Draft a weekly staff schedule from availability and your rules

What this does

It drafts next week's schedule from your staff's availability and your rules. It shows hours per person, marks any shift it can't fill, and lists wishes it couldn't meet. You decide and post. The AI never posts or messages anyone.

This is not HR or legal advice. Rules on breaks, overtime, minors' hours and schedule notice differ by state and city; check yours.

Before you start

• Any AI chat (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot).
• Your shifts, people needed per shift, hard rules (never break) and soft wishes (try to meet).
• Each person's availability for the week, typed out.
• Setup: about 15 minutes the first time (our estimate).
• Privacy: first names only. Leave out why someone is unavailable.

Steps

1. Save your shifts, staffing needs and rules in a note to reuse each week.
2. Type the week's availability as "name: days and times".
3. Paste the prompt into a new AI chat and fill in the blanks.
4. Check every shift against availability yourself, especially each GAP and risk the AI lists.
5. Ask people before giving them extra hours, then fix the draft.
6. Enter the final schedule in your app or spreadsheet and post it yourself. In When I Work, managers can save a week as a schedule template and load it later.

The prompt

Help me draft next week's staff schedule. Use only the availability and rules I give you. Don't send, post or publish anything. This is a draft for me to approve.

Week: [dates]
Shifts: [for example, AM 7:00-11:00, PM 11:00-15:00]
People needed per shift: [numbers by day]
Hard rules (never break): [max hours per person, key-holder at open, max days per week, breaks, minors' limits]
Soft wishes (try to meet): [hours each person would like]

Staff availability:
[name: days and times they can work]

Do this:
1. Fill each shift only with people who are available. Never break a hard rule.
2. If a shift can't be filled, write GAP and say why. Don't invent availability.
3. Show the schedule as a table: day, shift, who.
4. List hours and days per person, next to their max and their wish.
5. List every soft wish you couldn't meet and anything risky (no backup, someone at their limit).
6. If any availability or rule is unclear, write UNCLEAR and ask me instead of guessing.

Before and after: the made-up input, then the real output the AI gave us.

When not to use this

• As the final word on labor-law compliance. The AI knows only the rules you type in, and it can still miss one.
• Large teams with many roles and locations. A scheduling app's own tools may fit better.
• When availability changes daily.

Questions owners ask

Sources

• When I Work Help - Using Schedule Templates ↗ (opens in a new tab)
• SBA - AI for small businesses (Manage your business) ↗ (opens in a new tab)