Shiftboard does not operate on a one way street. Our clients provide us a wealth of intellectual power and perspective to improve our product. We provide schedulers with a service, they use it and respond, and we incorporate their feedback.  Recently we received enough input regarding a certain feature that we escalated it on the development list. When assigning a shift, you can now assign it to multiple individuals in the same step. Clicking ‘Pick Multiple’ will give you a list of workers who can take the shift. Simply toggle multiple members and click “assign”. Don’t worry, the options to individually assign, bulk assign, auto assign, check availability and enforce seniority still exist.

Our developers are sharp, but our clients’ insight is invaluable. Please keep us in the loop. Share your ideas and suggestions, we are all ears and your thoughts are heard.

- Alison

Recognizing that Shiftboard is not the only calendaring system our clients use, we have rolled out an iCal integration feature. Now with any iCal compatible calendaring, such as Google Calendar or Outlook, you can synchronize your Shiftboard schedule to your other calendars. By selecting to Publish iCal/Google Outlook, your Shiftboard schedule and any changes you make will syndicate with the other iCal compatible systems associated with your account’s email. When you make a change in your Shiftboard calendar, you will also see that change in your Google Calendar.

We live in a rapidly evolving and fickle world. With the help of Shiftboard, you can now diversify and weave together your calendaring, making you a more adaptable agent in a sea of change.

- Alison

Scheduling shouldn't be a stunt...

Plan ahead by utilizing Shiftboard’s Availability tool. Users (or their managers) can choose certain days of the week, at certain hours, and then specify busy or available. For random, spur of the moment events, you can select Specific Availability, and choose which days you will be available or unavailable. If you want to be really stringent, you can default your site so that members’ unaccounted availability times will be considered busy, thereby excluding them from being scheduled except for those times they have actually entered as available.

Constantly updating a calendar to accommodate ever changing priorities and schedules can be a real headache. So take a scheduler’s aspirin, use Availability, and give your workers an incentive to think more than a few days down the proverbial calendar road. Rest easy schedulers – those you see, are those available.

- Alison

Updates to our SMS/TXT feature make it easier than ever to communicate schedule changes to your workers.  Until recently workers had to add their SMS/TXT email address to Shiftboard.  This caused quite a bit of confusion, as most users don’t know they have an SMS/TXT email address, let alone what theirs actually is.  We did our research and now track each provider and their SMS/TXT email address.  Users (or their managers) simply select the correct service provider (Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) and enter the cell number.

The number of text messages being sent through Shiftboard has exploded thanks to this recent update. Thousands of workers are staying connected 24/7 via text messaging.  Users always control which messages they wish to receive and can make updates to their preferences at anytime.  Text messaging is just one additional way Shiftboard makes online scheduling and communication an excellent match for many different types of organizations. To find an organization similar to yours, check out our Case Studies.

- Alison

Shiftboard paper cuts are almost always small and generally a quick fix.  Daily gathering customer feedback and questions allows us to prioritize and fix the most frustrating paper cuts in our system.

Here are just a few of the paper cuts finished this week:

•  Providing the option for managers to switch between a 12 hour and 24 hour time clock.  This is particularly useful for our international customers as well as security scheduling, nurse scheduling and police officer scheduling.

•  Adding the ability to send a text message from three different locations instead of one. Managers can now text message everyone, a specific group, or an individual

•  Adding a tool to turn off Referrals.  Not all organizations want their users sending referrals to their friends and family. A manager can decide if this tool is helpful and simply turn off referrals if they are unwanted noise.

We love knocking paper cuts off our list.  Scheduling software has to be simple. Our goal is to alleviate all the bumps and hick-ups that make you want to scream!

-Alison J

This process works great for one of our “handyman” service customers.

The employee’s login, and clearly view their assigned shifts in green.  They can pick up additional shifts in red.  For each shift they view the start and end time, the location (with a Google map attached), and whatever additional information is relevant for the job.  This Handyman client attaches invoices for their employees to print out and bring to the clients home.

Other Shiftboard customers are using the upload and attach tools to post waivers, directions, forms, driving routes, etc.  Just like the Shiftboard calendar these files can be viewed from any web browser.  Employees can view and print the documents from anywhere and aren’t required to stop by the office.  This saves time and keeps business running smoothly.

Employee scheduling is now simpler than ever.

Managers can’t accidentally schedule employees during conflicting hours.  It is is no longer your responsibility to schedule around every doctor, dentist and hair appointment, parent-teacher conference, or a family vacation.  If Jane doesn’t work Fridays the system won’t allow you to schedule Jane on a Friday.  Of course, managers always have the ability to override availability and can schedule any employee whenever necessary.

Sharing this new tool with current Shiftboard customers is fun.  From medical scheduling to event management scheduling, our customers are astounded by the value provided and shocked when I promise there is no additional cost to their monthly fee.

-Alison J.

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Links in this post:

http://www.shiftboard.com

http://www.shiftboard.com/web-based-scheduling-case-studies.html

With List View, users toggle various opportunities and with ONE additional click assign themselves to each of the selected shifts.  If enabled by managers, users can also unconfirm themselves from multiple shifts.

Among others, this feature is ideal for EMS scheduling, security scheduling and call center scheduling.  These workforces don’t generally pattern the typical 8 hour workday.  Shifts tend to be extra long or super short, ad hoc, unpredictable and ever changing.  In one sweep workers can schedule themselves for multiple shifts on different teams, at various times, across all locations. Users are only capable of double booking themselves if previously enabled by a manager.

According to one volunteer scheduling manager “list view saves workers valuable time, when it’s easier to pick up shifts, volunteers pick up MORE shifts.”  This is just another reminder that employee scheduling software doesn’t need to be complex or cumbersome.  Shiftboard’s ease of use and intuitive design keeps things simple.

How do Referrals work?

Shiftboard users can send a referral and personal message via email to anybody who may be interested in your organization. The potential candidate receives an email invitation and personal message from their inside contact.  Using Shiftboard, an interested recipient can click on the link provided to register and/or apply.  A huge bonus for managers is the ability to track and view all past and current referrals.  Managers can see which employees and volunteers are advocates for their organization and also track which referrals have been “redeemed” or have produced actual registrations.

Who uses Referrals?

•  Employee attrition at call centers is often high.  Many of our customers utilize Shiftboard not only for call center scheduling but also for the constant ability to network, attract, and grow workforces 24/7.

•  Event scheduling often requires hundreds and even thousands of workers.  Tracking the number of referrals submitted allows managers to provide incentives and reward employees accordingly.

•  Volunteer scheduling ranks top among market segments using Shiftboard’s referral tools.  The power of volunteers mass messaging and inviting their friends and family members to volunteer with them is significant.  Managers are able to sit back, relax, and watch their most enthusiastic volunteers advocate, recruit and build their organization’s volunteer database.

Get Started!

If you’re a current Shiftboard customer and have not been using Referrals it’s time to start! The process is very simple and already built into your current site.  Contact your account representative today with any questions.

-Alison J.

The rule “no texting at work” doesn’t apply to Shiftboard users.  Managers can easily message their employees via text through Shiftboard’s system.

Imagine you are an event management scheduler and just had to reschedule the start time of 15 shifts from 5:00 pm to 4:30 pm.  The text feature allows you to instantly reach and message all affected workers.  Most people don’t have continuous access to the Internet, but most everybody does keep their cell phone with them 24/7.

Texts are received quicker and are much more likely to be read then emails.  A nurse-scheduling manager can text all qualified RN’s who aren’t currently working to try and fill a last minute shift.  After a manager posts a new schedule they can text their employees to let them know it is ready.

Your employees will love you for letting them have immediate access to their schedules and you will feel confident knowing your workers can be messaged in a method that is rapidly becoming the most preferred method of communication.