# Workforce Settings
Each WorkRoster _Workforce_ has multiple settings that can be changed to enable or disable the various software features and how they work. The workforce owner or any workforce roster manager can change the workforce settings. Any change to the _Workforce Settings_ will affect all users.
#### ProTip
When making changes to _Workforce Settings_ it's a good idea to communicate with fellow managers ( and maybe also employees ) about the changes so that they know why things have changed.
### 1. Name and Description
The workforce _Name_ (e.g. Your Company or Business name) and _Description_ can be changed in Workforce Settings. The description is optional.
### 2. First Day of the Week
The "First day of week" is the day when your new weekly roster normally starts. Weekly totals of assigned hours shown on the assignment menus are calculated starting from this day. Quick date navigation using the 'jump-to' date menus takes you to this day of the week. On the web User Interface and also PDF printouts a thin green line will show just before this first day of the week.
### 3. Roster (Business) Hours Start & Finish
The _Roster (Business) Hours_ can be set. These roster hours settings control what hours are displayed on the online and printed rosters. You should include all hours you need to show on the roster, including the time from your earliest shift start to the end of your latest shift.
We recommend that the _Roster Business Hours Start_ be set to start one hour earlier than the earliest shift starts. _Roster Business Hours Finish_ should be one hour after your last shift ends. This makes the roster easier to use and easier to read. It also helps when daylight savings starts and finishes - these are days with either 23 or 25 hours and are otherwise difficult to display accurately.
_Roster (business) Hours Finish workforce setting_
To allow shifts to extend past midnight, the _Roster Business Hours Finish_ must be set to be into the Next Day.
Please note: Shifts are not allowed to start past midnight - instead, these shifts must start early on the following day.
#### ProTip
Adjust your business hours to show just beyond the hours that you need. This saves space on the roster web UI and the printed PDF roster view.
### 4. Shift Time Precision
_Shift Time Precision_ controls the minimum time increments that shifts can start and finish at. If all your shifts always start and finish on the hour or half hour, then this setting can be set to 30 minutes. If you need a finer granularity of time for your shift start and end times, choose a lower value.
A higher value for _Shift Time Precision_ makes using the web and mobile interfaces easier and less finicky to use.
### 5. Show Days (Mon, Tue,...)
The 'Show Sundays', 'Show Mondays', etc. settings control which days appear on the web roster.
If you never schedule shifts on certain days (e.g. the weekend) then turning off the display of these days might be a good idea.
### 6. Confirmed Status for New Shifts
Typically shifts are created with a 'draft' status. Draft status indicates to employees that shift planning is not yet complete and that further changes might be made. Shifts can be 'confirmed' by clicking on the clock face icon.
If you prefer that shifts be created with an automatic 'confirmed' status, turn this Confirmed Status for New Shifts setting to on.
### 7. Show Draft Shifts
This Workforce Setting controls if employees can see shifts currently in draft status. Setting 'Draft Shifts Visible' off will allow roster managers to plan and schedule new shifts without allowing employees to see them until they are confirmed. The draft shifts are completely hidden from employees.
When 'Draft Shifts Visible' is set to off, then the other Workforce Setting 'Auto Confirm Shifts Days Before' is automatically turned on. This ensures the shifts will be visible to the employees at some stage (in case the roster manager forgets to confirm the shifts).
### 8. Auto Confirm Shifts Days Before
_Auto Confirm Shifts Days Before_ is set to automatically confirm shifts a selected number of days before each shift is scheduled to begin. It's good practice for roster managers to confirm shifts (rather than leave them with draft status), and this setting can be used to automatically confirm shifts when they have not already been manually confirmed (i.e. by clicking on the clock-face icon).
### 9. Warn About Empty Shifts
When turned on, Warn About Empty Shifts will cause empty shifts (i.e. shifts without any employees assigned) scheduled to begin within the next 48 hours to flash with a red warning colour on the roster view.
#### ProTip: Stop warnings when you actually want an empty shift
Assigning a fake employee is one way to stop the warnings about an empty shift being triggered when you want/need the shift to be empty. Create an employee record with a name like 'EMPTY SHIFT' or 'CANCELLED SHIFT' and assign this employee to the empty shift. Now the shift is no longer empty, and the warnings will stop.
### 10. Resource/Client/Employee Double Assignments
_Resource Double Assignments_, _Client Double Assignments_, and _Employee Double Assignments_ settings control what happens with a double-booked assignment, i.e., when an employee (or client or resource) is booked to work two shifts simultaneously.
By default, these settings are set to _warn_ and any double-booked assignment will be marked on the roster with a strike through the employee name (and resource or client names).
Each of these settings can be set to:
**warn** - Double assignments can be made, but WorkRoster will mark them with a strike-through the name. This is the default WorkRoster behaviour.
**allow** - Double assignments can be made. WorkRoster will not mark or warn about these double-booked assignments.
**block** - Double assignment is not allowed. If the resource/client/employee is already scheduled, then their name will not appear in the shift assignment menu for any conflicting shifts.
Using the allow setting is helpful for when it's okay for _Resource_ or _Client_ records to be assigned concurrently.
When the _block_ setting is used, there are still some circumstances when a double-booking might occur (such as automatically repeating shifts). Should this happen, then the double assignments are shown with the traditional strike-through treatment.
### 11. Show All Resources to Employees
Use this setting to restrict the list of _Resources_ shown to employees. Employees can be given access to the complete list or just a reduced list of any _Resource Records_ that they have been co-assigned with within the past (12 months) or future (12 months).
Managers will always see the complete list of _Resources._
_The default setting for Show All Resources to Employees is No._
### 12. Show All Clients to Employees
Use this setting to restrict the list of _Clients_ shown to employees. Employees can be given access to the complete list or just a reduced list of any _Client Records_ they have been co-assigned with within the past (12 months) or future (12 months).
Managers will always see the complete list of _Clients._
The default setting for _Show All Clients to Employees_ is _No_.
### 13. Show All Employees to Employees
Use this setting to restrict the list of _Employees_ shown to other employees. Employees can be given access to the complete list or just a reduced list of any _Employee Records_ they have been co-assigned with within the past (12 months) or future (12 months).
Managers will always see the complete list of _Employees._
**Note:** Employees will always see the complete list of Managers.
The default setting for _Show All Employees to Employees_ is _No_.
#### ProTip
If your employees work together and know each other, you can set _Show All Employees to Employees_ to _Yes_ if you wish.
On the other hand, **agency-style** businesses with staff that typically don't work with each other and don't know each other can set _Show All Employees to Employees_ to _No._
With _Show All Employees to Employees_ set to _No_, employees will still be able to see the employee records of all managers. Also, they will be able to see the employee records of any employees they have been co-assigned with. To prevent this, instead of assigning two different employees to the same shift ( co-assignment), create two identical shifts and assign each employee to a separate shift.
### 14. Employee Holiday Requests
Any Holiday Requests posted to the roster by an employee will be as a request (draft status). Holidays can only be confirmed by roster managers.
Only managers can add holidays and holiday requests to the roster when this setting is set to 'No'.
### 15. Show All Holidays to Employees
You can also set whether you want holiday requests (and approved holidays) to be shown to all employees or just managers (and the employees concerned).
#### ProTip
If you have many holidays and holiday requests on your rosters, you can create a separately dedicated roster in your workforce (e.g. called "Holidays") specifically for holiday requests. This will keep them out of your standard scheduling web view and PDFs of your everyday work shift rosters.
### 16. Default Holiday Allowance
This is the default number of annual holidays for each employee. This default allowance can be overridden in each employee's E_mployee Record_.
Depending on the _Holiday Counting Method_ used for the employee, either _Days_ or _Hours_, then the corresponding workforce setting, _Default Holiday Allowance Days_ or _Default Holiday Allowance Hours_, will be used.
The Holiday Allowance is used in the _Holiday Report PDF_ (in the _Print_ menu).
### 17. Holiday Year Start Month & Month Day
Your company's holiday allowance might be for the annual period starting from January 1st. Or the annual holiday allowance period might start on a different day, such as July 1st or April 5th. Set this date using the Holiday Year Start Month and Holiday Year Start Month Day settings.
### 18. All Sick Leave visible to Employees
When set to 'Yes', then employees will be able to see the _Sick Leave_ records of other employees on the roster.
When set to 'No, just their own', then employees will only see their own _Sick Leave_ records on the roster.
Managers can always see all _Sick_ _Leave_ records.
### 19. Show All Shifts to Employees
Usually, employees can see all shifts on the rosters. If this setting is set to "No, just their own", then employees will only be able to see the shifts to which they are assigned.
Managers take note: One thing to consider is that if employees can't see other shifts, then they also won't be able to indicate Shift Interest (willing/reluctant) for those invisible shifts either.
### 20. Show All Assignments to Employees
By default, employees can only see the assignments on shifts that they are also assigned to. Change this setting to "Yes" to allow employees to see assignments on other shifts. Employees will only see the assignments of Clients, Resources, and Employees that they are allowed to see as controlled by the "_Show All Resources to Employees_", "_Show All Clients to Employees_", and "_Show All Employees to Employees_" Settings.
This setting is helpful if you'd like your employees to see all the shifts (as per the "_Show All Shifts to Employees_" setting), but you'd only like them to see the assignments of their own shifts.
Employees will always see ALL the assignments of the shifts they are working (including other employees assigned to the same shifts and Clients assigned and Resources assigned).
### 21. Use Availability
The Use Availability setting can be used to turn off the Availability feature for the workforce.
Managers and employees will no longer see the free/busy (red/green) controls on the roster and shift assignments views.
### 22. All Availability visible to Employees
When set to "Yes", then employees can see the availability indicated by other employees.
If this is set to "No, just their own", then employees will only see their own availability.
Managers always see the availability of all employees.
### 23. Use Shift Interest
The Use Shift Interest setting can turn on or off the Shift Interest feature for the workforce.
When set to Off, managers and employees will no longer see the Willing/Reluctant (happy-face/frowning-face) controls on the roster and shift assignments views.
### 24. Use Shift Agreements
The Use Shift Agreements setting can be used to completely turn off the Shift Agreements feature for the workforce.
Managers and employees will no longer see the Accept/Decline (thumbs-up/down & question-mark) controls on the roster and shift assignments views.
#### ProTip
If your workforce doesn't use the Shift Agreements feature ( accept/decline (thumbs-up/thumbs-down/question-mark)) at all, then turning off 'Use Shift Agreements' can slightly speed up WorkRoster for you and your employees and make the system slightly easier to understand with fewer controls on the screen.
### 25. Allow Decline
This setting controls when, and if, employees can mark "decline" on their shift assignments. Turning this setting off will make the Shift Agreement feature "accept" only.
### 26. All Agreements visible to Employees
When set to "Yes", employees can see the _Shift Agreements_ (accepts & declines) indicated by other employees.
If this is set to "No, just their own", then employees will only see their own Agreements.
Managers can always see the Shift Agreements of all employees.
#### ProTip
Setting "Agreements Visible to Employees" to "YES" (and also "Availability Visible to Employees") can help encourage individual employees to update (e.g. Accept) their assignments as a result of seeing their colleagues doing the same.
### 27. Allow Shift Agreements to be Declined
This Workforce Setting controls if employees are allowed to set their 'Shift Agreements' to Declined (and Pre-Declined). Turning this setting off will cause 'Shift Agreements' to be 'Accept (and Pre-Accept) Only' for all employees.
### 28. Employee SMS Access
Workforce owners can purchase SMS credits to send SMS messages from WorkRoster. Set 'Employee SMS access' to yes if you'd like your connected employees to be able to receive shift reminders by SMS using your workforce SMS credits. This is a legacy feature.
### 29. Show Activity to employees
When set to "YES", employees can view the workforce Activity stream.
The Activity stream always includes details about Employees, Shifts, Assignments, Availability and Agreements regardless of the other advanced settings listed above. This setting allows access to the Activity stream to be restricted to managers only if desired.
### 30. Show Email Addresses To Employees
Email Addresses added to Employee (and Client) Records are hidden from other employees by default. Email Addresses are always visible to roster managers.
Change this setting to allow connected users (employees) to see the Email addresses on all employee records. This is sometimes required if your company provides email accounts or your business requires each employee to access others' email addresses for work purposes.
#### ProTip
If you have 'Email Addresses Visible To Employees' turned off but require some email address information to be shared, you can add these email addresses to the text of the employee record 'Description' fields. The Description field is always visible to all connected users (employees and managers).
### 31. Show Telephone Numbers To Employees
Telephone Numbers added to Employee (and Client) Records are hidden from other employees by default. Telephone Numbers are always visible to roster managers.
Change this setting to allow connected users (employees) to see the Telephone Numbers on all employee records. This is sometimes required if your company provides telephones or your business requires each employee to access others' telephone numbers for work purposes.
### 32. Use Photos
Use Photos setting controls what photos are displayed for resources, clients, and employees. The options are
- Do not show photos - no photos are shown.
- Only show uploaded photos - No default (random) photos are displayed. Only photos uploaded to the Employee Record (by a manager) or User Profile (by the user) are shown.
- Show uploaded and default photos - when no photo has been uploaded, a random image from the WorkRoster image library is used.
### 33. Use Employee Colours
Employees (and clients, and resources) are usually displayed with their own colour for easier recognition. The individual colours can be set manually or chosen automatically by WorkRoster.
The 'Use Employees Colours' setting allows individual colours to be turned off for the entire workforce. When set off, all employees will appear the same colour. All clients and all resources will also have the same colour.
### 34. Restricted Memos
The WorkRoster Memo feature allows memo messages to be posted to staff.
When the Restricted Memos setting is set to _Yes_ then regular employees are restricted to posting memos to managers only.
When Restricted Memos is set to _No,_ regular employees can post memos to everyone, including other regular employees.
Managers can always post memos without any restrictions.
### 35. Workforce Logo
You can replace the default logo image for your workforce with your own by clicking the "Add Logo" button.
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