Shift coverage calculator
Having enough people isn’t the same as having them at the right time. This tool builds an interval staffing requirement, lets you lay your shifts over it, and shows exactly where you’re over- and under-covered — the gap between a headcount and a roster.
1. The demand — sets the requirement
2. Your shifts — one per line
Each line is a shift block: when it starts, how many hours it lasts, and how many agents are on it. Use whole hours for clean alignment with the intervals. The tool sums the agents active in each interval and compares that to the requirement above.
Breaks aren’t modelled here — the shrinkage you set already grosses up the requirement, so treat shift agents as productive heads on the floor.
(supplied ÷ required)
intervals
shortfall
agent-hours
rostered
─ Required ■ Covered ■ Short
| Interval | Required | Covered | Gap |
|---|
How to read it
The requirement line is the gross agents each interval needs to hit your service target. The bars are how many agents your shifts actually put on the floor in that interval — green where you meet or beat the requirement, red where you fall short. A coverage figure over 100% with red intervals still present is the classic scheduling problem: you have enough people, just not at the right times. The fix is rarely more headcount; it’s reshaping shifts — later starts, staggered blocks, a part-time layer over the peak — so the green traces the line instead of sitting in a block.
Requirement maths: Erlang C, grossed for shrinkage — the same engine as the intraday profile builder. Pair this with the scheduling workflow to turn the gaps into a better roster.