Create a team schedule in Shifts

In this article

Step 1: Open the Shifts app

Step 2: Create a schedule for your team

Step 3: Add schedule groups

Step 4: Add team members to schedule groups

Step 5: Choose schedule settings for your team

Step 6: Turn on shift-based tags in Teams

Next steps

Step 1: Open the Shifts app

On the left side of Teams desktop or web, select Shifts. If you don’t see Shifts there, go to View more apps  and find Shifts in the list of apps. 

Step 2: Create a schedule for your team

1. At the upper-left corner of Shifts, select Choose or create a schedule , and then select New schedule.

2. In the Create a team schedule dialog, select Create next to the team you want to create a schedule for.

   Note: The Create button is available only for teams you’re an owner of. Contact your IT admin if you’re not a team owner of a team you want to create a schedule for. 

3. Set the time zone for your team’s location, select the closest city, and then choose Confirm.

Step 3: Add schedule groups

To set up a new schedule, you first create schedule groups and then add team members to each group. Schedule groups organize people in the schedule based on common characteristics within a team, such as role or department. For example, a retail store might have the following groups: Sales associates, Cashiers, Floor leaders.

By default, a new schedule includes one group named Unnamed group. Rename this group and add more groups, as needed.   

To add a group: 

1. In the schedule, select Add group.

2. Select More options  next to the new group, choose Rename group, and then give your group a name.

   Tip: The name can be used in @mentions in chats and channel posts in Teams, so be sure to choose a name that’s easy to recognize.  

3. Select Save.

Step 4: Add team members to schedule groups

After you add your schedule groups, add people to each group.  

1. Next to the schedule group you want to add team members to, select Add people.

2. Enter the person’s name or email address, select their name in the list, and then select Add.

3. Continue adding people, as needed.

4. When you’re done, select Close.

Step 5: Choose schedule settings for your team

Customize and confirm the schedule options and the Shifts capabilities that you want your team to use.  

In Shifts, go to the Settings tab. From here, define your schedule settings and choose the Shifts capabilities you want to enable for your team. For example, you can: 

• Set the day of the week you want your schedule to start.

• Enable open shifts on the schedule for workers to request.

• Choose whether workers can swap shifts and offer shifts to coworkers.

• Set whether workers can request time off and add or edit time-off reasons.

• Turn on time clock to let workers clock in and out of shifts and record breaks.

• Set privacy controls for shift visibility to control how far back workers can see each other’s shifts and the level of detail.

 For details about each setting, see Manage settings for your team's schedule in Shifts.

Step 6: Turn on shift-based tags in Teams (optional)

Shift-based tags let you reach people who are on-shift in real-time. With this feature, team members are automatically assigned tags that match their schedule group name in Shifts.  
 
The tags can be used in @mentions by anyone on the team to start a chat or in a channel post. Notifications are sent to only those people who are on shift at the time a tag is used.  

Choose whether to enable shift-based tags for your team in Teams settings. To learn more, see Turn on shift-based tags in Teams. 

Next steps

Now that you’ve set up your schedule groups and schedule settings, you’re ready to fill out your schedule. Assign shifts to your team members and add open shifts as needed in each group. To learn more, see Add shifts to the schedule in Shifts.

For IT admins

Shifts for your frontline organization