Can I create recurring shift templates?

Yes. BetterDesks supports shift templates that can be saved and reused, so schedulers can apply a standard shift pattern to a site or department without rebuilding it each time. This significantly reduces the time it takes to publish a schedule for businesses with consistent weekly patterns.

Detailed answer

Many shift-based businesses run similar or identical schedules week after week. A cleaning crew that starts at 6am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday does not need a scheduler to manually create those three shifts every single week. A security post that needs coverage 24/7 on a fixed rotation does not need to be rebuilt from scratch each pay period.

Shift templates in BetterDesks capture the details of a shift — start time, end time, site, department, required headcount, and any notes — so that a scheduler can apply the template instead of entering those details manually. Templates can be applied to a single week or rolled out across multiple weeks at once.

This saves meaningful time for schedulers managing large or complex rosters, and it reduces the risk of entry errors that come from rebuilding the same shift repeatedly.

Example

A home care agency has a set of standard weekly shifts for each care client: a morning visit, an afternoon visit, and an evening check-in. The coordinator creates templates for each shift type and applies them to each client's schedule at the start of the month. Individual adjustments — a caregiver swap, a cancelled visit — are made on top of the template rather than starting from nothing each week.

How BetterDesks helps

BetterDesks shift templates are designed to match the way repeating rosters actually work in field-based businesses. Schedulers set up the pattern once and maintain it going forward, rather than recreating it week after week.

Related questions

• Can BetterDesks manage schedules across multiple job sites?
• Can I manage shift changes and cancellations?
• Can BetterDesks help reduce scheduling conflicts?

Next step

Explore scheduling tools in BetterDesks