On-Call Schedules

Build schedules that keep your team covered 24/7 without burning anyone out.

Creating a Schedule

Go to On-Call → Schedules → New Schedule.

Every schedule needs:

  • Name — e.g., Backend Primary
  • Timezone — all times display in this timezone
  • Description — optional, helps new team members understand the rotation

Rotations

Rotations define who is on-call and how shifts cycle through your team.

Rotation Types

| Type | Use Case | |------|----------| | Weekly | Most common. Each person is on-call for a full week. | | Daily | High-frequency rotation for large teams. | | Custom | Set any interval: 2 days, 3 weeks, etc. |

Setting Up a Rotation

  1. Choose rotation type and handoff time (e.g., Monday 09:00)
  2. Add participants in order
  3. Set start date
Rotation: Weekly, handoff Monday 09:00 EST
├── Week 1: Alice
├── Week 2: Bob
├── Week 3: Carol
└── (repeats)

Tip: Set handoff times during business hours so the outgoing person can brief the incoming person.

Schedule Layers

Schedules support multiple layers that stack on top of each other:

Primary Layer

The main rotation. Someone is always on-call here.

Secondary/Backup Layer

A backup responder in case the primary doesn't acknowledge within the escalation timeout.

Override Layer

Temporary overrides that take priority over all other layers. Use for:

  • Covering a teammate's vacation
  • Swapping shifts
  • Holiday coverage

Overrides are set with a start time, end time, and the covering person.

Override: Bob covers for Alice
Start: 2026-03-15 09:00
End: 2026-03-22 09:00

Restrictions

Restrict when a rotation is active:

  • Weekday only — Mon–Fri, 09:00–18:00
  • Weekend only — Sat–Sun, all day
  • After-hours — Mon–Fri, 18:00–09:00

Combine two restricted rotations for full coverage:

Weekday Business Hours: Senior engineers (weekly)
After-Hours + Weekends: Full team (daily)

Holidays

Define company holidays so on-call assignments adjust automatically.

Go to On-Call → Holidays → New Holiday Calendar.

Add holidays manually or import a public calendar for your region. When a holiday is active, the override layer applies — assign dedicated holiday coverage or let the schedule skip that person.

Calendar Sync

Sync your on-call schedule to your personal calendar:

  1. Go to Profile → Calendar Sync
  2. Copy the iCal feed URL
  3. Add it to Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar

Your on-call shifts appear as calendar events. Updates reflect within 15 minutes.

Managers can also subscribe to the full team schedule to see who's on-call at a glance.

Shift Swaps

Team members can swap shifts directly from the dashboard or mobile app:

  1. Click the shift you want to swap
  2. Select Request Swap
  3. Choose a teammate
  4. They approve or decline

Approved swaps create automatic overrides. No manager intervention needed.

Best Practices

  • Rotate weekly — daily rotations cause context-switching fatigue
  • Keep rotations small — 4–6 people per rotation is ideal
  • Set business-hour handoffs — avoid 2 AM shift changes
  • Use backup layers — one person shouldn't be a single point of failure
  • Review on-call burden monthly — check Analytics for balance