What is Shifts in Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft has such a wide range of apps; it would be easy to get lost amongst the plethora of choices. When it comes to what will benefit your work organisation, look no further than Microsoft Teams.

What is Shifts In Microsoft Teams?

Shifts is a collaborative tool used alongside Microsoft Teams that manages schedules. It has replaced Microsoft’s Staff Hub App; so for those who have previously used this, Shifts may have a familiar feel.

Have you read our Microsoft Teams Guide?

Who should be using Shifts?

The primary target audience is front line workers – those customer-facing representatives. For example, shop assistants; production line workers; hospital staff; and telephone operatives. Whenever scheduling work patterns, Shifts comes into play.

Take a look at 9 Exciting Teams Updates for 2020.

What does Shifts do and how will it benefit your business?

Ultimately Shifts is all about effective communication between managers and their workers. Built foremost for mobile use, it allows employees to:

• View upcoming rotas
• See who else in the team is working that day
• Communicate and collaborate with mobile workers
• Request a shift swap or to offer a shift to another member of the team

For Managers:

• Creating, updating, and managing rotas for their teams
• Ability to message individuals or the entire team
• Send documents, videos, and bulletins
• The option of setting up a Shift Time Clock – a clock in and out feature available for mobile

How do I access Shifts in Microsoft Teams?

Firstly, locate the application found under the three dots in Teams:

Then you can begin creating a team schedule. You have to be an owner of a team to do this – and then populate with groups, people and shifts.

While setting these groups up, you may wish to give owner permissions to certain people, which will, in turn, enable them to create and update schedules, ie. A Shift Team Leader. Sounds confusing? Please see below…

How do you access Shifts in Microsoft Teams?

The free version of Teams does not include Shifts. However, if you’re currently paying for an Office 365 plan that includes Teams, then you can access and use Shifts. This includes Not for Profit plans.

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Final thoughts

Microsoft Shifts is a handy tool that alongside Microsoft Teams allows us to chat, call, share, and generally give the workplace a chance to organise and structure themselves.