Overview
Schedules and job sites are powerful tools to help you schedule your team. In this article, we’ll examine both features and help you decide when to use them.
- A schedule is a way to group users. You add shifts to a schedule.
- A job site is an optional way to identify a specific location where a shift takes place. When you add a shift to a schedule, you can assign a job site to the shift to let the user know where to go.
Schedules
At the most basic level, a schedule is a way to group users. A schedule might represent a physical place of business, a department, a geographic region, or a group of users that you want to manage independently within When I Work.
By default, each When I Work account has a single schedule. You might want to set up additional schedules if you:
- Have a business that operates out of different physical locations.
- Want to build separate schedules for different teams or departments.
- Want team leads/managers to build the schedules for their teams.
If multiple schedules are right for your business, you can set up schedules from your computer, iOS device, or Android device.
Job sites
A job site identifies a location where shifts take place. You can use job sites for shifts that take place off-site from your normal place of business, or to designate specific locations inside your place of business. Job sites are optional; shifts without job sites take place at the normal schedule location.
Use job sites if you:
- Need to schedule shifts off-site from your normal place of business. For example, a catering company might have a job site for each event space where it provides services.
- Want to let users know where to go at your place of business. For example, a large restaurant might have job sites for different dining areas (as long as servers don’t require special skills to work those rooms; if different skills are required make positions instead).
You can add job sites from your computer, iOS device, or Android device.
Examples
This table contains our recommendations for some common scenarios.
| I need to… | Schedule employees at two different stores. |
| Recommendation | Make a schedule for each store. |
| I need to… | Schedule shifts that take place at clients’ homes. |
| Recommendation | Make a job site for each client and assign to shifts. |
| I need to… | Let supervisors schedule their teams independently. |
| Recommendation | Make a schedule for each team. |
| I need to… | Let employees know where they’re working in the warehouse (no skill requirements). |
| Recommendation | Make a job site for each area of the warehouse and assign to shifts. |
| I need to… | Let employees know where they’re working in the warehouse (different skills required). |
| Recommendation | Make a position for each warehouse skill, and assign users and shifts with them to make sure you’ve scheduled the right people for the job. |
| I need to… | Recommendation |
| Schedule employees at two different stores. | Make a schedule for each store. |
| Schedule shifts that take place at clients’ homes. | Make a job site for each client and assign to shifts. |
| Let supervisors schedule their teams independently. | Make a schedule for each team. |
| Let employees know where they’re working in the warehouse (no skill requirements). | Make a job site for each area of the warehouse and assign to shifts. |
| Let employees know where they’re working in the warehouse (different skills required). | Make a position for each warehouse skill, and assign users and shifts with them to make sure you’ve scheduled the right people for the job. |