Schedule staff shifts

Create and set up a schedule for your team. 

You must be a team owner to create a schedule. In Shifts, each team in Teams gets one schedule to work with, and you can create and manage a schedule for any team you’re an owner of. 

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

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. Select Create next to the 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.

3. Add schedule groups to the schedule. Groups organize people in the schedule based on common characteristics within a team, such as role or department.  

   To add a group: 

   1. Select Add group.

   2. Select More options  > Rename group, give your group a name, and then select Save.

      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.  

4. Add team members to each group.  

   1. Next to the group you want, 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. When you're done, select Close.

5. Go to the Settings tab. From here, define the schedule options and choose the Shifts capabilities that you want to make available to your team. 
   
   To learn more about each setting, see Configure settings for your team's schedule in Shifts.

Need a little help? Learn more about how to create a schedule in Shifts.

Now that you’ve set up your 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. 

Assign shifts to team members

1. Go to the row of the person you’re assigning the shift to.

2. Under the date that you want, select More options > Add shift, or double-click the empty shift.

3. Fill out the information for the shift and then choose Save.​​​​​​​

Add open shifts to the schedule

Open shifts are shifts that aren’t assigned to anyone. Each schedule group has an Open shifts row where you can add open shifts for people to request. 

1. Go to the Open shifts row in the group to which you want to add an open shift.

2. Under the date that you want, select More options > Add open shift, or double-click the empty shift.

3. Fill out the information for the shift and then choose Save.

Need a little help? Learn more about how to add shifts to the schedule in Shifts.

Sharing (publishing) the schedule makes it available to your team.

Whether you’re creating a new schedule or updating an existing one, you must share it to make your changes visible to team members. After it’s shared, team members can see their own shifts and the team’s shifts on the schedule.

1. At the upper-right corner of the schedule, choose Share with team*.
   
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2. In the Share with your team dialog, make sure the timeframe that’s shown is what you want to share.
   
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3. Decide whether you want to notify affected team members (for assigned shifts) and schedule group members (for open shifts).

   • If you choose to notify team members and/or schedule group members, those members receive a notification in their Teams Activity feed.

   • If you choose Do not notify, no one receives a notification.

4. ​​​​​​​Select Share.

You can make changes to the schedule any time after you share it. Remember to share the changes to keep the team up to date.  ​​​​​​​

Need a little help? Learn more about how to publish a schedule in Shifts.