Note: The employment types and configurations below are specific to Germany and reflect German labour law requirements.
A note on terminology used in this article:
Work entries — any working day with hours that was not created via Shiftplan
Shifts — any working day with hours that was created via Shiftplan
Minijob
Option 1: Fixed daily hours (not recommended)
⚙️ Without Shiftplan
Working days: Tuesday & Thursday
System calculates: 5 hours per day (10h ÷ 2 days)
Result: Same hours every day
❌ Why not recommended? Less flexible when working hours change.
Option 2: Flexible distribution (recommended)
⚙️ With Shiftplan
10 hours per week are distributed across planned work entries
The actual hours depend on how many work entries are published
Planned time = duration of each individual work entry
✅ Advantage: You keep full control over the total hours paid.
Student employment (Werkstudent)
Option 1: Fixed daily hours (not recommended)
Student employee (20 hours per week) ⚙️ Without Shiftplan
Working days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
System calculates: approx. 6.7 hours per day (20h ÷ 3 days)
❌ Why not recommended? Inflexible when working hours vary.
Option 2: Flexible distribution (recommended)
⚙️ With Shiftplan
20 hours per week are distributed across planned shifts
Hours per day vary depending on the number of shifts
Planned time = duration of each shift
✅ Advantage: Better control over total working hours per week.
Option 3: Flexible days (2–5 days per week)
⚙️ With Shiftplan
Working days: Monday to Saturday (variable)
20 hours are distributed flexibly
Planned time determines the duration of each shift
✅ Ideal for: Teams with changing schedules.
On-call work (Abrufarbeit)
⚙️ With Shiftplan
Contract: 0 hours per week
No fixed working hours
Planned time = duration of each individual work entry
✅ Recommended when you:
Only schedule employees on demand
Want to control pay precisely per shift
Summary
Configuration | Setup | Flexibility |
Fixed hours per day | Without Shiftplan | Simple but inflexible |
Flexible distribution (recommended) | With Shiftplan | Adapts to actual shifts |
Planned time always determines how many working hours are counted per shift or work entry.