Samwise HR is launching soon

Rotas and time tracking for care, practices and clinics

Samwise sets up early, late and night duties, home care rounds and on-call duty when you start, your team sees their shifts on their phones, and the rota tells you in good time when a rest period gets too short.

Launching by January 2027 at the latest. Ask us to keep you posted by 31 January 2027 and become a customer by 31 March 2027, and we’ll set up Samwise with you free of charge.

For these businesses

  • Home care service
  • Care home
  • Day care for older people
  • Hospital
  • Rehab clinic
  • Medical practice
  • Dental practice
  • Therapy practice
  • Ambulance and patient transport

What you know from everyday work

  • Someone calls in sick at six in the morning

    A colleague reports sick on their phone or at the time clock. Samwise shows who can step in and offers the shift to everyone suitable with one click. The first person to accept gets it.

  • A late shift, then straight back in early?

    There has to be enough rest between two shifts. Samwise counts it in the rota and points it out when it gets too short. In care homes, day care for older people and hospitals the rest may drop to 10 hours if another rest period within the same calendar month or within four weeks lasts at least 12 hours to make up for it, and Samwise keeps track of that.

  • Registered nurse or care assistant?

    You note once who can take on which role, for example as a registered nurse or a care assistant. If someone is put on a role they are not set up for, Samwise asks you to confirm.

  • Part-timers, casual staff, weekends

    Many people work part-time or as casual staff, and someone still has to be there at weekends and on public holidays. Samwise warns you before a casual worker goes over the mini-job earnings limit and keeps count of how many Sundays a year stay free for each person.

  • The rota hangs on the staff room wall

    As soon as you release the rota, everyone sees their shifts on their phone and can swap or give a shift away there. People without their own account open their shifts through a personal link.

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Already set up when you start

Depending on what you choose when you set up, Samwise creates these teams, activities and shifts.

Samwise is in German, so the app shows these names in German. You can rename every one of them.

The preview of the ‘Home care’ template in Samwise: the teams with their activities, each with a tick box to include or leave out, and below them the collapsed list of shift names.
The preview of the ‘Home care’ template in Samwise: whatever is ticked, Samwise sets up.

Home care

3 teams · 3 shifts

Teams and activities

  • CareRegistered nurse, Care assistant, Support worker
  • Home help
  • ManagementCare manager, Round planning, Billing
Shifts: Home care
ShiftTimeUsual days
Morning round06:30–13:00Mon–Sun
Evening round16:00–21:30Mon–Sun
Night on call21:30–06:30Mon–Sun

Care home

6 teams · 3 shifts

Teams and activities

  • Residential unitRegistered nurse, Care assistant, Support and companionship
  • Kitchen
  • Home help
  • Building servicesMaintenance
  • Administration
  • ManagementCare manager
Shifts: Care home
ShiftTimeUsual days
Early06:00–14:00Mon–Sun
Late13:30–21:30Mon–Sun
Night (permanent night staff)21:00–06:30Mon–Sun

Hospital, rehab

9 teams · 4 shifts

Teams and activities

  • WardRegistered nurse, Care assistant
  • Intensive careIntensive care nursing
  • Theatre and anaesthesiaTheatre nursing
  • Emergency departmentEmergency nursing
  • Diagnostic servicesRadiology, Laboratory
  • Medical staffJunior doctor, Specialist, Senior doctor
  • Ward service
  • Nurse poolPool nurse
  • Canteen kitchenKitchen
Shifts: Hospital, rehab
ShiftTimeUsual days
Early06:00–14:30Mon–Sun
Late13:30–22:00Mon–Sun
Night21:30–06:30Mon–Sun
Intensive care 12 h (collective agreement only)07:00–19:00Mon–Sun

Medical, dental and therapy practice

1 team · 3 shifts

Teams and activities

  • PracticeReception, Treatment assistant, Laboratory, Billing, Practice management, Employed doctors and therapists
Shifts: Medical, dental and therapy practice
ShiftTimeUsual days
Consulting hours (split)07:30–12:30 and 14:30–18:30Mon–Fri
Saturday consulting hours08:00–12:00Sat
Emergency duty weekend08:00–14:00Sat, Sun

Ambulance service, patient transport

4 teams · 3 shifts

Teams and activities

  • StationEmergency ambulance, Patient transport ambulance, Emergency doctor car
  • Control roomDispatch
  • Disinfection and logisticsDisinfection
  • Practical trainingPractical instructor
Shifts: Ambulance service, patient transport
ShiftTimeUsual days
Day duty 12 h (collective agreement only)07:00–19:00Mon–Sun
Night duty 12 h (collective agreement only)19:00–07:00Mon–Sun
Patient transport day duty07:00–16:00Mon–Fri

The days show when shifts like these usually run. You set your own week in the shift plan.

The rules Samwise checks while you plan

If a shift does not fit these rules, Samwise points it out while you plan. You decide. If an exception applies to your business, for example in an emergency, you can plan differently with a reason.

  • Home care, practices, ambulance service

    Show the rulesHide the rules
    Sundays and public holidays
    only under a legal exception or with a permit
    Rest between two shifts
    at least 11 hours
    Sundays off per year
    at least 15
    Under-18s
    6 am to 8 pm, a working day of up to 10 hours including breaks, then at least 12 hours off, not at weekends or on public holidays, and only until 2 pm on 24 and 31 December
  • Care homes, hospitals, rehab clinics

    Show the rulesHide the rules
    Sundays and public holidays
    allowed if the work can’t be done on a weekday
    Rest between two shifts
    at least 10 hours, if another rest period within the same calendar month or within four weeks lasts at least 12 hours to make up for it. Samwise keeps track.
    Sundays off per year
    at least 15, or 10 if your collective agreement allows it
    Under-18s
    6 am to 8 pm, a working day of up to 10 hours including breaks, then at least 12 hours off, not at weekends or on public holidays, and only until 2 pm on 24 and 31 DecemberExceptions you can switch on:
    • Saturdays, as a rule with two Saturdays a month off
    • Sundays, if two Sundays a month stay free
    • public holidays, except 25 December, 1 January, Easter Sunday and 1 May
  • Day care for older people

    Show the rulesHide the rules
    Sundays and public holidays
    allowed if the work can’t be done on a weekday
    Rest between two shifts
    at least 10 hours, if another rest period within the same calendar month or within four weeks lasts at least 12 hours to make up for it. Samwise keeps track.
    Sundays off per year
    at least 15, or 10 if your collective agreement allows it
    Under-18s
    6 am to 8 pm, a working day of up to 10 hours including breaks, then at least 12 hours off, not at weekends or on public holidays, and only until 2 pm on 24 and 31 December
  • Where Sunday work needs a legal exception or a permit, Samwise points out every Sunday and public holiday shift. If a legal exception applies to you, for example in the Working Hours Act or a rule of your state, or the authorities have given you a permit, you confirm the shift with that reason. A permit only needs to be entered once.
  • For every Sunday worked, Samwise looks out for a day off in lieu, and it counts how many Sundays a year stay free for each person.
  • Samwise counts 10 instead of 15 Sundays off once you enter your collective agreement in Samwise.
  • Samwise only applies exceptions for under-18s once you switch them on for a team or a shift.
  • For home care, practices and ambulance services, the Working Hours Act has exceptions for Sundays and public holidays, for example in caring for and treating people. But these exceptions only apply to work that can’t be done on a weekday. You decide whether one of them applies to you.
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For every business, Samwise also keeps track of maximum working hours, breaks, maternity protection and the mini-job earnings limit.

See all features
Sources (4)
  • Sections 9, 10(1) no. 1 and 3, 11(3) and 13 Arbeitszeitgesetz, the German Working Hours Act (Sundays and public holidays, day off in lieu)
  • Section 5(1) and (2) Arbeitszeitgesetz (rest period)
  • Section 11(1) and section 12 sentence 1 no. 1 Arbeitszeitgesetz (free Sundays)
  • Sections 14, 16, 17 and 18 Jugendarbeitsschutzgesetz, the German Youth Employment Protection Act; exceptions under section 16(2) no. 1, section 17(2) no. 1 and section 18(2) (hospitals and care homes)

Samwise points out these rules. It isn’t legal advice.

Your checklist for getting started

Depending on what you choose, Samwise adds these points as a checklist when you start. You tick them off once they are done.

  • For all staff, including support and assistant staff, record the start, end and length of each day’s working time.required by law
  • Record the drive from one home visit to the next as working time.required by law
  • Write down, for each residential unit and each shift, how many people must be there at least.required by law
  • Staff who work nights on rotating shifts, or on at least 48 days a year, may work up to 10 hours a day, but no more than 8 hours per working day on average over a calendar month or four weeks. Decide how you balance that out.required by law
  • You may only plan shifts of more than 10 hours’ work a day, standby duty included, if your collective agreement, a church regulation or a permit from the authorities allows it. Without such a basis, the law allows more than 10 hours only in an emergency or on individual days when care, treatment or support can’t wait. Write down which rules you use and make them available to your team.required by law
  • After emergency duty on a Sunday, plan a day off in lieu within two weeks.required by law

How you get started.

Five steps until your first week is in place. All you need is your staff list and, for the time clock, a tablet.

  1. Step 1: Choose your industry

    Samwise sets up the teams, activities and shifts you see above. You can rename or remove any of them.

  2. Step 2: Bring over your staff list

    Upload it as an Excel or CSV file. Samwise shows any errors row by row before anything is saved.

  3. Step 3: Invite your team by link

    Everyone gets their own link or QR code and fills in the staff questionnaire on their own phone.

  4. Step 4: Set up a tablet as the time clock

    Open the time clock in the tablet’s browser and print the PINs. That’s all it takes.

  5. Step 5: Plan your first week

    You set up your usual week once, and Samwise drafts every new week from it. As soon as you release the plan, your team sees it on their phones.

With the industry templates, you set up Samwise yourself. If you ask us to keep you posted by 31 January 2027 and become a customer by 31 March 2027, we set it up together with you free of charge.

Home time

Samwise HR is launching soon.

We’d be glad to show you Samwise now, in a free intro call. If you sign up, you’ll hear from us as soon as it launches.

Launching by January 2027 at the latest. Ask us to keep you posted by 31 January 2027 and become a customer by 31 March 2027, and we’ll set up Samwise with you free of charge.

contact@samwisehr.com

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Free intro call

In a free intro call, we’ll show you Samwise HR live, on a video call or, by arrangement, at your business. Tell us when suits you, and we’ll suggest a time.

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