# Assign a Shift

Put people on a pattern from a date, one at a time or a whole depot at once.

A shift does nothing until somebody is on it. Assigning is done from the shift, and it takes a start date rather than applying retrospectively.

- Select the shift's tab, so the roster below is the one you mean to add to.

  ![The Assignment Roster on the Shifts screen. A heading reads Assignment Roster beside an Assign button with a plus sign. The table below has columns Employee, From, To, Shift Status and Actions, listing Eleanor Whitfield, Graham Whitfield, Marcus Thorne, Fiona Kerr, Ruth Alderman, Hazel Bidwell and others, each From 1 Jan 2026 with a double dash in the To column and a green Active status.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/shifts/assignment-roster.png)
- Select **Assign** and pick the date the pattern starts for these people.

  ![The Assign Employees screen for a shift, with the breadcrumb Worklink, Shifts, Back Shift, Assign Employees. It offers a date field for when the assignment starts and a searchable list of employees with checkboxes, above Cancel and Assign buttons.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/shifts/shift-assign.png)
- Tick the employees, then confirm. Each one becomes a row on the roster with your date in **From** and an open **To**.

> **Note:**
>
> **The From date is not today unless you say so**
>
> Assignments are dated so that history stays correct. Setting a date in the past makes the pattern apply to days already recorded, which will change how those days were judged. Setting one in the future is how you roster a rota change before it happens.

## An employee can only be on one shift at a time

Assigning somebody who is already on another pattern closes the old assignment rather than running both. That is what makes the roster readable: one row per person per period, never two overlapping expectations for the same day.

| Situation | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| A new starter | Assign them on their first working day, not on the day you set the record up. |
| A permanent rota change | Assign the new shift from the change date. The old assignment closes itself. |
| A temporary cover week | Assign from the Monday, then set a To date on the assignment for the Friday. |
| Somebody who has left | Nothing. The separation closes it when it completes. |

> **Tip:**
>
> **Assign the whole depot in one pass when you set up**
>
> The roster on a fresh shift is empty, and the picker takes as many people as you tick. Doing a depot in one go and correcting the handful of exceptions afterwards is far quicker than adding people individually.