When creating a service, whether Standard or Advanced, a tick box is available called “flexible shifts”. Employees can book on to flexible shifts within a much wider time window than non-flexible shifts.

The time window within which the employee can book on is defined by the earliest and latest start controls. For example, if the earliest start margin is set to 120 mins (2 hours) and the latest start is set to 60 minutes, the employee can start the shift up to 2 hours prior to the expected start time and up to 1 hour after the expected start time.

So, if the expected times are 09:00 to 17:00, the employee will be able to start the shift any time between 07:00 and 10:00.

Flexible shifts are also different in that the sense that, when the employee books on, the expected start time will instantly change to match the actual start time. The expected end time of the shift as well as the expected time of any due check calls or checkpoints will also be updated and offset accordingly from the new shift start time.

For example, if the employee books on to the shift at 07:00 then its expected start time will instantly change from 09:00 to 07:00. The shifts expected end time will also instantly change accordingly based on the shift’s expected duration (8 hours) and will be set to 15:00.

If an hourly check call pattern is associated with the shift then the expected check call times will also be instantly updated to 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00.

Flexible shifts scheduled/confirmed to the same employee are also allowed to overlap, making it easier for users to plan work for employees who are not required to book on at specific times but are required to be on site for a specified duration.