A walkthrough of how to plan shifts, assign employees, and keep coverage clean across rotations — with the same screens you’ll use day-to-day in Workwisely.
FORMAT · Video walkthrough
DURATION · ~5 minutes
AUDIENCE · Roster admins, shift planners
Who this is for
HR coordinators, operations managers, or anyone who builds and maintains employee schedules — especially in shift-heavy teams (support, retail, manufacturing, healthcare).
What you’ll learn
How to build shift templates, assign employees to a roster, manage rotations, handle swaps and overrides, and check coverage at a glance.
Watch the demo
Roster Management Demo — full product walkthrough.
What the video covers
Chapter
What you’ll see
1. The Roster grid
Where to find Roster Management and how the calendar grid is structured — rows for employees, columns for dates, cells for shifts.
2. Shift templates
Creating reusable shift definitions (start, end, breaks, allowance) so you don’t rebuild them every week.
3. Assigning shifts
Drag-and-drop a shift onto an employee, or apply a rotation pattern across multiple weeks in one click.
4. Swaps and overrides
Handling employee-initiated swap requests and admin overrides without breaking the rotation.
5. Coverage view
Reading the heat-map view to spot gaps and over-staffing before the week starts.
6. Publishing the roster
Locking the schedule, notifying employees, and what changes after publish.
Key takeaways
Templates first, assignments second. Build shift definitions once and reuse them — rotations become a click-and-paste exercise instead of manual entry.
Coverage view is your safety net. Always check it before publishing so you catch gaps while the schedule is still editable.
Swaps preserve rotation integrity. Workwisely tracks the rotation underneath so swaps don’t cascade into next month’s schedule by accident.
Publish triggers notifications. Once you click Publish, employees see their shifts in ESS and on mobile — review carefully before that step.
Try it yourself
Open Roster Management from the left sidebar, pick a small team, and walk through the steps in the video. The first roster usually takes 10–15 minutes; subsequent weeks take under 5.
FAQ
Can I edit a roster after publishing?
Yes, but every change after publish triggers a fresh notification to affected employees. Use overrides for one-off changes and the swap workflow for employee-driven changes.
How does Roster Management interact with Attendance?
The published roster is what attendance is measured against — on-time, late, no-show are all calculated relative to scheduled shifts. Make sure rosters are published before the week starts.
Where do shift allowances flow?
Allowances configured on the shift template are picked up by Payroll automatically — no separate input needed. Verify the allowance amount on the template, not on each individual shift.
Can employees see their roster on mobile?
Yes — once published, shifts appear in the employee mobile app under My Shifts, with same-day notifications and shift-swap requests.
ROSTER MANAGEMENT · GETTING STARTED Building Your First Roster A step-by-step walkthrough for creating a new roster from scratch — from picking a team to saving your draft. FORMAT · How-to guideDURATION · ~6 min readAUDIENCE · Roster admins, new ...
ROSTER MANAGEMENT · PUBLISHING Publishing a Roster What happens when you click Publish — what locks, what notifications go out, and the checklist to review before you commit. FORMAT · How-to guideDURATION · ~5 min readAUDIENCE · Roster admins What ...
ROSTER MANAGEMENT · NAVIGATION Understanding the Roster Grid A guided tour of the roster calendar view — rows, columns, cells, and the controls you'll use every day. FORMAT · Reference guideDURATION · ~4 min readAUDIENCE · Roster admins, shift ...
ROSTER MANAGEMENT · POST-PUBLISH Editing a Published Roster How to make changes after a roster is published — understanding re-notification behaviour and minimising disruption to employees. FORMAT · How-to guideDURATION · ~5 min readAUDIENCE · Roster ...
ROSTER MANAGEMENT · INTEGRATION Roster & Attendance Integration How the published roster becomes the attendance benchmark — what 'on-time', 'late', and 'no-show' are measured against. FORMAT · Concept guideDURATION · ~5 min readAUDIENCE · Roster ...