Shifts

Updated by Daniel Sjögren

There are different ways to add shifts.

Adding a shift

  1. Click on a row in the Schedule view to quickly add a shift.
  2. Select a shift type. If you want to add more details, select More options.
Mandatory fields are indicated with an asterisk *
You can add shifts to sections, or units in Quinyx. It's not possible to add shifts (or punches) on a regional, or customer level.
  1. You can also click the + icon that appears at the top-right of the app.
  2. Click Add shift.
  3. Select the employee for whom you want to add a shift.
  4. Select a shift type. If you want to add more details, select More options.

Quick editing

To make shift editing faster and easier, you can "quick edit" in the schedule and base schedule. Click on a shift, and the quick edit panel will open. You might want to do this to change an employee's shift, change the cost center, or make corrections.

From here you can:

  • Delete the shift: Click on the trash can.
  • Re-assign the shift to another employee: Select another employee in the drop-down.
  • Change shift type: Select another shift type in the drop-down.
  • Move the shift to another day: Select a new date in the date picker.
  • Change start and end time: Edit the start and end time.

If you want to make additional changes, for instance, changing the cost center or break time, just click More options and the detail panel will open on the right-hand side.

Employee

Select from the list of employees to whom you wish the shift to be assigned.

Please note that it's not possible to assign a shift to an employee who has the Passive employee status ticked.
Shift type

If you're switching between shift types as you're creating a new one, the shift times, as well as any breaks will always reflect those of the last selected shift type. However, if you're switching between shift types as you're editing an existing shift, the shift times, as well as any breaks, won't update to reflect those of the last selected shift type.

Date and time

Select the date and time of the shift you want to add.

Break(s)
  • There's support for adding multiple breaks to the same shift. If you haven't set up break rules, adding a break will result in a 30-minute break being added to the middle of your shift by default. For a 9:00-11:00 o'clock shift, the break will be placed at 9:45-10:15, but you can modify this to your liking. If your shift were to be shorter than 30 minutes, the default behavior is for the break to be made as long as the shift contains it.
  • The recycling button next to the Breaks heading will replace any existing breaks of the shift with what's been configured in shared/local, agreement template-, or agreement-level break calculations. You can also add additional breaks manually after applying your break calculation rules. Read more about break calculation rules here.
Tasks

Tasks are essentially the same as a shift, in that they are built out of shift types. On a task, you need to define shift type and start and end time. You add a task directly on a shift. You can only add a task within the mother shift's timespan.

Scheduling a task over a break only means the employee will work on the task in question both before and after his/her break; in order for the employee to not go on break, you need to remove the break from the shift altogether.
Shift information
  • Section: Select which section of the unit the shift should be placed.
  • Cost center: Select the relevant cost center for the shift.
  • Project: Select any project you want to be associated with the shift.
Agreement

The agreement field is added to the form once you assign an employee to the shift in question.

  • When adding a shift, the agreement setting Allow override on overlapping shifts affects if a new shift can overlap an existing shift that the employee has.
    • This setting can be set up in the agreement template (Account settings > Agreements > Agreement templates > [insert agreement template] > Rules for hours) and inside the personal agreement (People > [insert employee] > Agreement > Advanced setting categories > Rules for working time).
Read more about working with agreement templates here.
Comment

The shift comments will be visible on the shift in both daily and weekly views of the Schedule view.

Salary type rules

Salary type rules allow you to define rules for extra salary types to be generated when an employee punches time on a specific shift. These rules can be defined on individual shifts in the schedule (but not in Base Schedule) and on shift type. 

Read more about salary type rules here.
Once you copy an existing shift to a new employee, the cost center of the copied shift will become the default cost center for the staff card. You can change the cost center on the newly copied shift by editing the shift.

Copy a shift

You can copy a shift in different ways. To copy an existing shift, click on the shift and click the pick (hand) icon.

Navigate to where you want to add the + to copy the shift.

Important to remember!

  • The manual salary type rule is copied regardless of whether the shift is being copied to the same employee, another employee or no employee. This currently applies to individually copied shifts.
  • If the original shift isn't valid on the date he agreement has been copied, then the agreement selection logic will be applied and Quinyx will select an agreement for the copied shift based on that. This only applies if the shift is copied to the same employee. This is also how you copy shifts in the base schedule.
  • If you manually change a cost center on a shift where the cost center was initially inherited from shift type and then copy that shift to another day for the same employee, then the copied shift will have the same cost center as the shift it was copied from.

Advanced settings

Advanced settings are inherited from your shift's shift type, but you may override these on the shift level at the very bottom of the Edit shift dialog under the Advanced settings section.

You can configure the following advanced settings on the shift level.

Productive hours

It's possible for shifts that aren't counted as scheduled hours to be counted as productive time and so be included in the Headcount summary that you can see in the daily schedule and scheduled staff view if you use the Forecast module. If a shift is tagged as productive time, it will be included in all Headcount summaries in scheduled views and Forecast:

  • No: This option can be selected if the shift type is used for tasks that don't contribute to sales and should never be included in the headcount compared to optimal staffing figures, e.g., administration or training.
  • Yes, for scheduled hours: Hours will be calculated as productive only if the shift has Count as scheduled hours checked and is selected by default.
  • Yes, always: The value Count as scheduled hours is ignored, and the shift will always be counted as productive time.
Count as scheduled hours

Count as scheduled hours determines whether the shift's hours count toward Scheduled hours. Note the dependency of this setting and that of Productive hours.

Count as worked hours

Count as worked hours determines whether the punch linked to this shift counts toward Worked hours.

Free day

Checking that a shift is a free day indicates that the assignee of this shift is not supposed to work between the start and end time of the shift. Typically, this setting is checked in combination with unchecking the Count as scheduled hours and Count as worked hours.

If you make changes on shift level and then select a new shift type for your shift, the advanced settings of that newly selected shift type will replace those you set on shift level.

Corrective actions

When a shift is connected to at least one punch, additional functionality will appear in the shift detail panel.

Split punch

With this functionality, all segments of the punching that lie outside of the connected shift will be divided into their own punches. After the split has been made, all split punches will be connected to the original shift, but they can be connected to another shift and other agreements, cost centers, and projects.

A typical example of use is if an employee has several agreements, one which permits flex time and one that allows overtime. With this function, a manager (or employee) connects the different segments to the correct agreement depending on whether the employee has worked in flex or has worked for ordered overtime.

Correct breaks

This may be useful if the employee has punched in or out for a break incorrectly or failed to punch out for a break completely. When you select Correct breaks, the last entry associated with the shift will move forward or backward so that the total punched time of the break matches the total scheduled time of the break. If there are no breaks when punching, the Correct break functionality will create breaks for you.

When a user applies the Correct breaks functionality, the following logic applies:

  • One scheduled break, no punched break: A break will be added at the same time and duration as the scheduled break and split the punch
  • One scheduled break, one punched break that is shorter than the scheduled break: The start time of the second punch is moved so that the total break time is the same as the scheduled break time.
  • One scheduled break, one punched break that is longer than the scheduled break: The start time of the second punch is moved so that the total break time is the same as the scheduled break time.
  • Two scheduled breaks (or more), two punched breaks (or more) where the total of scheduled break hrs is longer than the total of punched breaks: The start of the last punch is moved so that the total break time is the same as the scheduled break time.
  • Two scheduled breaks (or more), two punched breaks (or more) where the total of scheduled break hrs is shorter than the total of punched breaks: The start of the last punch is moved so that the total break time is the same as the scheduled break time. (note that punched breaks can be removed completely)

Assign an employee to a shift

When assigning an employee to a shift, you will see a list of potential employees to schedule in a list. When an employee is available, you'll see the availability displayed as a "badge" by the employee's name.

If an employee is unavailable, the "row" is slightly greyed out.

How to assign a shift

  1. Create a new shift or edit an existing shift.
  2. Select a shift type.
  3. Select the date and time of the shift.
  4. Click on the drop-down to choose an employee to be scheduled on the shift.
  5. The employee list appears, and employees are sorted by relevance. 
What does Sorted by relevance mean?
  1. Employees who are available or unavailable according to their agreement and have submitted Availability (if availability is not used, this part is not applicable):
    1. Home unit 
    2. Away unit 
  2.  Available employees (according to the main agreement, no absence, or shift):
    1. Home unit 
    2. Away unit
  3. Unavailable employees (according to the main agreement, have an absence or a shift):
    1. Home unit 
    2. Away unit 

In the sorting logic, Quinyx also takes into consideration how many skills between the shift type and the employee match. If employees meet the exact same criteria, they are sorted in alphabetically ascending order.

Visual indications

Skills
  • Grey text: Matching skills between employee and shift type.
  • Red text: Missing skills between employee and shift type.
Grey dot on the employee's profile picture
  • Unavailability according to agreement.
  • Absence
  • Employee has a shift the same time.
Green dot on the employee's profile picture
  • Availability
In order to get as much information as possible in the list, select the date, time, and shift type before selecting an employee.
The visual information in the sorted list is based on the full day.

Example: If an employee is absent the first part of the day, he/she will have a visual indication (grey dot) with the text Absence exists and be sorted at the bottom of the list, even if the shift is about to be assigned is the second part of the day.
Smartlist checks skills on tasks

The smart list checks skills on tasks when suggesting which employee is the best match for a shift.

Example

In the example below, we've assigned a person to a shift with a task. The shift requires Skill 1, and the task requires Skill 2.

  • Elin Olsson has both skills, so she is considered the best match.
  • Andreas Olsson has Skill 1 (required for the shift) but is missing Skill 2 (required for the task), so he is considered the second-best match.
  • Björn Gustafsson is missing both skills so he is considered the third-best match.

Which employees can I schedule?

Given that you have the correct permissions set up, you can schedule all employees who are members of a given group and have a valid role, a valid agreement, and a start date of the employment defined. As the scheduler, you must aslo be a member of the same group.

Batch copy, move, and delete shifts

Batch copy shifts

You can batch copy shifts from one employee's schedule to another..

  1. Click the employee in the left-hand margin and select Copy shifts.
  2. Select the employee for whom you want to copy the shifts.
  3. Select the to-period for which you want to copy the shifts.
You'll receive warnings if there are any issues with the shifts you're copying. If you select the check box, the shift(s) will be added despite the warning. You can select all shifts or only specific shifts. The shifts won't be copied until you accept or reject the warnings.
You can't batch copy shifts between units.
  1. The shifts have now been copied.

Batch move shifts

You can batch move shifts from one employee to another.

  1. Click the employee in the left-hand margin and select Move shifts.
  2. Select the employee to whom you want to move the shifts.
You'll receive warnings if there are any issues with the shifts you're moving. If you click the check mark, the shift(s) will be moved despite the warning. The shifts won't be moved until you accept or reject the warnings.
You can't batch move shifts between units.

Batch delete shifts from employee row

You can delete an entire employee row in Schedule.

  1. Click the employee in the left-hand margin and select Delete shifts.
  2. Tick the Include punches if you want to delete all punches associated with the shifts.
  3. Click Delete.
If you have set Deviation reporting as the type of time reporting on the employee in question, punches will be deleted automatically.
Batch deleting is based on your view. This means that if you are looking at a week, all shifts will be deleted, and if you are using the monthly view, all of those shifts will be deleted.

Batch delete shifts using filtering options

It's possible to delete all currently visible shifts, which means that any filter selections you've made are taken into account. This means you can, for instance, delete all shifts for a given employee, unit, etc. from a schedule. You can do this in a couple of different ways.

Example 1

  1. Start by navigating to the time frame of your choice and apply any filter. In this case, we've selected a certain employee.
  2. Next, click the ellipsis beside the employee's name followed by Delete shifts as shown below. A pop-up will appear, displaying the number of shifts to be deleted and giving you the option of also deleting any corresponding punches.
  3. Click Delete, and the shifts for that employee will be deleted.

Example 2

  1. Start by navigating to the time frame of your choice and apply any filter. In this case, we've selected a certain shift type.
  2. Next, click the ellipsis in the upper right corner followed by Delete shifts as shown below.
  3. Click Delete, and the shift type for the shown period will be deleted.
Deleting shifts takes filters into account, so if you’ve filtered on a shift type for instance, you'll only be deleting shifts of that type.
Please note that if you have Deviation reporting set as the type of time reporting on the employee in question, punches will be deleted automatically.
If you don't apply any filters when carrying out the steps described above, all shifts in the period you're viewing will be deleted.

Deleting historical shifts

Sometimes we're asked if its possible to automatically delete historical shifts of employees after a certain period of time. Two things apply in this case:

  • There currently isn't any function in the manager portal that allows for the automatic deletion of historical shifts. However, it can be done with an external flow using the APIs and delete shifts. Note that this is generally not advised because for legal reasons almost all customers will want to be able to go back.
  • If you end employment for an employee who has a shift, those shifts will automatically be unassigned after an end date if you don't perform the necessary steps to reassign or delete the shifts. 

Using APIs

Read more about using APIs related to Schedules here.


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