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Tasks During Shifts?

WhenToWork assumes you know the shift information (times, dates, position, etc) you need in your schedule and after you enter those shifts, you can use our “AutoFill” feature to automatically assign your shifts to your employees based on their preferences, availability, time off, constraints, skills, etc.  

The best method is normally to create one shift for the time the employee works and then put the various tasks and times, if any, into the shift description.

You may also create shifts as needed for different blocks of time, and your positions can be the various service points like “Circulation, Info Desk,” etc. Then create short shifts for the times the employees work. For example, Jane might be scheduled to three shifts: 8a-10a at Circulation, 10a-12p at Info Desk, 1p-5p as a Floater; then another employee, Tom, might work 8a-11a Info Desk, 11a-5p Circulation, etc. In this example, you can have the Circulation Desk schedule covered during the 8a-5p time period, and it might be covered by five employees on one day and three employees on another day.

Our system assumes you know the shift start and end times needed and does not create these shift times for you. So, if you are unsure of when your employees can be assigned, you might consider creating two-hour shifts throughout the day and then use AutoFill to assign the employees.

Note that AutoFill will not necessarily assign all employees consecutive shifts, so you may need to manually edit your schedules to guarantee that employees have consecutive two-hour shifts.

Also, using multiple shifts per day can cause difficulties for employees trying to trade shifts (ex. if someone offers to pick up only one of many shifts).

An alternative is to create shifts that reflect actual arrival and departure times, but to write shift descriptions identifying the location where the employee is working. For example, one 8a-12p shift might say, “8-9 service desk, 9-11 circulation, 11-12 service desk” and another 8a-12p shift might say, “8-9 circulation, 9-11 service desk, 11-12 circulation” so that the employees are covering the areas you need, but are assigned to just one shift per day.

 

Library, jobs, desks, different places, multiple tasks  multiple positions tied to same shift, duties