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Create and Manage Shifts/Schedules

Shifts are the building blocks of your schedules; create shifts, split-shifts, edit shifts, print and publish

Written by Kevin

Manage Schedules Permission

Administrator access or Manager level access with the Manage Schedules permission for the department.

Create Shifts

Individual shifts can be created from within the Weekly or Daily Schedule views.

  1. Create Shift

    1. from Week View

      1. Select an Employee and a Day for the Shift. Click in the intersecting cell.

    2. from Day View

      1. Position the cursor at the desired shift start time. Click and drag to the desired shift end time and release.

  2. Create Shift details screen

    1. Start and End

    2. Breaks

    3. Position

    4. Offsite Address

    5. Sections, then

    6. Click “Create Shift”

Note: Shifts have a status of ‘draft’ when first created and employees are not notified until the schedule is published.

Week View

Day View

Create Shift

Create Split Shifts

On occasion you may have the need to schedule employees to work a split shift (or double) on a given day. Both shifts worked may be the same position, or different.

  1. From Schedule View,

    1. select an Employee and a Day

  2. Create the first shift as normal

    1. click in the cell, enter relevant shift details and then

    2. select "Create Shift".

  3. Create the second shift

    1. Click the first shift to bring up a sub-menu.

    2. Click "Add Shift". This opens up the Create Shift window.

    3. Enter shift details and then

    4. select "Create Shift"

  4. Both shifts will now display. Note: Shift times cannot overlap.

First Shift Created

Add Shift

Second Shift

Copy Shifts

To copy a shift to another day for an employee:

  1. Hold down mouse, drag shift to another day

    1. 2. For MAC users “Cmd” key to Copy.

    2. For Windows users, “Ctrl” key to Copy

  2. Release mouse (before “Cmd” or “Ctrl”) to Copy Shift

You can also drag the shift to another employee, or drag the shift to a different start time using the same method.

Publish Shifts

Once you have created your schedule, you need to publish it to notify employees of the shift they are working.

Draft shifts (not yet published) have a broken outline. Shifts are color-coded according to the color assigned to the Position.

  1. From Schedule view, click 'Publish' in the top right of screen

  2. Confirm details,

    1. Date Range: select dates to publish

    2. Manager Notes: information which is relevant to the schedule period. This note is sent to the employee.

  3. Click 'Publish & Notify'

Shifts are now displayed as solid colors.

Publish Details Screen

Published Schedule

Worker Notification of Shifts

Workers using the SocialSchedules mobile app will receive a push notification with details of their upcoming shifts presented in a window. Employees must tap on 'OK GOT IT' to dismiss the panel.

When the employee has tapped on 'OK GOT IT', this 'acknowledgement' is automatically reflected to the Employer by a tick-mark appearing against each shift.

Print Schedule

Print (or save to PDF)

Schedules can be printed at any time, whether this is before publishing (shifts in draft-mode) or after publishing.

From either the Weekly or Daily Schedule view,

  1. Click Printer icon on the left panel

  2. Select Print Schedule

  3. General Options:

    1. Presets: selected department, all departments

    2. Page Format: Week view, Daily view

    3. Output: Excel or PDF

    4. Manager notes: if desired

  4. Layout:

    1. Group By

    2. Sort By

    3. Display Options

      1. Check as needed

      2. Include Unpublished Shifts: allows you to print draft shifts/schedules

  5. Download Report

    1. Click Download Report to send to printer or save

💡
If you want to send a schedule inside SocialSchedules, you can also attach the PDF to an in-app message and send it to the worker, location, or department.

The Layout section includes a number of other attributes which a user can select to display on the report. Simply click the radio button for each additional attribute you wish to apply.

Note: On occasion you may want to print out and review the draft schedule prior to publishing. You must select the option, "Include Unpublished Shifts" to return draft shifts on the report, (it is off by default).

The report will display on screen where you can then send directly to a printer.

Note:

Schedules are formatted to print in Landscape view. Should you wish to print in Portrait view, you will need to configure your local printer settings. Please note that Portrait view printing will impact on readability, as the report will resize to fit the reduced page width.

Edit Past Schedules

From time to time you may have the need to edit a shift which is in the past. This is supported only when the shift is in the current workweek. To illustrate, here is an example.

Past Schedule Edit Examples

A company has a schedule which runs Monday through Sunday. The current published week is Monday, July 10 through Sun, July 16. Today is Wed, July 12.

You can still edit past shifts which have been worked on Mon 10 and Tue 11. However you will not be able to edit past shifts in the previous week, July 3-9, or any other week prior to that.

Past Schedule Edit Warning Messages

The following warning message is presented as a dropdown banner when attempting to edit a past shift from a previous publishing period.

The following warning message is presented when attempting to publish a shift from a previous publishing period.

Related Articles
Schedule Templates
Weekly Schedule View for Employees
Printing a Manual Timesheet
Getting started with SocialSchedules
Compliance rule: Split Shifts
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