Rotas that are ready in minutes, not hours
Set up areas, staff pools and shift templates once, then plan by drag and drop. MetronHR checks absences, rest periods and qualifications automatically, and your people see their plan straight away.
- A weekly plan by drag and drop, with conflicts detected automatically
- Create a shift pattern once, apply it to whole periods
- GDPR compliant, hosted in Germany
An end to the rota in Excel and on the noticeboard
Who works when? Who is on holiday? Juggling rotas by hand costs nerves and time every week.
Problem
Out-of-date Excel plans
You change a shift and nobody knows. People work from out-of-date printouts, and the questions pile up.
Problem
Conflicts only show up too late
Someone is on holiday, has had no rest period or lacks the qualification: you cannot see that in Excel, but you can on the day of the shift.
Problem
One absence throws the plan
If someone drops out at short notice the phone chain starts: who can step in? That costs half a morning.
Solution
Set it up once, then only plan
Create areas, staff pools and shift templates, then plan by drag and drop. With every assignment MetronHR checks absences, rest periods and qualifications.
Result
A plan in 15 minutes
Instead of half a working day: that is how quickly the weekly plan is ready for our customers in retail and hospitality.
This is how shift planning works in MetronHR
From the guided setup to the published plan, in three steps.
Step1
Set it up once
The setup assistant asks about your industry and suggests fitting shifts, areas and staff pools, from two-shift retail to a 24/7 operation.
Step2
Build the plan
Drag shifts onto days and people. You create a shift pattern once and carry it over to any period you like.
Step3
Publish
One click turns the draft into the valid plan. Your people see their shifts in the app and are reminded before a shift starts.
What shift planning offers
Everything shift operations really need, without the frills.
Automatic conflict checking
Rest periods and absences are checked with every assignment
The 11-hour rest period under the ArbZG, approved absences and overlapping times are detected and either blocked or flagged with a warning.
Cover when someone is off sick
If someone drops out the system suggests a replacement
A shift that opens up through illness is posted as open automatically, and the first application can be accepted directly if you want.
The plan in your pocket
Your people always have their rota with them
In the mobile app people see their shifts, swap, apply and clock in, with a reminder before the shift starts.
Rotation
Shift patterns and A/B weeks
Create a recurring pattern once, apply it again and again
Define patterns across 1 to 4 weeks and apply them to a period, with optional automatic assignment of people.
Qualification
Staff pools and areas
Only those who are qualified get planned in
People are grouped into pools by qualification; per shift you set how many are needed from which group.
Self-service
Shift swaps and a shift market
Your people arrange swaps themselves, you only approve
People swap shifts, hand them over or apply for open ones. Every change goes through your approval.
On call
On-call duty
Map on-call duty including the pay for it
Configurable on-call profiles with an hourly rate and a call-out rate; people are notified when they are called in.
Shift planning for your whole team
Whether you are the owner, the shift lead or on the shift, everyone gets exactly what they need.
Owner or branch manager
The plan is ready without costing half a day
The weekly plan for 8 to 12 people eats hours every week, and by Monday it is wrong already.
Apply a shift pattern, conflicts are flagged automatically, publish. Hours turn into minutes.
Shift lead
Always an overview of who is in when
Who is stepping in today? Who already has too many hours? Nobody holds all of that in their head.
The weekly view shows staffing, weekly hours and conflicts at a glance, per area and per person.
Employee
The rota always in your pocket
When do I have to work? Can I swap the Friday shift? The noticeboard is no help to me in the evening.
Your own shifts in the app, a reminder before the shift starts, swaps and applications for open shifts, all handled by you.
Personnel office or HR
Shift data flows straight into payroll
Collecting planned and actual hours is dogsbody work: error-prone and thankless.
Target against actual per person, a clean comparison with the contracts and an export at the push of a button.
Security and data protection
Your data is safe: hosted in Germany, GDPR compliant and encrypted.
- Rest periods and maximum working hours checked automatically under the ArbZG
- Every change to the plan is documented traceably
- GDPR compliant, hosted on German servers
Not shifts, but activities through the day?
Practices, pharmacies and therapy businesses plan below the shift: who is in when, and what they are doing. That is what duty planning is for.
Frequent questions about shift planning
Everything you need to know about shift planning in MetronHR.
Any business that works in shifts, for example retail, hospitality, care, manufacturing and logistics. The setup assistant ships fitting templates for these industries.
Yes. You define patterns across 1 to 4 weeks, including A and B weeks, and apply them to any period. People can optionally be assigned automatically as you do it.
Yes. With every assignment MetronHR checks approved absences, overlapping times and the statutory 11-hour rest period. Conflicts are either blocked or shown with a warning.
As soon as a plan is published, people see their shifts on the web and in the mobile app, including a reminder before a shift starts.
Yes. People can swap shifts, hand them over or apply for open shifts. Every change is put to you for approval.
The shift that opens up can be posted automatically as an open shift. If you want, the system accepts the first suitable application directly, otherwise you approve it.
Shift planning is part of the Professional plan. During the trial you can try it out with no obligation.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Ready to take the rota off the noticeboard?
Try MetronHR free for 14 days. No credit card, no tricks.
Questions? Send us a message
Related
Where to go from here, and what waits for you there.
Template
Before you begin: the template for it
The Excel template maps A and B weeks with early, late and night shifts, including the hours total and a note on rest periods. Free, no sign-up.
See Rota templateRota software
Shift planning for hospitality, care, retail and security services, with a price example.
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