How the routine dimension is measured
The onboarding uses four options for the routine question:
- **Early hours** — early to rise, home in the afternoon, early to bed.
- **Late hours** — late riser, late home, late to bed. This is the night-owl pattern.
- **Non-standard shift** — night work, rotating hours, hospitality or care sector schedules. Not the same as "late hours" — the timing varies rather than skews consistently late.
- **No fixed pattern** — genuinely unpredictable week to week.
The distinction between "late hours" and "non-standard shift" matters: someone who always goes to bed at 2am is predictable; someone who works rotating shifts is not. Both need flatmates who can accommodate non-standard timing, but the compatibility profile is different.
