How many crews does round-the-clock operation take, and how many hours does each person then work? Below, four common shift systems are worked through with Tiveo’s shift times, and the calculator further down lays out the rotation from any date.
Early and late shifts swap weekly, Monday to Friday. Nights and weekends are off.
Rotation over 14 days
Staffed: Monday to Friday
E Early shift 06:00–14:30 · L Late shift 14:30–23:00
Logistics, retail, workshops
Built into Tiveo as an industry template
The crew moves on one shift each week: early, late, night. Weekends are off.
Rotation over 21 days
Staffed: Monday to Friday
E Early shift 06:00–14:00 · L Late shift 14:00–22:00 · N Night shift 22:00–06:00
Production without weekend operation
Built into Tiveo as an industry template
Two earlies, two lates, two nights, then two days off, weekends included.
Rotation over 8 days
Staffed: round the clock, 7 days
E Early shift 06:00–14:00 · L Late shift 14:00–22:00 · N Night shift 22:00–06:00
Fully continuous production
Like the four-shift system, but with four days off after the nights, so the average week is shorter.
Rotation over 10 days
Staffed: round the clock, 7 days
E Early shift 06:00–14:00 · L Late shift 14:00–22:00 · N Night shift 22:00–06:00
Ambulance service, security, continuous shifts
Built into Tiveo as an industry template
Pick a pattern and a crew, enter the first day of the rotation: the calculator lays out four weeks. The crews start staggered so every shift is covered.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
One post round the clock is 168 hours a week. In the four-shift system four crews share that time, each on site about 42 hours a week; in the five-shift system five crews with about 33.6 hours. Leave, sickness and training come on top, which is why companies plan more people than there are crews.
8 hours per working day, up to 10 if the average over six months or 24 weeks stays at 8 (§ 3 ArbZG). For night workers the period is shorter: one calendar month or four weeks (§ 6 (2) ArbZG).
Not as a rule: Sundays and public holidays are days of rest (§ 9 ArbZG). § 10 lists exceptions, for example emergency and ambulance services, hospitals and restaurants. Whoever works on a Sunday gets a substitute day of rest within two weeks, and at least 15 Sundays a year stay free (§ 11).
As a pattern in shift planning: set up the rotation and shift types once, then apply it. That creates drafts for the planners to check and publish. Tiveo ships three of the four patterns here as industry templates.
Public holidays, leave and sickness. It only lays out the rotation. In Tiveo, shift planning sees leave and absences while planning and shows where a shift stays open.
Rosters with demand, a check before publishing, open shifts, swaps and checklists, linked to leave and hours.