Employee proposing a swap
Understand the hour change before asking.
Enter both dated shifts and weekly totals, then review what each person gives and receives.
Can explain both hour deltas without calling them a fairness score.
Shift Swap Calculator
Compare two shift durations and before/after weekly hours, check optional next-commitment overlaps, and record approval confirmations.
Use this result well
- Inputs that matter
- Both shift dates and strict 24-hour start/end times, each person’s weekly hours including the given shift, and optional next commitments
- Output to expect
- Shift durations, before/after weekly-hour arithmetic, optional clock gaps/overlaps, and user-recorded confirmation checks
- How it works
- Subtract the given shift and add the received shift; an earlier end crosses midnight while equal start/end is rejected
- No fairness, overtime, rest-rule, qualification, safety, or approval verdict is calculated.
- Verify the full schedule, role requirements, employer policy, agreements, applicable rules, and responsible approval.
Choose your path
Built around the job you need to finish
Compare direct before/after shift hours and reveal entered next-commitment overlaps without inventing universal burden, fairness, overtime, or approval rules.
Scheduler or manager
See obvious conflicts and missing checks.
Add next commitments and review qualification/policy confirmations.
Treats the result as arithmetic and completes authoritative checks elsewhere.
Overnight worker
Avoid a 24-hour error for equal times or an incorrect negative duration.
Enter a cross-midnight shift, then try equal start/end.
Gets the correct overnight duration and a clear invalid state for ambiguous equal times.
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Projects using Shift Swap Calculator
This tool is part of these guided projects. Each project provides step-by-step instructions with checklists and all the tools you need in one place.
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Reference & details
How it works
Updated July 2026
How it works
Updated July 2026Strict shift duration
Times use a 24-hour clock. An end earlier than the start crosses midnight; equal start and end times are rejected instead of being assumed to mean 24 hours.
Duration = (End − Start + 24 hours) mod 24 hoursBefore/after weekly hours
For each person, the calculator subtracts the shift they give away and adds the shift they receive. The entered weekly total must already include the current shift.
After-swap week = Entered week − Given shift + Received shiftConflict and approval boundaries
An optional next commitment can reveal a clock overlap or gap. No universal rest, overtime, qualification, or fairness threshold is applied because those rules depend on the person, role, employer, agreement, and jurisdiction.
Updated: July 2026
Example Scenarios
Employee A gives up a night shift (10pm-6am) and gets a day shift (6am-2pm).
A Current: NightB Current: Day
→ Both shifts are 8 hours, so weekly scheduled hours are unchanged by duration alone
Both work day shifts, but A's is on Saturday and B's is on Tuesday.
A: Day/WeekendB: Day/Weekday
→ The tool reports duration and weekly-hour changes without assigning a weekend penalty
Both work the same evening shift, but B has a 90-minute commute to A's location.
Both: EveningB Commute: 90 min
→ Commute preference is discussed outside the arithmetic; no universal penalty is invented
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Treating equal durations as automatic approval
Still verify schedule conflicts, role qualifications, employer policy, agreements, applicable rules, and approval
Not considering the commute difference when swapping locations
Discuss commute and personal constraints directly instead of applying a universal burden score
Agreeing to swap without checking overtime or consecutive day limits
Review the calculated hours with the responsible manager or scheduler under the actual policy and applicable rules
FAQ
No. It reports shift duration, before/after weekly hours, and any entered next-commitment gap. Preferences and fairness are discussed by the people involved.
Use it only for preliminary time arithmetic. Healthcare and other regulated or safety-critical roles require independent qualification, staffing, fatigue, policy, agreement, and approval checks.
No. They only record that the user says the checks were completed in the current browser session. The calculator cannot verify or grant approval.
The Shift Swap Calculator supports multiple calculation modes and input formats. Enter your values and the tool instantly provides accurate results with step-by-step explanations where applicable.
The duration and weekly-hour arithmetic are deterministic for valid entered times. Whether a swap is permitted or safe depends on information and rules outside the calculator.
About Shift Swap Calculator
Compare the direct schedule arithmetic for a proposed swap: each shift duration, each person's before/after weekly hours, and an optional clock gap to the next commitment. The tool does not score fairness, decide overtime or rest compliance, verify qualifications, or approve the swap.