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Multiweek working patterns

How to set up multiple-week working patterns in Sage HR.

Written by Oliver Cook

Working patterns are what you can use to set the hours an employee works. You need a working pattern if you create a time off policy based on working patterns, or when using the Timesheets module.

You can create a working pattern that repeats weekly, but also one that differs over multiple-week cycles.

This saves you time if you have employees that don't have weekly-based patterns, like rota based on a two-week or three-week cycle, regular 4 days on 4 days off etc.

EXAMPLES: An employee alternates each week between morning shifts and afternoon shifts.

  • John works on a two-week rota. On Week 1 he works Monday to Friday 06:00-14:00. On Week 2 he works Monday to Friday 14:00-22:00.

  • Maria works Monday to Friday 07:00-15:00 but every 4 weeks has to work Saturday instead of Friday.

  • Brian works 4 days on, 4 days off, meaning their working patterns would run over an 8 week cycle to the point their first working day is on a Monday again

📎NOTE: Multiweek working patterns support a maximum of 8 weeks. Any days-on/days-off rota that needs more than 8 weeks to complete a full repeating cycle can't use multiweek working patterns. For example, a 5 days on, 4 days off rota exceeds this limit.

Create a multi-week pattern

  1. As an administrator user, follow the same steps as you would when you create a working pattern.

  2. When creating a working pattern, under Working pattern length set the length of your multi-week cycle, for example 2 weeks. You can select up to 8 weeks.​

  3. A Calendar sync option appears if you select a working pattern length of more than 1 week.
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    This field indicates the starting point for your working pattern. The starting week you select, the multiweek working pattern is repeated every e.g. two weeks both in the future and the past, and will apply to all employees in that working pattern.
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    ⚠️CAUTION: You can only set this when you create the working pattern. You can't change the synchronization point after you create and save the pattern. ​

    ​EXAMPLE: If you have a two-week working pattern and you select W3 16/01/2023 - 22/01/2023 for your calendar sync, week 2 of your working pattern is W4 23/01/2023 - 29/01/2023. Week 1 of the working pattern then returns for W5 30/01/2023 - 05/02/2023 etc.
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  4. Continue to fill out the rest of the working pattern as explained in Create a working pattern.
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    To edit each individual week's working hours, select the relevant week at the top.
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    Under each week is a summary of the total hours currently set for that week. At the bottom, you can see the total hours of the whole working pattern.
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  5. When you click Continue you see a review of all the weeks in your multiweek working pattern.​
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Once the multi-week working pattern is created, you can assign employees to it like any other working pattern.

Common questions

Can you change the Calendar sync on a working pattern?

No, once save the new working pattern, you can't amend the calendar sync. If you require the first week of your working pattern to be a different date, you must create a new working pattern instead.

Can I change a one-week working pattern into a multi-week working pattern?

Technically, you can, but be aware that you can't amend the calendar sync. So your first week of the working pattern will always be W1 of 2022 (27/12/2021 - 02/01/2022). Also, this will have an impact on the allowance (if labour-based) and everything booked for that period. If you edit a working pattern, rather than move the employee to a new one, it's going to adjust everything in the past, all the way back to the start of the period.

As a result of this, if you need to convert a one-week pattern into a multi-week one, we recommend you create a new working pattern instead, then assign the employees to it.

What if I only want a multi-week pattern temporarily for a certain period of time?

If an employee is only going to have different hours for a one-off week or a few weeks, and isn't a regular pattern, then you are better off creating a custom working pattern.

Multi-week patterns should be used where the week patterns repeat regularly.

How is an employee's leave allowance affected if they are moved to a multi-week working pattern?

When an employee is moved from one working pattern to another, their leave allowance recalculates if they had a working-pattern-based policy. This remains the same even if they are moved to a multi-week working pattern.

Can I create a 5 days on, 4 days off rota?

No. A 5 days on, 4 days off rota cannot be created using multiweek working patterns. The feature supports a maximum of 8 weeks, and this rota requires more than 8 weeks to complete a full repeating cycle aligned to the same starting day.

For comparison, a 4 days on, 4 days off rota works because its full cycle fits exactly within the 8-week limit. If your rota pattern cannot fit within 8 weeks, please contact Sage HR support to explore your options.

What do I do if employees have the same working pattern, but their cycles start on different weeks?

If you have, for example, a 2-week pattern where employees work 9am-5pm Monday to Friday on week A, then 9am-5pm Tuesday to Saturday week B, but

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