A shift is a saved start and end time you use often. Set one up once, and it's there to pick whenever that pattern comes round again, rather than typing the same times every week.
They're a shortcut, not a requirement. You can roster entirely with custom times if you'd rather.
Have as many as you need. You can pick a shift when adding someone to a roster or when building a Roster Plan, and adjust the times on that individual shift if this one runs differently.
To make a new shift, go to Manage > Shifts > New Shift. Set the Start Time and End Time and optionally a shift name. When a shift name is set, it is visible to employees in the mobile app.
Under Additional Settings, you can also manage the following settings:
Default Break Duration - The duration of unpaid break(s) employees should take when working this shift. If an employee clocks in and out for this Shift but doesn't record a break using the time clock, the default break duration will be applied. If they do take a break using the time clock their recorded break time will be used instead.
Hide End Time - If you want employees rostered onto this shift to work until required rather than only until the nominated end time, you can tick 'Hide End Time'. When set here, this becomes the default for any new roster entry created using this template. If you update this setting on the shift template later, it won't automatically apply to shifts already added to a roster - you'll need to delete and re-add those roster entries for the change to take effect. When active, employees will see 'REQ' instead of the end time anywhere the shift appears - in emailed rosters, via the Employee Mobile App, or in printed PDF copies of your Published Rosters. For example, the shift above would show "06:00PM - REQ".
💡 Hide end time can also be toggled on or off on any individual roster shift, regardless of which shift template is used. The shift template just acts as a default to pre-fill the setting - you can always override it when editing a roster shift directly.
Do I need to set up Shifts?
No. Shifts are worth having if the same start and end times come up week after week, and plenty of businesses roster without them entirely.
They're not needed for Roster Plans either. A plan can use preset shifts, custom times, or a mix.
If you don't set any up, you'll just set start, end and break times as you go when adding someone to a roster. See Creating Rosters with Droppah for how that works.
If you've got shifts set up and don't use them, you can archive them so they're out of the way.