On the Schedule tab, hover over a cell that comes from a rotating pattern and the name of the pattern appears. A day that was changed by a single-day exception shows the source Exception instead. The full rules for how assignments, exceptions and default hours combine are in How do I plan shifts for my team?