Working with open shifts in Employee Schedules

An open shift is an unscheduled or unfilled shift, that is, a shift that has been added to the schedule but is not associated with an employee. At the top of the schedule pane is a row that indicates the number of open shifts, if any, for that day.

A green Open Shift bar preceded by a plus icon () indicates that there are no open shifts for the day:

Viewing open shifts

• In the column of the day for which to view open shifts, click the # Open Shifts bar.
  The Open Shifts pane opens.It displays all open shifts for the day.

Adding an open shift

You add an open shift for a specific day and time.

1. In the column of the day you want to schedule, click the Open Shift bar.

2. Complete the fields as necessary.

   Click here for field descriptions.

   Fields on the New Open Shift dialog box

   Field	Description	Notes
   New Open Shift
   Start Time	Start time of the shift. Type the time in the field.	Required.
   End Time	End time of the shift. Type the time in the field.	Required.
   Job	Job type for the shift. Select the job from the drop-down list.	Required.
   Assignment	Assignment type for the shift. Select the assignment from the drop-down list.	This field is available only if assignments are configured.
   Shift Category	Shift category for the shift.  Use shift categories to differentiate types of shifts such as Training, Temp, or Contract. For example, if an employee will spend an entire shift in training, you might designate the shift as a Training shift. Select the shift category from the drop-down list.	Only select if applicable to the open shift.
   Event	If the open shift is assigned to an event, select the event from the drop-down list.
   # of Shifts to Create	Number of open shifts to create. Type the number of open shifts to create.	Default: 1 This field is only available in the New Open Shift dialog box.
   Make Shift(s) Available for Employee Selection	If ON (), employees can request to pick up the open shift from the Mobile App.	This feature is only available to managers whose employee records are mapped to a username in Employee User Maps. If you do not see this feature, please contact your System Administrator for assistance.
   Cancel	Closes the dialog box without applying your changes.
   Add Shifts / Select Employees	This button varies depending on whether Make Shift(s) Available for Employee Selection is ON () or OFF (). Add Shifts—Adds the shift(s) to the schedule and closes the dialog box. Select Employees—Saves your selections and opens the next screen of the dialog box.	If Make Shift(s) Available for Employee Selection is OFF (), this button appears as Add Shifts. If Make Shift(s) Available for Employee Selection is ON (), this button appears as Select Employees.
   Select Employees	This screen of the New-Edit Open Shift dialog box is only available if Make Shift(s) Available for Employee Selection is ON ().
   Shift details	Start time, end time, and job for the open shift.	Read-only.
   Schedule Group	Filter the table by schedule group.
   Show Secondary Employees	If selected, the table displays secondary employees.
   Search	Type your search criteria in the field.The table automatically updates to meet the search criteria.
   Employee selection table	Select the check boxes next to each employee that you would like to receive the open shift. To select all employees in the list, select the check box in the column header. Columns in the table include: Select—Select the check box to notify the employee of the open shift. Employee—Name of the employee. Home Job—Employee's home job. Weight—Number rating for whether the employee has potential conflicts that would make them less desirable as a choice to fill the shift. Rank—Priority status of the employee for working that job. Seniority—Employee's seniority date. Sch.Hrs.—Number of hours the employee is scheduled to work for the week. Av.Hrs.—Number of hours the employee is available to work for the week. Availability—Employee's availability on the date of the open shift.
   Back	Returns to the previous screen of the dialog box.
   Add Shifts	Applies your changes and closes the dialog box. The selected employees are notified of the open shift and can request to pick it up through the Mobile App.

3. Click Add Shifts.

Assigning open shifts to employees

1. At the top of the schedule pane, click the # Open Shifts > button for the day for which you want to assign shifts.
   The Open Shifts pane opens. This pane displays all open shifts for the selected day.

2. In the pane, select an open shift and do one of the following:

   • To assign by dragging and dropping:

     1. Hover over the shift.
        The cursor changes to a hand icon.
        

     2. Drag the open shift to the desired cell in the scheduling page.
        The open shift block appears red until you hover over a cell that allows the drop.
         
        The shift is added to the cell.

   • To assign using the Open Shifts pane:

     1. Click the Assign button (  ).
        The Assign Open Shift to Employee dialog box appears.

        Click here for field descriptions.

         

        Fields on the Assign Open Shift to Employee dialog box

        Field	Description	Notes
        Day of week	Day and date on which the shift occurs.	Read-only.
        Time of Shift	Start and end times of the shift.	Read-only.
        Property	Property where the shift occurs.	Read-only.
        Job (or assignment)	Job or assignment for the shift.
        Shift Category	Shift category for the open shift. Select the shift category from the drop-down list.
        Show Secondary Employees	Select to display all secondary employees in the table.
        Schedule Group	Select a schedule group from the drop-down list.
        Find By Name	Search for an employee by name.
        Table
        Weight	Number rating for whether the employee has potential conflicts that would make them less desirable as a choice to fill the shift.  The system assesses points and considers whether the shift will put employees into overtime, exceed their available hours for the week, and/or overlap with their availability and time off. A weight of 0 means that there are no conflicts and the employee is a good fit. A weight of 8 indicates that there are potential conflicts and the employee is not the best fit.
        Rank	Priority status of the employee for working that job. Employees who are the best fit have the lowest rank, and those who are a lesser fit and/or have restrictions and conflicts have a higher rank. The employee currently filling that assignment is listed at the top. The rank is assigned in Employee Maintenance and is based on a manager's preferences about who they want scheduled in what order. Employees are ranked in order of best fit to least fit. The rank is not an order indicator. The employee currently filling that assignment is listed at the top, regardless of their rank. For example, if an employee with a rank of 4 is currently scheduled for the job, they will be at the top of the list. Likewise, if an employee has a rank of 1, but a weight of 7, they will be at the bottom of the list.
        Employee	Employees who are qualified for and available to work the job.
        Availability	Whether an employee has availability constraints for that day. Color codes for availability bars: Blue—Requested time off. Dark gray—Unavailable or required time off. Striped blue (  )—Preferred time off. White—Available. A dark gray bar that begins on the left and extends half way across the cell indicates that the employee is not available for the first half of the day. Likewise, a bar that begins in the middle and extends to the right means that the employee is not available for the last half of the day.
        Sch. Hrs	Scheduled Hours—Number of hours the employee is scheduled to work.
        Av. Hrs.	Available Hours—Number of hours the employee is available to work.
        Actions	Options include: Assign—Click to assign the open shift to the employee.

         

   2. In the dialog box, find the employee to whom you will assign to the shift.Under Actions, click Assign.
      The dialog box closes, and the shift is assigned to the selected employee.

Making all open shifts available for pick up

1. In the upper-left corner of the Employee Schedules screen, select schedule actions ().
   A drop-down list appears.

2. From the drop-down list, select Make Open Shifts Available for Pick Up.
   All open shifts are available for pick up in the Mobile App.

Editing multiple open shifts simultaneously

Rather than edit multiple shifts one-by-one, you can select a group and edit all at once. This functionality is especially useful when multiple open shifts are associated with an event. For example, a banquet schedule might require 30 open shifts to be sent to banquet staff. If the banquet schedule is extended by an hour, rather than regenerating schedules and labor projections just to change the end times on a batch of shifts, you can use this functionality to multi-select the 30 open shifts and change the end time with a only few clicks, rather than individually editing the 30 shifts.

1. In the Open Shift pane, turn on Multi-Select ().

2. Select a job.
   
   The list is filtered to include only the selected job.

   Note: You cannot edit open shifts that have different jobs. Shifts with different jobs will be filtered out of the list.

3. Select the multiple shifts that you want to edit.

4. Select Edit Selected.
   
   The Edit Open Shifts dialog box appears.

5. Edit as necessary. If you want to keep existing assignments, turn on Keep Existing Assignments ().

   Note: If this option is not selected, assignments for all selected shifts will be updated to the value selected in the assignment drop-down menu.