Shift scheduling for hospitality: a week ahead, on every phone.

The schedule sets who works which day and from when to when. A good schedule for a venue has:

• each staff member's name and position
• for every day the start and end of the shift, or a day off
• the total of planned hours per person, so you see at once who works more than the full time of 40 hours a week
• enough rest between shifts and one longer weekly rest
• the publication date, because a worker must get the schedule at least one week in advance

When the schedule must be published

You must give each worker the schedule, with the days and the start and end times, at least one week in advance. The same notice applies to every change, except in an urgent need you could neither foresee nor avoid. Then you inform the worker before work starts at the latest (Croatian Labour Act, Zakon o radu, Article 60.a(5) to (7)).

In hospitality the employer decides on the weekly and daily schedule by a written decision (Hospitality Collective Agreement, Article 18(6)).

If you do not give a worker the schedule one week in advance, or do not keep a working-time record, the Labour Act sets a fine of 8,090 to 13,270 euros for a legal person and of 920 to 1,320 euros for an employer who is a natural person and for the responsible person (Article 229).

These rules of the Labour Act set the gap between shifts and the total hours in a week:

• Break: a worker who works at least six hours a day is entitled to a break of at least 30 minutes. The break counts as working time (Article 73).
• Daily rest: in every 24 hours a worker is entitled to at least 12 hours of uninterrupted rest. As an exception, an adult worker on seasonal work done in two parts of the day must have at least 8 hours, with replacement rest right after that period (Article 74).
• Weekly rest: it lasts at least 24 hours without a break, and the daily rest is added to it. If shifts keep a worker from taking the weekly rest, they must get replacement rest right after that period. A minor is entitled to 48 hours of weekly rest (Article 75).
• Full time in hospitality is 40 hours a week (Article 61, Hospitality Collective Agreement, Article 16).
• A worker does overtime on your written request. If you order it orally, you must confirm it in writing within seven days. With overtime a worker may not work more than 50 hours a week or more than 180 hours a year. Minors may not work overtime (Article 65).
• With redistributed working time the working week may last at most 48 hours. With the worker's written consent it may last up to 56 hours, and up to 60 hours if the venue operates seasonally. The period of longer work may last at most six months. A worker who does not agree to more than 48 hours may not suffer for it. Hours under redistribution are not overtime (Article 67).
• Night work is work between 22:00 and 06:00. If shifts include night work, a worker may work the night shift for at most one week in a row. You must offer a night worker a health check before night work starts (Articles 69, 71 and 72).

From 1 May 2026 the Hospitality Collective Agreement binds every employer in accommodation and food and beverage service (NKD 55 and 56), whether or not you belong to an employers' association (NN 45/2026). The agreement was published in Narodne novine 37/2026 and runs until 31 December 2027.

The Hospitality Collective Agreement (NN 37/2026, Article 32) sets at least these supplements on the basic pay:

• Sunday work 50%
• work on public holidays and statutory non-working days 50%
• night work from 22:00 to 06:00 30%
• overtime 50%
• split shifts, meaning work with a break longer than one hour, 10%
• work in the second shift in permanent shift work 10%

How the supplements are calculated

A supplement is calculated on the value of an hour of basic pay and only for the hours worked under those conditions. When conditions overlap, the supplements add up. The exception is a public holiday that falls on a Sunday: then only the holiday supplement is paid (Article 32(4) and (5)).

For Sunday work the Labour Act guarantees every worker at least 50% higher pay for each hour (Article 94).

The collective agreement's supplements do not apply to managers or to workers with special powers whose working time is agreed as self-directed (Article 3).

The figures on supplements and schedule rules follow the Hospitality Collective Agreement (NN 37/2026) and the Labour Act, as of October 2026.

A schedule is a shift plan. The working-time record captures the hours actually worked and is kept separately.

The rulebook on the content and keeping of records on workers employed by an employer (Pravilnik, NN 55/2024) requires the record to show, for each day, the worker's name, the date, the total daily working time and the hours of absence, such as rest, public holidays, sick leave and leave. Night, overtime, shift and split-shift hours and work on public holidays are kept separately.

You enter the start and end of work if a collective agreement, employment contract or work rulebook requires it. If you do not enter them, the record must show the hours of daily and weekly rest, except for workers with an equal schedule by day, week and month.

You may keep the record on paper or electronically. The data for each day must be entered by the seventh day at the latest. Only data matching the actual state may be entered, and you keep the record for at least six years from the end of the year in which it was made.

If you still build the schedule on paper or in Excel, take our weekly shift schedule template: an Excel file that adds up the planned hours and a PDF to print, with an example week and the rules on rest. We email it to you.