How to Create a Shift Roster for Hotels and Restaurants in Nepal

The short answer: A good shift roster in Nepal lists every employee’s shifts for at least the next week, balances staff to expected demand, respects weekly rest days and overtime limits, and is shared with staff in advance. Hotels and restaurants get the best results by building a repeating rotation, then adjusting it for festivals and peak tourist season.

What should a shift roster include?

• Employee name, role and department
• Shift times, including shifts that cross midnight
• Weekly day off for each employee
• Planned overtime, kept within legal limits
• Cover for leave and public holidays

How to build a roster in 6 steps

1. Forecast demand. Use occupancy, covers or footfall to decide how many people each shift needs.
2. Define shift types. For example morning 6:00–14:00, evening 14:00–22:00 and night 22:00–6:00.
3. Create a rotation. Rotate staff through shifts so nights and weekends are shared fairly.
4. Add days off and approved leave. Block them before assigning shifts.
5. Check overtime. Make sure extra shifts stay within your policy and the law.
6. Publish early. Share the roster at least a week ahead and notify staff of every change.

Example: a 40-room hotel in Pokhara

Front office needs 2 people in the morning, 2 in the evening and 1 at night. With 6 front-office staff on a weekly rotation, each person works 6 shifts and gets 1 day off, and nobody works more than 2 night shifts in a row. During Dashain and Tihar, when occupancy rises, one extra evening shift is added and paid as overtime.

Illustrative example.

Common rostering mistakes

• Sharing the roster only in a chat group, where changes get lost
• Giving the same people every night or weekend shift
• Forgetting approved leave when assigning shifts
• Calculating overtime from memory at month end

How Hajir helps

Hajir’s shift and roster tools let you build fixed, flexible and multi-shift rosters, assign them in bulk and notify staff in the app. Attendance is checked against each shift, and overtime is calculated per shift for payroll. See how it works for hotels and restaurants.

Frequently asked questions

How far ahead should a roster be published?

At least one week ahead, so staff can plan. Changes after publishing should be notified individually.

How do you handle shifts that cross midnight?

Record the shift by its start date and calculate hours and overtime across midnight. HR software like Hajir handles this automatically.

What is the fairest way to share night shifts?

Use a rotation so every eligible employee takes a similar number of night and weekend shifts each month.

Written by the Hajir HR team. Last updated: 3 November 2026 (Kartik 2083).