Available for the following plan: Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR classic plans: Premium, Platinum
Available for the following users: Admin, Owner
The UK Working Time Directive (WTD) sets legal limits on working hours and minimum rest requirements for UK-based employees. Employment Hero helps your organisation remain compliant by providing predefined rule groups for Adult and Young Workers, ensuring WTD considerations are applied whenever shifts are scheduled.
Getting started
Predefined WTD rule groups
Employment Hero provides two default Working Time Directive (WTD) groups:
- Adult Workers (18+ years)
- Young Workers (Under 18 years)
Each group includes the following rule types, each with its own predefined value:
- Maximum weekly hours
- Maximum daily hours
- Maximum night hours
- Minimum rest break
- Minimum daily rest
- Minimum weekly rest
Edit predefined WTD rules
- Click the Time menu on the left-hand side of your screen.
- Under Rota, click Rota Management.
- Click the Settings button (gear icon).
- Click Rota rules & warnings settings.
- Click the Custom Rules tab.
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Under Adult Workers or Young Workers, you can configure the rules:
- Warn: An amber warning will appear when a scheduled shift breaches the rule. The shift can still be published.
- Block: A red warning will appear when a scheduled shift breaches the rule. The shift cannot be published until resolved.
- Disabled: You can disable the rule entirely if you do not want to apply it to your organisation.
How warnings appear
Shift creation panel
Warnings appear live as shift times are entered for an employee.
Rule groups that are set to "Block" will display a red warning, and the shift cannot be published until the warning is resolved.
Rota management page
Shifts will be flagged as warning shifts. Hovering over the shift will show details of the rule that was breached.