6 shifts a month2 people a night
Call centres and support
Call centre shift planning
Support teams do not have a fixed staffing need: how many people are required changes with the hour of the day and the day of the week. The schedule has to carry that variation.
Example setup: a 14-person support team · 5 people on mornings, 3 on evenings, 2 at weekends · at least 1 experienced agent per shift · max 5 shifts per person per week.
A typical setup
Each shift is defined with its own window and headcount: four people on mornings, two on evenings, one at the weekend. Weekday and weekend shift sets can differ entirely.
Which constraints apply
- Weekly shift and hour limits per person
- Consecutive day restrictions
- Balancing experienced and new staff across shifts
- Individual availability
The result
Team members mark the days they cannot work and the schedule is generated around them. On the Premium plan the team can swap shifts between themselves, so not every change has to pass through the planner.
How you set it up
- Map demand to shift windows. Write down how many people each hour band actually needs before you create shifts. Morning, evening and weekend are usually three different numbers.
- Set the per-person weekly cap. Support teams run on part-time and mixed contracts more than most, so the weekly shift limit does more work here than the hour limit.
- Mark who is experienced. Create a role for experienced agents and require at least one on every shift, so a new starter is never alone on a window.
- Let the team enter availability. Preferred days and unavailable days come from each person's own account, which is what makes a demand-driven rota survive contact with reality.
Common questions
Can staffing change by day of week?
Yes. Each day can carry its own headcount, so a Monday peak and a quiet Sunday do not need separate plans.
How do I guarantee an experienced agent on every shift?
Add an 'experienced' role and set the minimum per shift. If a shift cannot meet it, you get an error with the date before publishing.
Can the team swap shifts without me?
On Premium, yes — swap requests are unlimited and a planner approves them. Sending a request needs Premium; someone on Standard can reply but cannot start one, or without approval if the team admin switches that on.
Does it work with part-time contracts?
Yes. Set a different weekly shift or hour cap per person; anyone left without a limit is balanced automatically against the rest.
Build your first schedule this month
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