---
title: 'Work shifts'
summary: 'A reusable weekly working pattern (Mon-Sun hour counts) assigned to employees through work-shift assignments. The expected baseline against which actual time-points are compared.'
section: features
tags:
  - crud
  - tempus
  - foundation
  - scheduling
updated: '2026-06-17'
---

> A **work shift** in Tempus is a reusable weekly working pattern: the hours an employee is expected to work Monday through Sunday. It is the template you assign to employees through an [employee work-shift assignment](tempus_employee_work_shifts.md).

## Overview

A shift is a title, seven daily hour values, and an optional description. There is no per-day start/end time or rotating multi-week pattern. For alternating weeks or location-specific shifts, create several shifts and switch the employee's assignment over time. The shift's expected baseline is compared against actual time-points to compute overtime, lateness, and absence.

## What it does

Each day's hours are picked from a fixed-step H:mm dropdown (weekdays default 8:00, weekends 0:00). The weekly total must match the [contract's weekly expected working time](tempus_contracts.md) for the shift to be assignable, so a 38-hour shift will not appear for a 40-hour contract.

Common patterns:

| Goal | Shape | Weekly total |
|---|---|---|
| **Full-time Mon-Fri** | 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 0:00 / 0:00 | 40h |
| **38-hour week (Lux. standard)** | 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 6:00 / 0:00 / 0:00 | 38h |
| **80% (4 days)** | 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 8:00 / 0:00 / 0:00 / 0:00 | 32h |
| **Saturday only** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8:00 / 0 | 8h |

A shift change applies from the next nightly recalculation, not retroactively. The Usage tab shows who is assigned and their date ranges, so check it before editing.

> [!WARNING]
> Editing a shift changes the daily values for everyone using it (Tempus does not version shifts). It is usually cleaner to create a new shift and migrate employees with new assignment ranges.

> [!CAUTION]
> Deleting a shift still assigned to employees orphans those assignments. Reassign first, then trash.

## See also

- [Employee work shifts](tempus_employee_work_shifts.md) - the assignment binding a shift to an employee over a date range.
- [Contracts](tempus_contracts.md) - the weekly-hours value that must match the shift's total.
- [Employees](tempus_employees.md) - the people the shifts are assigned to.
- [Time points](tempus_time_points.md) - the actual hours compared against the shift's expected hours.
- [Tempus schedules](tempus_schedules.md) - a separate concept: recurring status schedules, not work shifts.