What's covered in this guide?:
Ensure you and your managers are scheduling compliant shifts based on your business requirements with Workforce's rota validation feature.
Customise the values and choose whether to warn managers or block shifts from being published when certain validations have been breached.
Validations on the Rota
When rota validations are enabled, they'll appear on a shift with an orange or red icon:
Orange indicates that a validation has been breached, but the shift can still be published.
Red indicates that a validation has been breached and the shift cannot be published.
Clicking the icon will show the validation rules the shift has breached, as well as the recommended scheduling practices to resolve the errors.
When a shift has breached a custom validation rule set, the relevant rule set name will be included in the description.
For example, if the Casual validations rule set has been breached, this will be shown alongside the validation.
Block Rota Publishing
Certain validations can be configured to prevent shifts from being published until the validation errors have been resolved.
This blocking setting applies to all users, regardless of permission level.
If a user attempts to publish a rota containing shifts that breach blocking validations, the Publish button will be disabled until the errors are resolved.
Other unaffected shifts can still be published by deselecting the affected Teams or Staff.
To allow certain users to request approval to publish rotas despite blocking validations, see Blocked Rota Publishing Approval Requests below.
Validation Toggles
Ensure the rota validations setting under Rota > Rota Planning > Rota Validations is enabled.
Customise the All Staff validations to determine which validations should warn managers and which should block rota publishing.
The Blocking toggle cannot be switched on unless the Enabled toggle is also switched on.
A non-exhaustive list of these validations, including where the related values can be configured in your account, is outlined below.
Shift Clash
Triggered when two shifts overlap.
Leave Clash
Triggered when a shift overlaps with pending or approved leave.
Unavailability Clash
Triggered when a shift overlaps with an employee's pending or approved unavailability.
RDO Clash
Triggered when a shift overlaps with a scheduled day off.
Preferred Hours Under
Triggered when the total hours scheduled for a week are less than half of an employee's preferred weekly hours.
Configure this using the Preferred weekly hours for scheduling field under the Pay Configuration tab in the employee's profile.
Preferred Hours Over
Triggered when the total hours scheduled for a week exceed an employee's preferred weekly hours.
Configure this using the Preferred weekly hours for scheduling field under the Pay Configuration tab in the employee's profile.
Qualification Invalid
Triggered when a qualification has expired, is pending approval, is not currently effective, or its maximum permitted hours have been exceeded.
Qualifications can be managed from the Qualifications tab in staff profiles.
Overtime
Triggered when a scheduled shift will incur an overtime rate or penalty.
Applicable rules and overtime rates for each employee can be found in the relevant pay settings on their staff profile. You can also select See Costs on a scheduled shift to see which specific rules apply.
Under-Scheduled
Triggered when the total scheduled hours do not meet an employee's contracted weekly hours.
This is based on the employee's configured Contracted weekly hours.
Missing Regular Hours of Work
Triggered when staff who require regular hours of work do not have those hours configured.
Add the agreed hours in the Regular hours of work field in the employee's profile.
Mismatching Regular Hours of Work
Triggered when scheduled shifts do not match the regular hours configured in the employee's profile.
This is based on the values in the Regular hours of work field.
Breaks Don't Match Automatic Break Rules
When automatic break rules have been enabled, manually entered breaks that do not match those rules will be flagged.
Configure break rules under Settings > All Settings > Shift Breaks.
Consecutive Days Off
Triggered when an employee does not receive the required number of consecutive days off within the relevant period.
Additional Validations
In addition to the validation toggles above, rota validations can be based on specific values and configured to apply to individual staff or groups of staff.
Default Rule Set
The default rule set allows you to configure values for:
Maximum shift length, in hours.
Minimum shift length, in hours.
Minimum hours between shifts.
Earliest permitted shift start time.
Latest permitted shift finish time.
Maximum number of shifts per week.
Maximum number of hours per week.
Maximum number of shifts per day.
Maximum span of hours per day for back-to-back or multiple shifts.
Maximum number of hours per day.
You can also configure these validations to block rota publishing when breached.
Custom Rule Sets
You may want certain validations to apply only to specific staff based on factors such as employment type, age, location or other requirements.
When creating a new validation rule set, you'll need to specify:
The name of the validation.
Who it applies to.
When it applies.
Which validations they should receive.
Any overtime conditions that should block publishing.
Who It Applies To
Custom validation rule sets can be restricted based on:
Minimum and maximum ages.
Classification tags.
Locations where employees work.
When It Applies
You can specify the days or periods when the rule set applies based on:
Date ranges.
Days of the week.
📝 Important to note: Date ranges must apply to the full week selected.
If this section is left empty, the validation rules will apply to the relevant staff at all times.
Validations They Should Receive
Value-based validations are divided into two groups:
Shift validations, which assess individual shifts.
Rota validations, which assess the entire rota week.
Values can be configured for:
Maximum shift length.
Minimum shift length.
Minimum hours between shifts.
Earliest shift start time.
Latest shift finish time.
Maximum number of shifts per week.
Maximum number of hours per week.
Maximum number of shifts per day.
Maximum span of hours per day.
Maximum number of hours per day.
Blocking Overtime Conditions
You can customise which overtime conditions or penalty rates should block rota publishing.
Depending on your Workforce configuration, blocking conditions may include:
Working beyond a certain number of hours per day.
Working beyond a specified span of hours per day.
Working beyond a certain number of hours within a period.
Working beyond fixed hours for part-time staff.
Minimum scheduled work hours per day.
Minimum scheduled work hours per week.
Working beyond a certain number of days per week.
Working beyond a certain number of days in the second week.
Working beyond a certain number of days within a period.
Working beyond the permitted number of consecutive days.
Insufficient rest between shifts.
Insufficient breaks during shifts.
Blocked Rota Publishing Approval Requests
Even when blocking rota validations apply to shifts, you can configure Approval Workflows so certain staff can request permission to publish the rota anyway.
If the request is approved by an authorised user, the blocked shifts can then be published.
Configuring Rota Publish Approval Workflows
To configure an approval workflow:
Navigate to Rota > Rota Planning > Rota Validations.
Enable the option to allow approval of rotas that would otherwise be blocked by validations.
Once enabled, you will see the option to Manage Approval Processes.
Select Manage Approval Processes.
Select + Add Approval Process.
Click + Add Approval Process
Enter a Name for the approval process.
Choose who can submit publish requests, using Positions, Teams, or a combination of both.
Choose who can approve publish requests.
You can configure multiple approvals within a single stage or add multiple stages of approval.
To require multiple groups to approve within the same stage, select + Add Approval and specify the relevant groups.
2. To create another approval stage, select + Add Stage.
3. Approval stages will be completed in the order in which they are listed.
4. Select Create when finished.
Creating Blocked Rota Publish Requests
If you're included in the group permitted to submit approval requests, you can request approval when blocking validations prevent a rota from being published.
When you select Publish in the top-right corner of the rota, Workforce will show which shifts can be published and which are blocked.
Shifts without blocking validations can be published as normal.
Shifts containing blocking validations will be included in the Request approval count and sent to the appropriate users for approval.
Reviewing Publish Requests
To view publish requests:
Navigate to Rotas > Manage Rotas > Publish Requests
2. Requests awaiting your approval will appear under Pending My Approvals.
3. Select Complete to review the request.
4. You'll be able to see the specific validation affecting the blocked shifts.
5. Select Review and Publish, or Review if additional approval stages are required.
6. Choose Approve or Decline, add an optional comment, then submit your decision.
7. - If additional approval stages exist, the request will move to the next group of approvers.
- If you've completed the final approval stage, the affected shift can be published despite the blocking validation.
Creating Custom Rota Validation Rules
Natural Language Rota Validations allow you to write rota rules in plain English.
Workforce uses AI to interpret these instructions and convert them into standardised validations. These rules are then automatically checked whenever a rota is created, helping flag potential violations before publishing.
To create custom Rota Validation Rules
Navigate to: Rota > Rota Validations > Natural Language Validation Rules
You can create rules that apply across your organisation or only to specific locations.
Write each rota validation in clear, natural language, with each rule on a new line.
Be as specific as possible. AI works best with measurable requirements.
For example, rather than:
Schedule enough staff during the Saturday lunch rush.
Use:
Schedule at least four front-of-house staff between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm on Saturdays.
Successfully interpreted rules will appear under Active Rules.
Validation Topics and Examples
Constraints
Examples of rules Workforce can interpret include:
Minimum staff count: "At least 2 supervisors per shift."
Maximum staff count: "No more than 4 junior staff on a Sunday."
Minimum hours: "Schedule at least 100 hours on Saturdays."
Maximum hours: "Under-18s can't work more than 20 hours per week."
Require pairing: "Always schedule Sarah and Tom together."
Forbid pairing: "Don't schedule John and Mary together."
Require supervision: "Never schedule a trainee without a supervisor present."
Require tenured overlap: "New starters in their first 3 months must work with someone who has been here for at least 6 months."
Conditional minimum count: "When Seafood has 4 or more staff, Bakery must have at least 3."
Compare groups: "Never schedule more Warehouse staff than Sales staff."
Maximum percentage: "Back-of-house staff can't exceed 40% of total hours."
Consecutive day limit: "No more than 6 consecutive days worked."
Consecutive shift limit: "No more than 6 shifts over 9 hours in a cycle."
Minimum days per week: "Leads must work at least 3 days per week."
Exact days per week: "Permanent staff must work exactly 4 days."
Forbid day combination: "Interns can't work both Sunday and a public holiday in the same week."
Consecutive week day limit: "Employees can't work Sunday 3 weeks in a row."
Require shift detail: "All shifts must have a shift detail assigned."
Budget hours: "Budgeted hours can't be exceeded each day."
Budget cost: "Labour costs can't exceed budget."
Budget wage percentage of revenue: "Wage percentage of revenue can't exceed the budgeted target."
Budget sales per labour hour: "Sales per labour hour can't fall below the budgeted target."
Attributes and Filters
Rules can use attributes such as:
Staff
Qualifications.
Training.
Tags.
Regular Hours of Work or Contracted Weekly Hours.
Names.
Age.
Length of service.
Employment start and end dates.
Manager status.
Onboarding completion.
Time
Days of the week.
Dates and months.
Public holidays.
Custom events.
Shift length.
Opening or closing shifts.
Shift start and finish times.
Averaging periods.
Multiple-week periods.
Historical shifts, where supported.
Other
Team names.
Team group names.
Position names.
Weather conditions.
Common Use Cases
Exceeding Budgets
When budgets have been configured, custom rota validations can be used to flag when scheduled shifts exceed the relevant budget.
Depending on the budgeting options available in your Workforce account, validations can be used against metrics such as:
Hours.
Labour costs.
Wage percentage of revenue.
Sales per labour hour.
For example:
"Budgeted hours cannot be exceeded each day."
or:
"Budgeted costs cannot be exceeded each week."
When a configured budget is exceeded, the validation will be displayed against the relevant day on the rota.
A warning will also be displayed when a user attempts to publish a rota that breaches the configured validation.
