Work shifts

With GEST's shift tool, you can plan and manage shifts for employees or volunteers, or create training or practice schedules for groups, for example. Shifts for multiple teams can be created under one production platform/collection. For example, it is possible to plan all volunteer shifts for a single event within the same collection, creating a separate row for each point, i.e. a separate schedule. 

Work shifts can be assigned either 1. internally or 2. by letting the person choose their own shifts.

1) Shifts can be added for employees by the producer. Here, the producer determines each person's shifts and sends the shifts for approval. 

2) Shifts can be sent to the volunteer/staff member for to select via a follow-up link. This is a new feature, instructions for which can be found at the bottom of the page. 

In both cases, shifts are created first, only then will people be added to the queue. 

 

Creating a new shift base

You can also watch a video on creating shifts here. The same video also shows how the producer adds people to shifts and sends them for approval.

A new shift collection is created at the end of the collection row, using the plus button.

• Add a name to the collection, and if you like, also write the year.
• Select Schedule from the drop-down menu as the base and name the collection according to its purpose, for example, Volunteer Shifts and Year

 

You can then edit the form fields. Create the basic information for the form. This information will be supplemented with information for each workstation.

A new workstation is created in the collection view by clicking Add new.

Record workstation information

Enter a name for the workstation, such as Info Point. If you want, you can specify start and end times for the workstation, i.e. what day the Info shifts start and end. 

You can also enter additional information, such as the contact information for the team manager. Then click Save. The workstation's shift template appears in the collection view.

Creating shifts

By clicking on the name of the workstation you created, you will access the calendar view.

This can be viewed, for example, by month, week or day. The times are shown in the left column.

A new shift is created by clicking on the desired day and time in the calendar template. You can then enter more detailed information about the shift (picture below).

• You can name the shift according to the task, for example, Infopiste morning shift
• You can then set the date and duration of the shift, and choose a tag color.
• Set the minimum and maximum number of people needed to fill a shift (limit employees to externally filled shifts only)
• Finally, you can add an alternative description for the shift, where you can write more information about the tasks.

When you have completed the necessary information, press Save. The shift appears in the calendar view.

The first number visible on the right corner of the shift reflects how many people have been assigned to the shift. The second number is the minimum number and the third the maximum number of people needed for the shift.

 

1) Adding people to shifts by the producer

People are assigned to shifts via the drop-down menu found at the bottom of the shift template.

First, select the group of people you want to assign to shifts. You can filter the view using tags, for example. Tags make it faster to create shifts, as they allow you to quickly find people who have been tentatively assigned to a specific task.

Select the people you want to and then click on the 'Let's go' button. Select the desired shift or shifts to which you want to assign the persons. Finally, press Save. People with this shift will be shown on the shift's information 

 

The persons connected to these shifts are also displayed in the Persons column on the right. 

The circle below the Shifts heading represents an individual shift the person is assigned to. There are as many circles after the name as the number of shifts the person has at a workstation during the event. 

• Circle white The color reflects a shift for which an approval message has not yet been sent to the person. 
• Orange The color, on the other hand, reflects a shift from which a message has been sent to the person, but the shift has not yet been accepted. If shifts can also be booked externally, the producer must internally set the people they have added to the Waiting status so that the capacity in the shift is used up. More on this below, in the instructions for externally booked shifts.  
• When the turn is accepted, the color changes green. If, however, the turn is rejected by the producer, the color changes to red. 
• If a person cancels their participation, their status and turn status will change. gray.

Shifts also appear in the person's details in the person group view.

Accepting shifts.

People can accept their shift via an email link.

To approve shifts, you must create your own email template, which includes a placeholder, i.e. a link to the shifts. Creating email templates is discussed separately in section External communication. A link embedded in the email directs the person to review the personal shifts created for them and to accept or reject them.

Tip! If you wish, you can add a cover text and banner when approving shifts. You can edit the text from the Workstation row, via the Settings function. Create a visual schedule with relevant links and instructions for those coming to work!

The smiley face in a person's status indicates that a confirmation message has been sent to the person.

Once all the necessary information has been completed, the completed shift template may look something like this.

 

Printing shifts

It is possible to print out a list of work shifts, showing who's working and additional information on the shift.

1. If you want the lists in PDF format, press Print.
2. If you want the shifts as an editable CSV table, press CSV. You can also download the table to your computer and edit the list from there during the event. 

 

• In the print view (PDF), you can see the dates, times and people assigned to the shifts. You can also add phone numbers of people working on the shift to the PDF view. However, these can be hidden in the settings.
• The csv. table contains the person's basic information, shift information, and the person's shift duration in hours and minutes. If you want a customized version, i.e. you need information that is relevant to you to be automatically entered into the table, please contact us at info@gest.fi. 

 

2) Allowing volunteers/staff members to choose their shifts

If the event or workstation is one where an external person (volunteer, club member, etc.) is allowed to choose their own shifts, the functions will differ slightly from internally added shifts. 

• Create shifts according to the instructions above. Check out above, how to create shifts.. There's no need to create separate shifts and work points for shifts added by the producer or by volunteers/staff members themselves.
• If only one group is allowed to choose their own shifts, it is a good idea to move them to their own group of people (create a new person form and copy/move the people's information there), because the right to register for a specific shift is granted to these people via the post-registration (follow-up) function. 
• You can read more about post-replenishment here. through hereIf you need help with this, please send us a message at info@gest.fi.
• A link to the selected shifts will be sent via email with a follow-up placeholder. Creating message templates is discussed separately in the section called Design.

 

Define which shift collections/events are externally selectable

• Next, select which shifts are externally selectable. The collections are selected from a personnel group's Follow-uppage.
• If you want to make shifts available for external selection, go to Administration –> Publishing Settings –> Post-fill for the desired group of people (e.g. volunteers).
• In the new add-on, you can also specify what personal information the recipient can see and edit. 

Replenishment functionalities (image below)

1. In this section, you specify what personal information the person filling in the form can see via the post-complete link.
2. In this section, you specify which information the person can edit via the post-complete link.
3. You can edit two different functions

          3.1 You give permission to people to delete their own shifts.

NOTE: Shifts can be deleted as long as the person themselves, via the link (shift approval) or you internally, approve the shift. The function gives the registered person the opportunity to cancel doing a shift immediately if they have made a mistake, but does not allow the person to edit the information indefinitely. You cannot specify the delete function to be available only for some events, but deletion is possible in all events you select, under the conditions mentioned above. You don't need to allow for people to be able to cancel shifts themselves (it is not given in the image).

         3.2. You choose which shift collections are externally selectable, i.e. which event workstations the volunteer/staff member can select. You can select from the active shift collections. If you do not want some event workstations to be visible, leave them in the 'Waiting' state. Instructions for this are below.

The view above will be updated for each person group.

 

Determine which workstation shifts are available for selection from outside

In the previous section, you defined which collections are visible and therefore selectable. Now you define which workstations within these collections are selectable. 

The producer can add people from within to all workstations and shifts, but only those shifts that are accepted (Accepted), are available for selection from outside. The workstation must therefore be approved (showing in green). 

You can create work stations by leaving them in the 'Waiting' status, but when you want them to be available for selection, change their status to 'Accepted'. You can access the editing by clicking on the pencil next to the workstation name. This way you can only make some of the shifts available for external selection. 

 

 

Determining the maximum number of people per shift

To ensure that there are not too many employees working on a specific shift, you can set a maximum capacity for each workstation. Review all shifts for the approved workstations according to the instructions below. 

The maximum number of people is determined work shift settings Maximum number of people -. Click on the shift and go to the 'Shift' page. Enter the number of people in the space provided for it. Internally, you can put more people on the shift than the maximum number indicated. Externally, however, the maximum number is limited and does not allow adding more people to the shift if the maximum is full. 

NOTE! The maximum number may be exceeded in the following situation: many people are simultaneously selecting the same shift, they do not refresh the page in between and save the reservation. Only the saving consumes capacity, not the shift selection. 

Minimum number of people- is a reminder for the producer about the minimum number of people on the shift. It does not say that more people should be added to the shift.                                                                                              Maximum number of people determines the maximum number of people in a shift, and closes the shift to registrations from outside if the number is reached. 

 

Once you have set up, 

1.  Which workstations are available for selection from outside (approved) 
2. What is the maximum number of individual shifts at a workstation?

You can send the shifts to the people you want to select by email. Use the post fill link (filllink) to select the shifts. Creating message templates is discussed separately in section External communication.

If you do not put a maximum quota on the shift, but it is selectable, the shift will automatically be full, and you cannot sign up on it. This protects you against a situation where an infinite number of people accidentally could not sign up for a shift. 

 

Managing the people added internally and ones who registered externally on the same shift

You can add people to shifts at the same time you make the shift available for external selection. To ensure that the maximum number is not exceeded and that the capacity is used correctly with each addition you make, you must manually edit the status of the persons you add on the shift.

Do it like this: 

• Add the person(s) you want to on the shift as normal. Remember to check the maximum number of people for the shift. Note: by adding internally you can exceed the maximum number of people determined for the shift. 

 

• Then click on the shift you added people to.
• Go to the People-page and manually change the status of the people assigned to the shift to 'Waiting' on the drop-down menu. Press save.

 

• The status of the connected people changes, and this update consumes capacity from externally selected shifts. 
• The person's status will be moved to Waiting, as they will still be sent work shifts for confirmation. 
• If you don't need to send a shift confirmation message to the person separately, their shift can be immediately determined as approved. 

  NOTE! Be careful. The Pending status also indicates that shifts have been submitted for approval.So remember who you have sent shifts to for approval and who has not received confirmation. 

 

Sending work shifts for external selection. 

Shifts are sent for selection via email with a post-completion placeholder added 1TP3Recipient.filllink%. Creating message templates is discussed separately in section External communication.

 

• Once you have created a message template, you can send the message to the people you want.
• The link generates a personal link for each recipient, through which they can register.
• The message is sent normally via the Send Email function, from the Actions drop-down menu. 

 

Work shift selection via link

After opening the link, the person can select shifts. The following are available for selection: 

• events/collections that have been selected from the Replenishment page and
• the shifts you have accepted from these collections.

In the Example view The volunteer has already chosen shifts, some of which have been accepted. 

In the first drop-down menu (Select new) all are displayed work shift collections, which the producer has specified through Post-fill (follow-up function). We recommend you name the collection after the event and year in question, e.g. GEST Fest 2025. This will help the employee find the right event. 

 

In the adjacent drop-down menu are of the selected collection/event workstationsfor a given event. They only appear when the desired event is selected. 

When a workstation is selected, the following will appear: shifts for the selected workstation. You can hide a workstation by leaving it on the Waiting state.

The shifts show how many have signed up and how many more can fit in. The capacity is used up when a shift is selected AND saved.

The platform does not allow a person to select the same shift twice. However, it does not block other shifts at the same time at the same or different workstations. 

Yet, all of the person's shifts are visible in the view, as long as the producer does not delete, archive, or, for example, put workstations on the Waiting state.

Replenishment link

The follow-up link is valid and the person can return to it to select work shifts for events as long as they are made visible by the producer (the collection is selected and the workstation is in the approved state).

The link also serves as a good work schedule and summarizes of all the collections/events a volunteer or staff member has chosen.

When you want a person to no longer be able to select new shifts, change the status of all work stations to "Waiting".

A workstation with the status "Waiting" is no longer selectable. At the same time, if a person's own workstation has been put in the "Waiting" status, the workstation and its shifts will also be removed from the view one gets to via the link (created by a placeholder on an email sent to the staff/volunteers).

For this reason, sending approval for shifts (even if you have approved the shifts on their behalf) is a good way to ensure that the person always has somewhere to check their own shifts. 

Managing work shifts from GEST

• When a person signs up for a shift externally, via a Post-replenishment link sent by email, they will appear for the shift with the status "Waiting".
• Status consumes the workstation's capacity and at the same time the producer can see which person has joined the shift as a new person/has not yet been confirmed.
• Please note that the Waiting status is also given to individuals when shifts have been sent to them for approval via internal addition. 
• Shifts can be sent for further approval via email with %recipient.shiftplan%-palceholder added. Creating message templates is discussed separately in section Design.
• The producer can also, if they wish, approve the shift in the shift view.  

 

The functionality is new and still under development. For this reason, the instructions will change slightly. If you have any questions about the function, please send us a message at info@gest.fi. 

 

Possibility to accept shifts individually

Remember this! You can give an employee the right to approve sent/selected shifts individually.

Usually, for example, a volunteer's shifts, which are multiple, can be accepted either all at once or none at all. This way, no one gets to choose the so-called cherry on top of the cake. However, if you want to let people choose which assigned shifts they want/can accept, do it as follows:

Go to the workstation Settings. 

And give permission to accept shifts one by one (below: arrow in the picture is pointing).

Always remember to save after making changes.