Managing ShiftAlerts
The optional ShiftAlert application allows you to send urgent staffing needs directly to qualified employees by creating a ShiftAlert. ShiftAlerts are special Schedule Me opportunities that Staff Manager sends immediately to employees using their preferred communication method: telephone, email, text message, or a combination of methods. Staff Manager only sends ShiftAlerts to employees who are both qualified and available for scheduling at the time you create the ShiftAlert. Employees who were originally unavailable and then become available due to a schedule change do not receive ShiftAlerts that you sent in the past.
Employees opt in to receiving ShiftAlerts on the My Preference page, which is also where employee can set their communications preferences.
Like opportunities, ShiftAlerts may have rewards attached to them. These rewards can be points (which employee collect and redeem like frequent flyer miles) or dollars, depending on how the Opportunity function is configured.
Managers can see which employees have filled ShiftAlerts on the daily, weekly, and monthly schedule pages. Clairvia Web marks filled ShiftAlerts by including ! (O) in front of the employee's name.
General Features of ShiftAlerts
- Immediate scheduling: All ShiftAlerts act like Schedule Me opportunities; the first qualified employee who accepts the ShiftAlert is immediately assigned to the shift.
- Optional award points: A fixed rate or fixed bonus amount (in addition to hourly rate or loyalty points) can be associated with some or all ShiftAlerts. Your organization can determine the value of points and what they can be redeemed for (suggestions include pay, hospital merchandise, and schedule preference priorities).
- Dynamic updating: As employees accept or decline ShiftAlerts, Staff Manager updates availability in real time.
- Extensive reporting: Reports analyze which ShiftAlerts were filled and which were not. There are also reports for employees and managers on awards given and redeemed.
- Multi-entity functionality: You can offer ShiftAlerts to employees in other profiles or facilities based on your float set up.
- Flexible employee access: You can control access to ShiftAlerts down to the individual employee level using the Shift Opportunity permissions.
- Automatic conflict checking: Staff Manager checks for employee shift conflicts and potential overtime conflicts. If employees are already scheduled for productive tasks, Staff Manager does not send them the ShiftAlert, while employees scheduled for Unpaid/Non-working tasks do receive the ShiftAlert. In cases where a ShiftAlert requires an employee with a particular skill, Staff Manager only sends the ShiftAlert to employees with that skill.
How Managers Work with ShiftAlerts
Managers can:
- Receive notifications when individual ShiftAlerts are accepted
- Receive notifications when all needs for a ShiftAlert are filled
- Confirm that employees worked the scheduled ShiftAlert and approve the rewards assigned to that shift
- Quickly view all open opportunity needs to determine immediate staffing needs and convert those opportunities into ShiftAlerts
- Analyze ShiftAlert opportunities using the following reports:
- Housewide Staffing Report displays employees working opportunity shifts
- Schedule Report highlights opportunity shifts with employee assignments
- Filled Opportunities Report displays all filled opportunities between two user definable dates and whether they were ShiftAlerts
- Opportunity Audit Report displays employee shift opportunities information
- Opportunity Reward Report displays all rewards earned by employees who have worked an opportunity
How Employees Work with ShiftAlerts
Employees can:
- Select whether to receive ShiftAlerts
- Set their preferred communication methods: telephone, email, text message, or a combination of methods
- View their reward account balance from their Dashboards
- View ShiftAlerts on the Weekly Schedule page
- Apply to work available ShiftAlerts
Employees need to provide their preferred contact information to a user with permission to edit employee information. Once their phone number, email address, or both are entered or received through the HRIS Import, employees control whether and how they receive ShiftAlert messages.
Viewing ShiftAlerts
Complete the following steps to view ShiftAlerts:
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Schedule > Weekly Schedule. This opens the Weekly Schedule page in Task View by default.
- Make sure the Show Opportunities check box is selected. This opens the Opportunities list on the left side of the page. To hide the quick list, deselect the Show Opportunities check box.
- Select View by Opportunity or View by Employee to sort the opportunities accordingly.
- Select Show All, Unrequested, or Requested to filter the opportunities viewed further.
- Show All: Shows all opportunities.
- Unrequested: Shows all opportunities where no employees have been assigned (for Schedule Me opportunities) and no employee has signed up (for Consider Me opportunities). This view enables managers to work immediate needs more efficiently.
- Requested: Shows managers Consider Me opportunities with employees signed up; the manager will need to approve which employee will receive the opportunity.
In the Opportunities pane, opportunities and ShiftAlerts are listed similarly, except that the start time for a ShiftAlert is shown in red with an exclamation point after it: as in 7:00 a.m. ! or 07:00 ! In the schedule cells, opportunities are shown as links. ShiftAlerts have a red exclamation point in front of the opportunity link: !Oppty.
For employees to receive ShiftAlerts, the following criteria must be met.
- The organization must permit Opportunities.
- The profile must have ShiftAlert Opportunities available for the employee to view.
- The employee must have Enable ShiftAlerts selected on the My Preferences page.
- The employee must not have any schedule conflicts on the day of the ShiftAlert.
- The employee must be on the profile's Float List if the opportunity is not in the employee's home profile.
Converting an Opportunity into a ShiftAlert
Managers can convert opportunities into ShiftAlerts in Staff Manager Client or by using the Opportunity Detail window in Clairvia Web.
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Schedule > Weekly Schedule. This opens the Weekly Schedule page in Task View by default.
- Make sure the Show Opportunities check box is selected. This opens the Opportunities list on the left side of the page. To hide the quick list, deselect the Show Opportunities check box.
- Select View by Opportunity or View by Employee to sort the opportunities accordingly.
- Select Show All, Unrequested, or Requested to filter the opportunities viewed further.
- Click the link for the desired opportunity to open the Opportunity Detail window.
- In the upper right corner of the window, edit the options in the ShiftAlert section.
- Enter a number of hours in the Alert Expires box. This number will work with the Shift Start menu to set when the ShiftAlert will expire. If the ShiftAlert should expire exactly when the shift starts, enter 0 (zero).
- Select After Shift Start or Before Shift Start from the menu. This works with the Alert Expires box to set the time the ShiftAlert will expire: X hours before or after shift start.
- Click Create ShiftAlert. The Opportunity Type changes to ShiftAlert!
- Click Close to shut the Opportunity Detail window.
Canceling ShiftAlerts
You can only cancel ShiftAlert while it is open. If an employee has already accepted a ShiftAlert, you cannot cancel it. You must remove the employee manually from the ShiftAlert in Staff Manager Client Schedule Editor or Daily Editor and then you can cancel the ShiftAlert.
Managers can cancel ShiftAlerts in Staff Manager Client or by using the Opportunity Detail window in Clairvia Web.
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Schedule > Weekly Schedule. The Weekly Schedule page opens in Task View by default.
- Make sure you have the Show Opportunities check box selected so that the Opportunities list displays on the left side of the page. To hide the quick list, deselect the Show Opportunities check box.
- Select View by Opportunity or View by Employee to sort the opportunities accordingly.
- If you want, select Show All, Unrequested, or Requested to filter the opportunities viewed further.
- Click the link for the ShiftAlert you want to open its Opportunity Detail window.
- In the upper right corner of the window, click Cancel ShiftAlert in the ShiftAlert section. An alert window opens with the message Are you sure you want to cancel this ShiftAlert?
- Click OK. The Opportunity Type changes to read Schedule Me.
- Click Close to shut the Opportunity Detail window.
You cannot cancel opportunities in Clairvia Web. If you want to cancel the opportunity too, you should delete the opportunity in Staff Manager Client.
Approving ShiftAlert Rewards
At an organization's and manager's discretion, rewards can be attached to ShiftAlerts. These rewards can be dollars or points, with points being redeemable like frequent flyer miles.
Once an employee has worked a ShiftAlert, the manager must confirm that the shift was worked. Only then are the points or dollars be awarded to the employee.
Complete the following steps to approve a ShiftAlert reward.
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Opportunities > Confirm Rewards. This opens the Opportunity Reward Confirmation page with the Confirm Rewards tab active.
- Select the appropriate employee and opportunity row or rows by selecting the check box at the end.
- Click Approved Selected.
When an employee works a scheduled task on the same day as a ShiftAlert, both tasks are displayed on the Confirm Rewards tab. You can use this additional information to determine if the reward is still valid for the employee on that day.
Denying ShiftAlert Rewards
Sometimes employees may not be able to work the ShiftAlerts they accepted. In these cases, you can deny the rewards associated with those ShiftAlerts.
Complete the following steps to deny a ShiftAlert reward.
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Opportunities > Confirm Rewards. This opens the Opportunity Reward Confirmation page with the Confirm Rewards tab active.
- Select the appropriate employee and opportunity row or rows by selecting the check box at the end.
- Click Deny Selected.
Redeeming ShiftAlerts Rewards
Employees contact their manager to redeem any points or dollars in their Reward Account. In other cases, you may need to adjust an employee's reward balance for some reason, such as the employee being rewarded points or dollars in error.
Complete the following steps to redeem or adjust an employee's awards.
- From the Schedule menu, select Administer Opportunities > Redeem Rewards. This opens the Manager Reward Redemption page.
- Select an employee or employees by selecting the check boxes at the end of the employee rows.
- If the employee is redeeming some of their points, complete the Number of Points to Redeem or Adjust box. If the employee is redeeming all of their points, you can leave this box blank and click Redeem All.
- If the employee is redeeming some of their dollars, complete the Number of Dollars to Redeem or Adjust box. If the employee is redeeming all of their dollars, you can leave this box blank and click Redeem All.
- Click the appropriate button:
- Redeem to redeem the number of points or dollars entered.
- Redeem All to redeem all of the employee's points or dollars.
- Adjust to deduct the points or dollars from the employee's balance.
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