How to manage work policies

How to manage work policies#

For: Admin You’ll need: The country (and state, where it matters) you’re writing the policy for.

You’ll create, edit, and delete the work policies that drive scheduling limits, overtime, and premium pay across your company. One form covers every constraint — identity, daily / weekly / rest limits, overtime tiers, premiums, the Swiss night-work block, and the break policy the work policy picks.

Open the work policies list#

  1. In the sidebar, go to Company → Policies & rules → Work policies.

You see one row per policy with its name, country, state, and whether it’s the company default. Use the ‘Filter’ button above the table to narrow by country, and click a column header to sort.

Create a work policy#

  1. Click ‘Create’ in the top-right (on an empty list, the button reads ‘Create work policy’).

  2. Fill in the ‘Name’ field, then choose the ‘Country’ dropdown — and the ‘State/Province’ dropdown if your country uses one. See Identity and jurisdiction.

  3. Set the daily, weekly, and rest fields. See Daily and weekly limits.

  4. Set the overtime tier thresholds and multipliers. See Overtime tiers.

  5. Set the Sunday, holiday, and night premiums, and choose the ‘Premium stacking mode’ dropdown. See Premiums.

  6. (Swiss companies only) Fill in the ‘Swiss night-work time compensation (ArG 17b)’ section. See Swiss night-work compensation (ArG 17b).

  7. Read the ‘Breaks’ section: it names the break policy the new work policy will pick.

  8. Click ‘Save’.

You’re returned to the work policies list with the new policy selected.

Pick a break policy#

A work policy’s breaks come from the break policy it picks: its rules, and how breaks are grouped, recorded, checked and paid. See Break policies.

  1. On the work policy’s edit form, go to the ‘Breaks’ section.

  2. Choose the policy in ‘Break policy’. ‘Open the break policy’ takes you to it.

  3. Click ‘Save’.

Leave ‘Break policy’ blank and the work policy owes no breaks. Picking another policy changes nothing else on the work policy. Breaks are counted in the time zone of each shift’s location, so every location needs a time zone.

A new work policy has no picker yet — its ‘Breaks’ section says which policy it will pick when you save: the one the copied work policy picks, or, for another country with statutory breaks, that country’s break policy, created on save if your company doesn’t have it yet. A new US work policy picks none; pick a state’s policy after saving — see How to set up breaks for a US state.

New companies in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the UK receive their country’s break policy, picked by the default work policy, and a separate ‘Youth’ work policy with a ‘Youth’ break policy. The Youth work policy is not assigned automatically; set it on the appropriate employment type or person. US companies receive no break policy, because US federal law requires no breaks.

Edit a work policy#

  1. Click the policy in the list — its edit form opens.

  2. Change any field, then click ‘Save’.

Changes take effect immediately for new shifts and on the next validation pass for existing ones.

Delete a work policy#

  1. Open the kebab menu (⋮) on the row and click ‘Delete’.

  2. Confirm in the dialog.

A policy that’s still in use is protected — Shiftavo blocks the delete with a count: “Can’t delete — this work policy is assigned to N locations, employment types, or people. Reassign them first.” The company default policy can never be deleted.

To delete several policies at once, tick the checkboxes on the list — or open the ▾ menu in the selection column header and choose ‘Select all pages’ to take every policy the current filter matches, on every page — then click ‘Delete selected’ below the table and confirm with ‘Delete item’. A selection that includes the company default is refused whole (“Selection includes the default work policy. Deselect it or set another work policy as default first.”), and so is one where any policy is still in use.

View a work policy#

The detail page groups the constraints into sections — Daily constraints, Weekly constraints, Rest & Fatigue Constraints, and Overtime & Premiums — and names the picked break policy under ‘Breaks’, or says “No break policy: this work policy owes no breaks.”

Verify it worked#

The policy appears in the list with the right country and state, and its detail page shows the constraints you set. Open a shift in a location that uses the policy — calendar tooltips and validation badges reflect the new limits.