So impossible or can you answer this ?

I assume you don't want less than 2 people working at a time. Assuming a 2 person shift, the best you can do is :

Divide your shifts into four crews, one A day (Ad), one A night (Ad), one B day (Ba), and one B night (Bn) crew. The Monday through Friday crews work 12 hours shifts as such:

(M)Ad 7a-7p (T)Ad7p-7a (W)Bd7a-7p (Th)Bd7a-7p (F)Ad7a-7p

(M)An7p-7a (T)An7p-7a (W)Bn7p-7a (Th)Bn7p-7a (F)An7p-7a

The weekend shift is run in three shifts:

(Sa)Bd7a-3p (Su)Bd7a-3p

(Sa)Bn3p-11p (Su)Bn3p-11p

(Sa)Ad11p-3a(1 person)(Su)Ad11p-3a (1 person)

(Sa)An3a-7a (1 person) (Su)An3a-7a (1 person)

Do the math, and B crew gets 40 hours a week (2 x 12, + 2 x 8 for weekends). A crew gets 40 hours (3 x 12, + 1 x 4 on weekends).

Then rotate the A and B crews, so you can give folks time off.

That's the best you can do.

EDIT : I'll poke the bear ,too, Rob L.

Mathematics is different than business management. How in the world do you allowcate 21 hours of work for 8 employees? He was asking to come up with a vialble work schedule, not a mathematics lesson. Who works what days in your plan, and when do they get time off?

Well, there are 24*7=168 hours in a week, divided by eight employees yields 24*7/8=3*8*7/8=21.

So you need all employees to work 21 hours.

EDIT: How does a manager not know basic division?

EDIT: Okay, the bear has been poked:

"Hey Rob L apparently you didn't read the question right (if at all) employees must work as close to 8 hours as possible, how does a top contributor for yahoo notknow basic reading/comprehension?"

Lol, read YOUR OWN QUESTION AGAIN. You said you have 8 employees, not 8 hours. You said that you wanted to get as close to 40 HOURS, not 8. I have a degree in mathematics; don't question my reading abilities.

"you can work more than 8 hours a day so long as the 40 hr limit is not exceeded (or kept minimal)"

Last time I checked, this implies the only restriction is to observe the 40 hours limit. I've answered your question and yet you continue to insult my intelligence.

Oh, and the word is "an" when preceding a word beginning with a vowel.

EDIT: He asked me if it was possible to have 8 employees to cover a 24/7 rotation; none of that implies he needs more than one person at a time. I told him yes and that he could manage the work by allocating 21 hours to each person; how he does it is not mathematically relevant, ergo, it isn't my responsibility to include this in an answer placed in the mathematics section. Common sense dictates that one can simply decrease one individual's hours while increasing that of another.

There are many ways to do this. I set up a 4 and 40 schedule where employees work 10 hour days 4 days a week.

Employee 1 work from Midnight to 10 am on Sun - Wed

Employee 2 work from 8 am to 6 pm on Sun - Wed

Employee 3 work form 4 pm to 2 am on Sun - Wed (Thursday morn)

Employee 4 work from Midnight to 10 am on Thu-Sun

Employee 5 work from 8 am to 6 pm on Thu-Sun

Employee 6 work form 4 pm to 2 am on Thu-Sun (Monday morn)

This covers the 24/7 requirement and there is always two people on the job at any time.

Now use Employees 7 & 8 to fill in on expected heavy days.

umm not possible 27/7?