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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-07-10
Reference: Scheduling Validations

Reference: Scheduling Validations

Scheduling validations determine the length and placement of shifts that the Optimization Engine creates. You can enable, disable, and modify these validation types for high-level scheduling organizations.
You can also define whether Workday includes time off and holiday time as working time in validations. To include time off and holiday time, select a
Scheduling Validation Working Hours Configuration
for each validation type.
For weekly validations, Workday groups all of the hours from cross-week shifts with the week where the shift starts. Example: Laura has a shift from 10PM Saturday to 4AM Sunday with Sunday being the first day of a new weekly schedule. When assessing the total weekly hours, Workday counts Laura's entire 6-hour shift (including her hours from 12AM-4AM on Sunday) in the previous week's total hours.
Validation Type
Description
Minimum Shift Length (Hours)
Maximum Shift Length (Hours)
The minimum and maximum shift lengths in hours. Enter the longest possible and shortest possible shift lengths for the organization. You can use overrides to limit the shift lengths for particular groups of workers in the organization.
Minimum Rest Between Shifts (Hours)
The minimum rest time that a worker must receive between scheduled shifts.
Minimum Weekly Hours
Maximum Weekly Hours
The maximum and minimum number of hours that a worker can be scheduled to work in a week.
Maximum Working Days
The maximum number of days that a worker can be scheduled to work in a week.
Weekly Overtime Threshold
Daily Overtime Threshold
The threshold over which hours will be counted as overtime. Example: You enter 40 as the
Weekly Overtime Threshold
. If a worker is scheduled for 42 hours in a week, 2 of those hours will be considered overtime.
Split Shifts Threshold
Split shifts occur when a worker is scheduled for two or more shifts in a single day with a gap between the end of one shift and the beginning of the next that could qualify the worker for premium pay. You can configure the length of the threshold and the severity of the validation.
Example: At your organization, any gap greater than 2 hours between shifts that start on the same day qualifies workers for premium pay. You enter 2 as the
Split Shifts Threshold
.
Minimum Daily Hours
The minimum number of hours that a worker can be scheduled to work in a day. When a worker's total daily hours across all shifts are less than this minimum value, managers receive a validation message.
Maximum Daily Hours
The maximum number of hours that a worker can be scheduled to work in a day. This validation makes it easier for you to schedule populations of workers who work multiple roles or at multiple locations, or who work multiple shifts on the same day. Example: Greg works as a Cashier from 9AM-1PM and a Store Associate from 4PM-7PM.
The validation includes the total hours for all shifts that start on the same day, but excludes meal and break time.
Note: The Optimization Engine currently doesn't respect the
Maximum Daily Hours
validation, so Workday may create a shift that violates the maximum daily hours. However, if you've configured the validation, Workday will display an error to let the manager know so that they can correct the shift.
Maximum Daily Shifts
When you’ve enabled a schedule tag for multiple role assignments, (
Edit Scheduling Settings > Tags > Values
), you can enter a value from 1-4 in this field to control the maximum number of shifts that workers can be assigned in a single day.
Availability for Shifts
Qualified for Shifts
These validations are automatically enabled and can’t be disabled. You can update the severity level of the validation, and add a custom error message to suit your needs.
Learning Availability
Configure a custom validation message and severity for when a worker has a learning assignment that conflicts with a shift.