New Shift Emails

New Shift Emails / Publishing Shifts

New shift emails make it easier to ensure all staff are informed of shifts and updates to shifts in a timely manner without receiving too many emails.

There are several modes to consider. These are configured for each venue separately to allow complete control. It is the first option under the Shift Configuration tab when editing your venue.

• No new shift email sent; updates always sent - This is the default and what happened prior to this update. New shifts are added but no email is sent to the staff member. Any updates to the shift (changes in times etc) are sent via email instantly.
• Send an email immediately for every single shift added -This option will email staff with their shifts as soon as they have been assigned. This has limitations around hidden shifts and can cause a lot of emails to be sent to staff. It is not recommended.
• Send a new shift notification email manually when you are ready - This option allows you to send emails at the click of a button and is useful if you schedule shifts for long periods (months) at a time. This is not as intelligent as the final option as shifts added and emails not sent means staff could not receive emails for the shift.The option to send new shift emails is displayed on the Manage Shifts or Manage Shift Week pages in the actions bar.
• Automatically send on a schedule - This is the recommended option. It will automatically email all of your staff with their shifts on a schedule and will include existing and new shifts in the same email. It can also automatically unhide your shifts so you can prepare a schedule of templates in advance and know it will be published automatically on schedule. As this option also knows when the next email will be sent, any shifts that take place before the next scheduled email will be sent to the staff member immediately. This ensures your staff always know their schedule. For any venues that share the same email schedule (e.g. both sent on a Monday) then, the emails will be combined for the staff so they receive one email from the system.

Scheduled Email Options

There are many different schedule options for choosing which day the emails should be sent. Note that the emails will be sent between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. on this day.

We recommend setting the schedule to the day after you finish your schedule. This will ensure you have finished any final adjustments before the emails are sent.

Staff Notification Options

Email notifications are enabled by default. Staff can set which notifications they want to receive, and these are now organised by category. For example, you can choose to receive notifications for Cases (which might be pressing) but not for the Forum.

Additionally, each staff member has the option to delay daily until after a specific time that suits their schedule. This means staff won’t receive a reminder before the time they have set up.

These options can be managed under My Account > About Me > My Notifications.

Sending Shift Notifications Manually (publishing shifts)

In addition to allowing the system to schedule your shift notification, you can choose to do this manually. Under Shifts > Manage Shifts or Manage Shift Week, simply choose the Publish Shifts (Send Notifications) option in the actions menu.

This will display a popup to confirm your options:

The options include scheduling multiple venues simultaneously, setting a limit for shifts to be published (e.g., only publish the next week), and finally, setting an option to set when they should be published. This defaults to publishing straight away, but you can choose a date and time in the future for your action to be completed.

Un-hiding shifts

This option allows you to automatically unhide all hidden shifts when you send out your new shifts. It effectively means the schedule of shifts will be published at this point. If shifts are left hidden, then they will not be shown to staff in the email or via the site.

Example email

The shift emails include all key details on a shift: date, times, venue, skill, task (if assigned) and shift event (if set).

Additional emails notes

You can also add email notes to shifts automatically based on contract types. Thus, freelancers can receive Terms and Conditions directly in their email notifications.

This can be done when creating a contract type by going to Pay > Contracts > Manage Contracts. From here, go to ‘Manage Contract Types’ in the actions menu. From here there is the option to ‘Add a New Contract Type’ from the action menu.

From here, you can add notes specific to contract types or attach a form. This is useful for freelance contracts, where forms may need to be added automatically.