When adding a new employee to the database it is essential to also create a shift to associate him / her with.

Creating a new shift for an employee means necessarily carrying out the following steps:

1. Creating a new attendance model and configuring time slots (see Create an attendance model and configuring time slots)
2. Creating a new attendance schedule (see Creating a new attendance schedule)
3. Associating the attendance model with the attendance schedule
4. Creating a new shift for or associating a new shift with an employee (Associating a new shift with an employee who already has one)

You can create both the attendance model and the attendance schedule from scratch. The best practice, however, usually consists in copying an existing attendance model or attendance schedule and modifying  the parameters. See also Copying an attendance model or an attendance schedule.

To create a shift from scratch instead of creating a copy

1. Click on Attendance > Shifts from the main menu
2. Click on New > Shift
3. Fill in the form with the necessary data. The information entered in this form, starting from the start date that uniquely identifies the shift, is essential for the correct functioning of Altamira Attendance. Without such data it is impossible to determine the accrual of overtime, the creation of anomalies, etc.
4. Click on Save

For the correct functioning of the shifts and the counting of working days, it is advisable to duly fill in the form. The fields are as follows:

• Employee: pre-filled with your name. If you are creating a shift for another employee, click on Browse and select the name you are looking for
• Start date: pre-filled with the date and time the form is opened. Change with necessary data
• End date: leave it blank. The end date will be automatically filled in with the employee's resignation date, should it occur, or during the activation of a new attendance schedule for an employee who already has one
• Attendance schedule: select the attendance schedule to be associated with the employee from the drop-down menu. If it is not present, you must first create one (see Creating a new attendance schedule)
• Attendance schedule start day: the day of the week corresponding to the start date of the shift. For example, if the shift start date is May 4th 2020, you will have to enter the day of the week corresponding to this date. May 4th 2020 was Monday, so select Monday. If the attendance schedule has the same time slots for all days, there may be another wording selectable for this field (eg Standard, etc.)
• Holiday calendar: select the calendar set for the company
• Meal voucher: select the corresponding time, if necessary

Here is an example of a completed shift. As with many other views, it is widely customizable according to your company's needs.