Shift scheduling for solar and energy companies

Construction crews follow the season

In winter a single shift from 8 am to 5 pm with an hour's break works well. From April, midday heat above 45 degrees makes panel and structure work dangerous, so switch crews to a split day of 6 am to 11 am and 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. In ZeniaHR the summer timing is a split shift with two windows, and the whole of April, May and June can be given to a crew in a single bulk assignment. In the monsoon, add a written rule that outdoor work stops when lightning is near, and treat those lost hours as paid waiting time rather than absence.

Cleaning crews before sunrise

Panels are cleaned when they are cool and before generation peaks, so cleaning crews start early, for example 5 am to 1 pm: washing rows until mid-morning, then vegetation cutting, drain clearing and fence checks. Some plants clean overnight instead, from 10 pm to 6 am, set up with the night shift flag so a 1 am punch-out is filed to the night the shift began. Before a woman joins a night cleaning crew, record her written consent and check that the site meets the safety conditions notified for women on night work under the OSH Code.

Worked example: staffing a control room

A plant's SCADA control room runs three shifts: 6 am to 2 pm, 2 pm to 10 pm and 10 pm to 6 am. That is 21 operator shifts a week. An operator works six shifts a week, so three operators cover 18 and leave 3 shifts empty. The plant needs a fourth operator, who fills the other three operators' weekly offs and covers leave for the rest of the week. Build the pattern once as a rotation template and let ZeniaHR offset it person by person, so every operator gets a fair share of nights.

Weekly offs in a remote camp

Life in a site camp tempts everyone to work straight through. Keep a weekly off every week, spread across the crew so work never stops, and let people choose a personal weekly off where the site allows. When the commissioning push needs Sunday work, HR credits comp-off for each weekly off worked. Electricians of the same skill may trade shifts: the colleague agrees first, the site in-charge and HR then sign off in that order, and the roster shows the change only after HR's approval.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Add a winter construction shift and a summer split shift with two windows to the shift catalogue.
2. Add an early cleaning shift and, at plants that clean overnight, a night cleaning shift with the night flag.
3. Create the three control room shifts and a rotation template for four operators, offset person by person.
4. Assign the summer split shift to construction crews for April to June in one bulk assignment.
5. Set weekly off patterns for each shift, and give camp staff personal weekly offs spread across the week.
6. Let same-skill workers request shift swaps, approved by the site in-charge and then HR.

Read more about shifts and rosters in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions