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A number alone is rarely enough
Three people on the late shift is not a usable requirement where one of them has to hold a particular authorisation. In care it is the registered nurse, in the security trade the competence test under section 34a(1a) GewO, in a car workshop the emissions test authorisation under Annex VIIIc StVZO, in a pharmacy the licence for compounding.
Anyone not storing the requirement against the time window is relying on the planner having it in their head. When replanning at short notice at two in the morning, that is the weakest point in the whole procedure.
Where the requirements come from
From statutes and ordinances, for instance minimum staffing levels in hospitals, from collective agreements, from works agreements or from the business's own calculation. Where a works council exists, minimum staffing levels are as a rule subject to codetermination, because they concern the timing of working time and health protection.
Figures set by the business should be justifiable. A staffing level that nobody can derive will be undercut at the first staffing crisis.
Under- and overstaffing
Understaffing is the obvious problem: the shift cannot work. Overstaffing is the expensive one: it does not stand out, because everything runs, and it produces staff costs with nothing in return.
A plan showing both per time window makes the staffing situation visible before it becomes a problem.
Common mistake
The staffing level gets kept as a number and the qualification separately in a list. When somebody steps in, nobody checks the second list, and the shift is formally staffed but not professionally.
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: 2 September 2026