What is a Split Shift? Meaning and Example

Where split shifts are used

Split shifts suit work that peaks twice a day. Restaurants and cloud kitchens staff the lunch and dinner rush. School bus drivers and attendants cover the morning and afternoon runs. Office housekeeping teams clean before opening and after closing, and some clinics run a morning and an evening OPD. In each case the employee is free in the middle, though the gap is often too short to go home and too long to rest well.

The spread-over question

The key idea is spread-over: the total time from the start of the first part to the end of the second, gap included. The OSH Code does not leave spread-over to employers: along with the eight-hour cap on ordinary daily work, the spread-over, intervals and weekly limits are fixed by government notification. A split shift that starts at 7 am and ends at 7 pm therefore needs checking against the limit notified for your establishment before it is rostered. See the working hours rules. Employers should also think about safe travel for late finishes and whether the gap is truly free time.

Setting up split shifts

Define both parts as one shift so that attendance judges the day as a whole, not as two half days. ZeniaHR's shift catalogue supports fixed, flexible and split shifts, each with its own timings and full-day and half-day hours.

• Count only the worked hours toward full-day hours
• Check the total spread-over, not just the hours worked
• Consider a small allowance when the gap is long
• Keep the same split pattern for a person across the week where possible

Frequently asked questions