The situation
A planned four-crew, 12-hour shift pattern for two plants
An automotive-parts group wants to move its plants in Gliwice and Mladá Boleslav to a continuous four-crew pattern of 12-hour shifts: two days, two nights, four off. Operations has built the roster in a spreadsheet. Before it goes to the employee representatives, the HR lead has to confirm that it is lawful in both countries.
The EU rules set the floor. The answer is in the national detail: which arrangement of working time allows 12-hour shifts, how long the reference period can be, how overtime to cover absences is counted and paid, and what night work requires. The hours go on running one roster through two labour codes.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The EU floor: rest and the 48-hour average
- The Working Time Directive requires 11 consecutive hours of daily rest, a weekly rest period and an average week of no more than 48 hours including overtime over a reference period. National law builds on that floor and uses the derogations the directive allows, for example for continuous production.
- 12-hour shifts need the right arrangement
- Both countries allow 12-hour shifts only under particular arrangements of working time. Polish law ties them to a specific working-time system with its own reference period. Czech law caps the length of a shift when working time is distributed unevenly.
- Overtime has annual caps and premiums
- Both labour codes cap overtime per calendar year and set a minimum premium, with different rules on how far an agreement can raise the cap. Covering absences on a tight roster is where those caps are reached.
- Night work brings extra limits
- Night workers’ hours are limited and they are entitled to health assessments. Where the work involves special hazards or heavy strain, night workers may not work more than eight hours in any 24-hour period in which they work at night.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Plants in Poland and the Czech Republic. Proposed continuous four-crew pattern: 12-hour shifts, 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off. Does this comply with each country’s working-time rules, which working-time arrangement is needed, and how are overtime and night work limited?
You start with
A planned four-crew, 12-hour shift pattern for two plants
- 01
Describe the pattern
Give the shift times, the cycle, the crews and the plants. azta searches the Working Time Directive and the Polish and Czech labour codes.
Cited research· Free - 02
Read the limits in the original
Open each cited limit in the reader, in Polish and in Czech, and check the version in force on the start date.
Atlas statute reader - 03
Draft the compliance note
Ask for a note per plant: what the pattern meets, what it needs, and the risks from absence cover. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export it for the representatives
Export the note to Word for the consultation with employee representatives, keeping the cited research on file.
Word export· Pro You send
A compliance note on hours, rest, overtime and night work in each country
What you get
A compliance note on hours, rest, overtime and night work in each country
Compliance note · draft
Four-crew 12-hour pattern: Gliwice and Mladá Boleslav
Average hours and rest. Over a full eight-day cycle the pattern averages 42 hours a week, within the 48-hour limit in both countries. Daily and weekly rest are met on the planned roster.
Gliwice. Twelve-hour shifts require a working-time system that permits them, introduced through the work regulations, with the reference period that system allows. The night shifts on the press line must be checked against the stricter limit if that work is classed as involving special hazards or heavy strain.
Mladá Boleslav. With uneven distribution, a 12-hour shift is the most the law allows, and the pattern reaches it exactly. Overtime to cover absences must be checked against that limit and the annual overtime cap. We recommend a reserve crew rather than extended shifts.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
21 minutes a month
At €80 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 32
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,592
- More shift-pattern checks a quarter
- 1.5
- Return on Pro
- 8×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The roster and the absence figures behind it.
- Consulting employee representatives as each country requires.
- Health assessments and the occupational-health side of night work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can azta check the roster spreadsheet?
- Upload it and ask. azta reads the file and refers back to the rows it used. It checks the roster against the rules; it does not build it.
- Does it cover our collective agreement?
- It holds legislation and published decisions, not company or sector agreements. Upload yours and azta reads it alongside the law.
- Can we check last year’s roster?
- Yes. Give the date and azta focuses on the law as it stood then.
