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Creating and Managing Shift Templates

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Overview

Shift templates save you time when you need to schedule shifts that have a consistent start and end time. Instead of manually entering in custom shift details one-by-one, shift templates allow you to schedule a shift quickly and easily.

Considerations

  • You must have supervisor, manager, or admin access privileges in When I Work to add, modify, import, or delete shift templates.
  • Supervisors can manage shift templates for their schedules only.
  • When you edit a shift template, existing shifts that were created using that template are not updated. Future shifts scheduled with the shift template reflect the updates you make.

Create a shift template

  1. Hover over , then select  Shift Templates.

  2. In the top-right corner of the page, click Add.
  3. Set up the shift template.Add shift templates with callouts
    1. Time: Set the start and end time for the shift template. Note that a start time and an end time must be entered. You can make the shift as short as 1 minute by entering “7:00a-7:01a” or as long as 24 hours by entering “7:00a-7:00a”.
    2. Unpaid Break: If the shift template should include an unpaid (lunch) break, enter the length of the unpaid break in minutes. For example, enter 30 for 30 minutes or 60 for an hour. Note that whatever number is inputted here is deducted from their total hours on the schedule. If you use When I Work Time Clock & Attendance, breaks can be automatically deducted from timesheets.
    3. Color: Click the Pencil button in the color picker to assign your shift template a color. By selecting a color, you can filter your shifts by color on the Scheduler. If you do not select a color, the shift template defaults to grey.
    4. Position: If the shift template applies to a specific position, click No Position and select the position from the list.
    5. Schedule: If the shift template applies to a specific schedule, click All Schedules and select the schedule from the list.
    6. Notes: Enter notes about the shift here. Up to 350 characters appear on the schedule.
  4. When you are finished, click Add. Repeat these steps for all your regular shifts.

Now that you’ve created a shift template, you can use the shift template to schedule some shifts.

Modify a shift template

  1. Hover over , then select  Shift Templates.

  2. On the right side of the page, click the Pencil button next to the shift template you’d like to modify.
  3. Modify the shift template as needed.
  4. When you’re finished, click the Save Shift Template button.

Export shift templates

  1. Hover over , then select  Shift Templates.

  2. Click then Export Shift Templates.export shift templates button
  3. A file is downloaded to your computer.

Import a shift template

  1. Hover over , then select  Shift Templates.

  2. Click then Import Shift Templates.import shift templates button
  3. Click Download Template, then fill out the template with the following:
    • Start Time
    • End TIme
    • Unpaid Break
    • Schedule
    • Position
  4. Click Upload File.upload template dialog
  5. Verify all the fields match what you entered in the import file, then click Continue.shift template import match fields
  6. Verify any issues with the shift template import. Click on each box to see more details about templates to be imported, workplace objects, and issues.shift template verify
  7. Click Import Shift Templates.

Delete a shift template

  1. Hover over , then select  Shift Templates.

  2. On the right side of the page, click the Trash button next to the shift template you’d like to delete.delete shift template
  3. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the shift template.

Search shift templates

Use the left sidebar to search for specific shift templates.

  1. Click the search bar.
  2. Type the name of the shift template you want to find. The list is filtered to your search criteria automatically.
    search shift templates

Filter shift templates

Use the left sidebar to filter shift templates based on schedules or positions.

  1. Click next to Schedules or Positions.
  2. Click the next to the schedule or position to deselect it.filter shift templates
Updated on October 25, 2023

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