How to register a schedule for alternating Saturdays

An alternating Saturday schedule allows employees to work one Saturday and not the next, repeating this pattern every two weeks. This type of schedule is useful for organizations that want to offer flexible weekends, balancing work and time off.

In this article, you will learn, step by step, how to configure this schedule in the Pontotel system, ensuring that the alternating Saturdays pattern is repeated correctly.

What you need to know before you begin.

Before getting down to business, it's important to understand two concepts that form the basis of our time and attendance management: Work Schedule and Shift .

• The workday represents the period of work that an employee performs in a single day. For example: Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 6 pm.
• The schedule is a cycle of work shifts that repeats. In the case of alternating Saturdays, we will have a two-week schedule: one week with work on Saturday and the other with a day off.

Understood? Now it's easier!

How to register a schedule for alternating Saturdays

To create the schedule, we first need to ensure that all the work shifts that will be part of it are already registered in the system.

1. Register the necessary work schedules.

For an alternating Saturday schedule, you will need at least three types of work schedules:

• Weekday schedule: Standard hours are followed from Monday to Friday.
• Schedule for Saturday work: The hours to be worked on Saturday.
• Days Off: For rest days (every other Saturday and Sundays).

If you have any questions about how to register a journey, click here and see our complete article on the subject.

2. Create the schedule for alternating Saturdays.

With the work schedules ready, the next step is to create the schedule. Since the cycle repeats every two weeks, our schedule will have 14 days.

• In the top menu, go to Registrations and click on Schedules .

• In the upper right corner of the screen, click on “Add new” .

3. Fill in the scale information:

• Scale name: Choose a clear name to easily identify the scale.
• Code: Enter a code of your choice for identification.
• Monthly workload (optional) : Fill in if you want to keep a record of the number of hours and minutes in the schedule. Otherwise, leave it blank.
• Scheme : enter 11 in the first field (working days) and 3 in the second (days off) — this sets up the two-week cycle with alternating Saturdays.

3. Define daily work schedules and days off.

Before clicking "add", see below the list of journeys from day 1 to day 14.

Let's set up the 14-day cycle by clicking on the corresponding day and selecting the correct schedule for each day of the week, following the example below:

Week 1 (with work on Saturday):

• Monday to Friday: Select the work with the corresponding hours for that week.
• Saturday: work schedule with the hours corresponding to the Saturday work period.
• Sunday: Select your day off .

Week 2 (with a day off on Saturday):

• Monday to Friday: Select the work with the corresponding hours for that week.
• Saturday: Select your day off .
• Sunday: Select your day off .

4. Complete the registration.

Review the order of the 14 days to ensure it is correct and click "add" to save the schedule.

• Confirm the work schedule : the "11x3" schedule (11 working days + 3 days off) is essential for alternating Saturdays to occur at the correct pace. If you change these numbers, the pattern will be altered.
• Days off should be well distributed : in the example, days off on the 6th, 7th, and 14th day of the cycle ensure that there is a Saturday off. Incorrect adjustments can result in two consecutive days off or two Saturdays worked back-to-back.
• Check the order of the days : the system considers Monday as the first day of the schedule — this may affect how work/days off fall on Saturdays.
• Test with colleagues or run simulations before setting the schedule for the entire team, to avoid errors in working hours or calculating banked hours.

The alternating Saturday schedule helps balance work and rest routines, providing necessary flexibility for many teams. By following the steps above, you ensure that the standard is correctly applied by the Pontotel platform, avoiding confusion regarding Saturdays worked or days off.

If you have any questions during setup, or need support with specific scaling scenarios, contact our support team via WhatsApp so we can assist you in a personalized way.

Updated on: September 23, 2025