Scheduling a Shift
Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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- Creating the Schedule
Creating the Schedule
From your computer
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You can add a custom shift or use a shift template to save time. If you need to schedule a shift on the go, you can create shifts from your iOS device or Android device. Click Scheduler. Click to add a shift. If you’re on day view, click in the cell that corresponds to the start time and person that you want to schedule. If you’re on week, two-week, or month view, click [ + Add a shift ] in the date cell. Choose a shift template or create a custom shift:If you want to add a shift you frequently...
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Copying Shifts and Schedules
You can copy shifts and schedules to save time and ensure you have the schedule coverage that you need. If your business has regular shifts for select users, copying shifts and setting them up for specific intervals helps you save time (so you don’t have to recreate each shift individually). Ever forget to schedule a position? By loading an existing template, you’ll be able to confidently know that your scheduled shifts cover your most critical positions. To copy a shift, hold the control key (or the command key if on a Mac) and click the shift you want to copy,...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Setting Up Repeating Shifts
If you have a shift that regularly takes place at the same time, set it up as a repeating shift to save yourself time. Using repeat shifts you can: Select the days of the week a shift repeats on. Select the repeat frequency from every week, up to every 4 weeks, or a custom frequency. Select when the shift repeat sequence ends: In 1 year (maximum) In 6 months In 1 month On date A shift can repeat for up to one year. When you’re adding a shift, click the Repeat Shifts toggle. From the Repeats menu, select how often...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Shift History
Use Shift History to see when a shift was created, who it was assigned to, when it was published, when it was changed, when it was moved, and who completed the actions. This is very helpful when you have multiple users setting the schedule up and need to track changes. It is also handy if you have questions about the information a user may have received earlier in the week. To view a shift’s history, click on the shift you want to view. In the Shift Editor, click on the History in the upper right corner. You will be able...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Quick Shift Options
Quick shift options give you easy access to shortcuts for a shift. Hover your mouse pointer over a shift to access the quick shift options. Quick shift options appear when you hover your pointer over a shift. Item Description Edit Pencil button Click to edit the shift. More button Click...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Interpreting Availability and Time Off While Scheduling
Availability preferences and time off requests help you better understand when users can work so you can schedule them more effectively and avoid scheduling conflicts. Depending on your view of the Scheduler, user’s availability and time off is displayed differently. See Schedule Views for more information on the ways you...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Finding a Replacement for a Shift
If your users can’t make it to their shift, you can find a replacement to quickly find another user who can work the shift. The first user to accept the shift will be automatically assigned the shift to their schedule. You can also find a replacement from your iPhone or...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Reassigning Shifts
You might need to reassign a shift to a different user if the originally scheduled user can’t work the shift. If you’d prefer to offer the shift to other users so they can volunteer to take it, use the find replacement feature instead. If you’re using day view to build the schedule: Click and drag a shift to move it to a different user. The shift is not visible to employees until you publish the schedule. Tip You can also move the shift to a different time by dragging the shift to the left or right. If you’re using week...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Deleting Shifts
If you no longer need a shift or you accidentally scheduled it, you can delete it from the schedule. Note: Once deleted, shifts can not be recovered and must be manually recreated. If you are a supervisor, you can only delete shifts for the schedules that you belong to. A shift cannot be recovered after it is deleted. Hover over the shift you want to delete. Click More button, then select Delete.Alternatively, you can edit the shift, then click Delete. (Optional) If you want to let the assigned user know you’re deleting the shift, click Notify <user> and include message on...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Tracking Hours in the Scheduler
When I Work makes keeping track of hours easy as you’re building the schedule. In addition to seeing total hours for all users for a day or week, you can see an individual user’s: Scheduled hours per day or week Max number of hours they should be scheduled per week...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Viewing Labor Costs While Scheduling
Enable forecast tools to view how much is being spent on labor costs as you schedule and also input projected sales (future) or actual sales (past) to get a labor expenses to projected sales ratio. By default, supervisors can view and edit projected sales but cannot view daily labor cost....Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Saving Time With Scheduling Shortcuts
When I Work offers several tools that help you save time when you build the schedule. If you need to move a shift: Click and drag a shift to move it to a different user. As you move the shift around, icons appear to let you know whether users are qualified or have conflicts. Thumbs up icon means the user is qualified to take the shift (based on position). Thumbs down icon means the user is not qualified to take the shift (based on position). Month view does not support drag and drop. If you need to add another shift...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Viewing Hourly Coverage in the Schedule
Viewing hourly coverage helps you better visualize how many people you have scheduled for a particular hour throughout the day. The hourly coverage graph is only available in day view. If you prefer to schedule in week view, you can view daily total hours at the bottom of the schedule....Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Using Annotations
Use annotations to send your staff important information about a particular day. You can send a general announcement, let your staff know that time off isn’t allowed, or let your staff know that your business will be closed that day. You can also use annotations from your iPhone, iPad, or Android...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Overtime Visibility
The overtime visibility feature displays the overtime impact when scheduling. Your account’s overtime thresholds are used to calculate a user’s potential overtime when assigning a shift. Don’t see this feature? If you don’t see Overtime Visibility information, check your Account & Billing page to see if your account has Overtime Visibility enabled. Overtime visibility is currently available on all platforms. On iOS and Android, overtime badges are shown when creating shifts, offering OpenShifts and approving shift requests. Overtime badges in the Scheduler view on iOS and Android is not currently supported. Accounts using Time Clock & Attendance takes actual worked...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Add Unpaid Breaks to Shifts
Add unpaid breaks to your user’s shifts to calculate total paid hours for a specific day or week in a schedule. If you use When I Work Time Clock & Attendance, unpaid breaks are not automatically deducted from user’s worked hours unless Automatically Deduct Scheduled Breaks from Timesheets is checked...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Auto-Assign Shifts
Auto-assign shifts leverages the information already entered in your When I Work account to create a schedule. The feature automatically assigns unpublished OpenShifts to users for you to review and publish. Auto-assign shifts is only available in week view. Only unpublished OpenShifts are automatically assigned. OpenShifts with no position are only eligible to be assigned to users whose profile is not assigned to any positions. Shifts are assigned to users based on: The user’s assigned positions. The user’s assigned tags. The user’s existing shifts (published or unpublished). The user’s approved time off requests. Active filters in the scheduler. Configure additional... -
How Shift Templates Work
Shift templates allow you to efficiently 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 pre-created shift quickly and easily. Don’t have any shift templates created yet? Check out Creating and Managing Shift Templates. You must have supervisor, manager, or admin access privileges in When I Work to use shift templates. In order to appear on a schedule, a shift template must be assigned to that schedule. Available shift templates are impacted by Filtering the Schedule. There are a few qualifications that need to be met in order...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Bulk Edit Shifts
You can make edits to multiple shifts at once in the scheduler. Bulk editing is useful when you need to make changes to positions for multiple shifts, update start or end times for multiple shifts, or move a few different shifts to OpenShifts. User view, position view, and coverage view all support editing multiple shifts. Only the single occurrence of a repeating shift is edited. The repeating instances are not edited. Check icon signifies that all shifts for a user, day, or position are selected. Dash icon signifies that some shifts for a user, day, or position are selected. Callout...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Scheduling Rules Reference
Scheduling rules are available to help promote a more thoughtful schedule that keeps the well-being of the employees at a high focus point. They can also be used to meet local guidelines around scheduling, such as required-time off per week. Scheduling Concerns are shown in the following areas: Create shift dialog Drag and drop shift actions OpenShift edits or manager drop shifts User name on Scheduler Confirmation dialog when publishing the schedule Published shifts that could cause a concern if a user would pick it up are not shown to users as an available OpenShift or swap/drop. Users that want... -
Scheduling Breaks
Scheduling breaks allows you to communicate with your team when they should take their breaks directly within their shift. If you are out and on the go, breaks can also be added from your iOS device or Android device. They can also be saved into any new/existing Shift Templates! Break times cannot overlap with one another Break start times must exist within the time of the scheduled shift Total break duration cannot exceed total length of the scheduled shift Multiple breaks can be added; up to 100 per shift Click the [+ Add a Break] button Add the...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
From your iPhone or iPad
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Scheduling a Shift
If you need to schedule a shift on the go, the When I Work Staff Scheduling app has you covered. You can add a custom shift or use a shift template to save time. You can also create shifts from a Computer or Android device. From the When I Work Staff Scheduling app, tap Scheduler at the bottom of the screen. Tap in the top-right corner of the screen. If you want to add a one-off shift, tap Custom Shift. If you want to add a shift you frequently schedule, tap one of your shift templates. If you haven’t added shift templates for...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Finding a Replacement for a Shift
If a user is unable to work an assigned shift, you can offer the shift to other qualified users. The first user to accept the offer is automatically assigned to work the shift. You can also find a replacement from your computer or Android phone. From the When I Work...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Using Annotations
Use annotations to send your staff important information about a particular day. You can send a general announcement, let your staff know that time off isn’t allowed, or let your staff know that your business will be closed that day. You can also use annotations from your computer or Android phone....Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Copying Shifts
Overview You can copy shifts to save time and ensure you have the schedule coverage that you need. If your business has regular shifts for select users, copying shifts and setting them up for specific intervals helps you save time (so you don’t have to recreate each shift individually). Ever forget to schedule a position? By loading an existing template, you’ll be able to confidently know that your scheduled shifts cover your most critical positions. You can also copy shifts on your computer and Android device. Copy shifts To copy a shift: Open the When I Work mobile app. Tap...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
From your Android phone
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Scheduling a Shift
If you need to schedule a shift on the go, the When I Work Scheduling app for Android has you covered. You can add a custom shift or use a shift template to save time. You can also create shifts from a computer or iOS device. From the When I Work Scheduling app, tap Scheduler on the bottom of the screen. Tap , in the bottom-right corner. If you want to add a one-off shift, tap Custom Shift. If you want to add a shift you frequently schedule, tap one of your shift templates. If you haven’t added shift templates for shifts...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Identifying Scheduling Conflicts
Schedule your staff more effectively in the Android app by viewing their scheduling conflicts. Conflicts occur if a user is scheduled when they: Already have a scheduled shift Break a scheduling rule Have approved time off Have indicated they’re unavailable to work When creating or editing a shift, you can select to assign the shift as an OpenShift for users to pick up, or directly to an agent. a. Qualified Users are users that have the correct Position and Tag assignments to be eligible to take the shift. b. All Employees are all users assigned to the Schedule. c. Tap...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Finding a Replacement for a Shift
If a user is unable to work an assigned shift, you can offer the shift to other qualified users. The first user to accept the offer is automatically assigned to work the shift. You can also find a replacement from your computer, iPhone, or iPad. From the When I Work...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Using Annotations
Use annotations to send your staff important information about a particular day. You can create a general announcement, block time off requests, or indicate your business will closed that day. You can also use annotations from your computer, iPhone, or iPad. Types of Annotations Each annotation has one or more...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors
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Copying Shifts
Overview You can copy shifts to save time and ensure you have the schedule coverage that you need. If your business has regular shifts for select users, copying shifts and setting them up for specific intervals helps you save time (so you don’t have to recreate each shift individually). Ever forget to schedule a position? By loading an existing template, you’ll be able to confidently know that your scheduled shifts cover your most critical positions. You can also copy shifts on your computer and iOS device. Copy shifts To copy a shift: Open the When I Work mobile app. Tap...Applies to Admins, Managers, Supervisors