Introducing Open Shifts (beta) in Zoho Workerly

We are excited to introduce Open Shifts (beta) in Zoho Workerly, which allows businesses to easily manage last-minute staffing needs. This feature is designed for industries with unpredictable shift schedules, such as healthcare, retail, and security. Open Shifts enable employees to claim available shifts, helping you fill vacancies quickly and without hassle.

What are Open Shifts?

Open Shifts are unassigned work slots that can be made available to your temps, allowing them to voluntarily pick up shifts that match their availability. This feature offers your temps more flexibility and control over their schedules while allowing you to fill urgent staffing requirements without time-consuming manual assignments.

Core Use Case

Let’s look at an example: You’re managing a retail business, and suddenly, you experience a surge in foot traffic during the holiday season. Your current staffing schedule can’t handle the increased demand. Instead of manually assigning extra shifts to temps who may not be available or suitable, you can post Open Shifts. These shifts will be visible to your temps who are eligible and available, allowing them to pick up the extra work at their convenience. This dynamic, self-service approach benefits both managers and temps have more autonomy over their schedules, and you ensure that your shifts are filled swiftly without additional coordination.

The Problem

Staffing in dynamic industries is often unpredictable. There’s always the challenge of quickly finding available temps for sudden shift openings, which can disrupt operations and lower productivity.

The Solution

Zoho Workerly’s Open Shifts feature empowers your temps to pick up available shifts, saving you the hassle of scrambling to find replacements. This feature ensures that your shifts are filled on time, with minimal management intervention.

Create Open Shifts

To create open shifts:

Go to the shifts module and select the Temp's view.
The Create Open Shifts option is available only when a job is filtered. Filter the job you’re working with to enable this feature.
In the Shifts tab, an Open Shift row will appear above all listed temps. Click + Shift to create Open Shifts for the selected job. Additionally, you can view the total temp matches available for the job by selecting ##Total Matches.
If required, apply criteria to Temp Filters to narrow down suitable temps, and click Done.
Click Publish & Notify to finalize and save the Open Shifts.
Once the Open Shifts are published, you can view the progress of the shift through a status chart. This chart breaks down the temps' responses as follows:

Pending: The number of temps yet to respond to the shift invitation.
Accepted: The number of temps who have accepted the shift.
Rejected: The number of temps who have declined the shift.

Additionally, the chart provides real-time updates on filled positions out of the total number of required temps, helping you track how quickly the open shift is being filled.

Note:

Temp acceptance settings are applicable for existing jobs, but only new jobs will have the option to create Open Shifts. This distinction ensures that the Open Shift feature is available for newly created jobs while allowing temp acceptance rules to continue for ongoing jobs.

Please note, this change will take effect after the beta version is fully released.

Benefits

Empowers Temps: Temps can view and claim shifts that fit their schedule, giving them more autonomy and control over their work-life balance.
Fills Vacancies Fast: By encouraging temps to pick up shifts proactively, you minimize downtime and keep your business running smoothly, even during unexpected staffing shortages.
Customizable Filtering: With advanced filters, you can ensure that the right temps see the right shifts, based on job requirements, skills, and availability.
Works Across Industries: Whether in healthcare, retail, hospitality, or manufacturing, Open Shifts provides a versatile solution to your staffing needs.