When there aren't enough people to cover all the work, schedule as much priority work as possible.

Define skills and risk factors to make sure shifts are assigned to employees with the right qualifications.

Assign employees to shifts to meet hourly demand curves and avoid over staffing during quiet periods or under staffing at busy periods.

Provide a range of times when alternative shifts can be scheduled.

Manage which employees should (preferably) be assigned and not assigned to certain shifts.

Honor employee contracts and stay complaint with labor regulations.

Manage how many hours employees are contracted to work across fixed periods and rolling windows.

Manage employees' time off, including making sure they get consecutive days off from work.

Only assign employees to shifts when they are available, and employee's preferred times into consideration when making assignments.

Distribute work fairly across all employees.

Assign specific employees to the same shift, for instance, when a trainer needs to train a trainee. Assign specific employees to different shifts from each other to avoid conflicts of interest.

Reduce the amount of time employees spend traveling to their shifts.

Limit the types of different shifts and tasks employees can be assigned.

Manage shift rotations, single day and multi-day shift patterns, on-call shifts, and the variation between shift start times.

Keep the cost of staffing all shifts within budget.

Respond to sudden changes with employee availability and assign new employees to shifts, due to sick leave or additional demand, and to minimize the disruption caused by the re-planning process.

Find the best employee to assign to shifts at short notice.