The basic pattern: three 8-hour shifts
The most common pattern splits the day into three equal blocks, for example morning 07:00–15:00, afternoon 15:00–23:00 and night 23:00–07:00. Adjust start times to your operation, such as changing shifts before the staff bus leaves or keeping full cover through hotel check-out.
Equal shifts make hours and pay easy to calculate. Watch out: an 8-hour shift usually includes the break. If staff cannot actually step away (a post that must never be empty), plan staggered breaks or count the time as working hours, and check normal-hours and overtime rules — see how to calculate overtime under Thai labour law.
Some businesses use two 12-hour shifts instead. That needs fewer people per day, but hours beyond normal working time usually become overtime every day, so cost and fatigue are higher. Compare both options with your own numbers before choosing.
- Morning (M) — often the busiest block and needs the most people
- Afternoon (A) — continues the day’s work while day supervisors are still reachable
- Night (N) — the fewest people, but someone must be able to make decisions alone
Rotate forward, not backward
If staff change shifts, the order matters for rest. Forward rotation (morning → afternoon → night) moves the start time later each time, which the body adapts to more easily, and leaves longer gaps between shifts.
Backward rotation (night → afternoon → morning) creates “quick returns”: finishing an afternoon shift at 23:00 and starting a morning shift at 07:00 the next day leaves less than 8 hours of real rest once travel is counted. Avoid it, or at least put a day off in between.
Frequency matters too. Changing shifts every day disrupts sleep, so most teams stay on one shift for a block of, say, 5–7 days, then have time off before the next shift.
Fixed crews or rotating crews
With fixed crews, night staff always work nights. This suits people who prefer night work and jobs needing time-specific skills. The downside: knowledge does not flow between shifts, and night cover is hard to replace when someone resigns.
With rotating crews, staff are split into teams such as A, B, C and D, each cycling through mornings, afternoons, nights and days off. Everyone shares nights equally and knowledge spreads, but the cycle must be designed to avoid quick returns.
Common cycle ideas include 4-on-4-off (four days on, four off, usually with 12-hour shifts and four teams) and 2-2-3 (two on, two off, three on, alternating over two weeks). Treat these as examples only; before adopting one, calculate weekly hours, rest days and overtime against your company policy and the law.
Sizing headcount per post, including relief for days off and leave
Start with the number of shift slots to fill. Example: a post needing 1 person around the clock on 3 shifts is 3 slots per day, or 90 slots in 30 days.
If each person works about 26 days a month (roughly one day off per week, per company policy), one person fills 26 slots. 90 ÷ 26 ≈ 3.46, which rounds up to 4 people. Together they can fill 104 slots, leaving 14 spare for leave and training.
If the same post needs 2 people on mornings and 1 on afternoons and nights, that is 4 slots per day or 120 per month → 120 ÷ 26 ≈ 4.6, rounded up to 5 people. This still does not cover several people on leave at once, so businesses with nearby posts often keep a shared relief pool that moves to whichever post is short, instead of padding every post.
- Count shift slots, not people
- Divide by actual working days per person and always round up
- Allow for leave, training and vacancies not yet filled
- If relief is short, gaps usually get filled with overtime, which raises both cost and fatigue
Handover overlap and fair night shifts
Continuous work needs a handover. With no overlap at all, the incoming shift often starts without knowing what just happened. Common fixes are having the next shift arrive 10–15 minutes early, or a defined handover routine such as a log book or checklist. If the overlap counts as working time, include it in your cost.
Night shifts are the burden people notice most. If the same people get more nights than others, resentment builds fast. Track nights per person per month and spread nights over long weekends and public holidays evenly.
- Cap consecutive nights per block, then follow with days off
- Avoid giving the same people the festival nights every year
- If you pay a night allowance, make the rule clear and base it on actual attendance, not the plan
Planning a month step by step
A good roster does not start by typing names into cells. It starts with what you already know, then fills in people. This order reduces rework.
If you still use paper or Excel, start with the free shift schedule template and adapt it to your posts.
- List each post and the headcount needed per shift
- Enter approved leave, training days and requested days off first
- Lay out the core team rotation for the whole month
- Count the open slots and fill them with relief before using overtime
- Check quick returns, night counts and consecutive working days per person
- Publish one version, and make someone accountable for every change after publishing
Handling gaps on the day
Even the best roster meets sudden sickness, a broken-down vehicle or a no-show. The real problem is finding out late, when a supervisor learns the post has been empty for hours.
Decide in advance who is on standby each day, who may call in a replacement, and the order of contact. Once someone covers, update the roster to match who actually worked, or month-end pay goes to the wrong person.
- Set a cut-off: how many minutes after shift start counts as absent and triggers a replacement
- Keep a relief list with phone numbers by area
- Record the reason for each change so you can review next month’s roster
Where software helps
Once you have several posts or branches, running a 3-shift roster through files and chat becomes error-prone. OrgFlow shift scheduling puts morning, night and day-off cells for every post in one roster, short or overstaffed posts stand out in the roster, and staff see their own shifts on their phone, with a notification when a new roster is out.
On the day, face-scan + GPS time attendance on the employee’s phone (no app-store install) feeds a live status page showing headcount per post and posts nobody has checked into yet; forgotten check-outs trigger a push to supervisors. Shift staff are paid daily from actual check-ins and check-outs tied to the roster, so nobody has to reconcile the roster against sign-in sheets at month end.