Trying to Replace Expertise with a Shift Pattern Generator
There’s a popular myth in workforce planning: the idea that you can press a button, run a “shift pattern generator,” and out pops a perfect rota that meets your workload, covers holidays, keeps staff happy, and runs smoothly all year. It sounds wonderful. It’s also completely untrue. Designing a shift pattern isn’t something you generate . It’s something you craft . A good shift pattern takes time, thought, and skill. There are hundreds of variables to consider, terms and conditions, fatigue, skills, workload curves, holidays , ad‑hoc spikes, sickness, training time, fairness rules, preferences, budgets, and the realities of how people actually live their lives. My list of questions for new clients is long for a reason. Some questions won’t matter, but you never know which ones until you ask. That’s how you tailor a pattern that genuinely fits. Think of it like food. If you told a machine, “I’m hungry, make me something,” you could end up with anything from a salad to dog food to a fi...