This is an optional feature available for additional charge. Please contact our support team to learn more. |
Blink's Open Shifts tool helps shift managers advertise available shifts on the Blink feed and enables employees to apply for available shifts.
Managers can assign the shift and notify the team member, and there is a summary in the Hub showing all the available, booked and applied for shifts for both manager and employee.
By providing a way to advertise available shifts in the app your teams are using every day, Open Shifts will help you fill shifts sooner and with less effort.
In this article:
Open Shifts for Managers/Admins
As a manager/admin, the open shifts tool gives you access to six key functions:
Add multiple shifts
Add shift
Export shifts
Shift update feed posts
Shift statuses
Assign, reassign, delete a shift
Add multiple shifts
Click the ’add multiple shifts button’, top right in your Open Shifts tool:
Download the provided csv template and convert your shift data into the format shown below. A maximum of 500 shifts must be included for each upload. For uploads >500, please complete multiple uploads.
Data format: ISO standard date format
Column | Name | Description | Format | Example |
Column A** | start_at | The shift date and start time | Year: YYYY Month: Number Day of month: Number Time: 00:00:00 | 2024-10-28T08:00:00.000Z |
Column B** | end_at | The shift date and end time | Year: YYYY Month: Number Day of month: Number Time: 00:00:00 | 2024-10-28T08:00:00.000Z |
Column C** | location | The location or address of the shift | Free text | Blink HQ, 71 Fanshaw St, N1 6LA |
Column D** | pay_rate | The hourly pay rate | Free text (please specify currency) | £15 / $45 / €30 |
Column E* | comment | A description of the shift | Free text | Uniform and PPE required |
Column F* | external_id | The shift external ID from any third party rota tool | Free text | Dependent on third-party tool |
**These are mandatory fields.
*These can be left blank, but the column must not be deleted.
Save the file as a csv and then use the button ‘upload csv’ to import the data (it can also manage Excel files).
Once the data is imported, Blink will show you if there are any errors in your shifts, e.g., if there is a start date ending after the finish date. Shifts with these errors will not be posted. Click ‘upload fixed CSV’ and repeat the above steps to upload correct data, if correction of data is required.
Select your audience by choosing the teams that will be able to view and request your shifts.
Tick ‘share on the feed’ and ‘notify audience’ if you want your audience to be alerted to your new shifts.
Post your shifts and get ready to receive lots of interest!
Add shift
As an admin/manager, you can use the ‘add shift’ button to post a single shift.
Fill in all the requested information that applies. Please note that the only required fields are the Shift Start, Shift End, Location, and Audience; however, the other fields may help engage your users as well.
Shift start - Enter the date and time the open shift will begin.
Shift end - enter the date and time the shift will end.
Location - tell the users where this shift will be occurring.
Shift ID - this is where you can enter the identifying information for the shift you've listed. The idea is that this will connect to however the shift is listed in your third party time-keeping/scheduling system.
Audience - select the team(s) that this shift will be available to. Only users on these teams will be able to request this shift. Please note that you must be part of the team you'd like to list the shift for.
Tick ‘share on the feed’ and ‘notify audience’ if you want your audience to be alerted to your new shifts. Then post your shift!
Export shifts
As an admin/manager, you can export your Blink shifts as a csv file by selecting the ‘download’ icon top right.
Choose between downloading assigned shifts only, or all your shifts on Blink. You must select a period for download (the dates entered correspond to shift start dates).
Shift update feed posts
Admins/managers are notified on their feed when someone has applied for one of their shifts:
You can click ‘view interest’ and then manage that shift within the feed pop-up. Pretty cool!
Shift Statuses
In addition to feed posts, you can review the status of your shifts in the Open Shifts tool at any time. Shifts are listed by date order and show whether they are:
open with no applicants
open with applicants
assigned to a worker
Open shift (without applicant):
Open shift (with applicant):
Assigned shift:
Assign, reassign, delete a shift
Once your shifts are posted and you are receiving shift requests, you can then manage your shifts by assigning an applicant, reassigning the shift to a different applicant (conditional to there being multiple applicants), or deleting the shift altogether if your requirement changes.
Assign a shift:
Reassign:
Delete:
For information on Open Shifts 2.0 for Users, please see:
For information on Open Shifts version 1, please see:
FAQs
How can I enable this for my organization? | At this time, any requests to add this functionality need to be sent to support@joinblink.com. |
Is Open Shifts a paid-for tool? | Yes. Speak to your CSM or contact support@joinblink.com for further details. |
What do I do if I don't want the shift to be open anymore? | If the shift is no longer available, you can delete the listing.
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I'm an admin so why don't I see the team listed that I want to add a shift for? | You will only be able to add and list shifts for teams that you are a part of. |
Does the upload button support any other file types?
| Yes, you can upload an Excel file, as long as it is formatted correctly.
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Does the csv template support other fields?
| Currently, no. To import open shift data, the admin/manager must use the template and format shown in this document.
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Is there a cap on the number of shifts I can upload?
| As an admin/manager, you can upload a maximum of 500 shifts in a single import. To add >500 you should run another import.
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Can a user cancel a shift they’ve been assigned to?
| No, a user isn’t able to cancel a shift that they’ve been assigned. However, on mobile, the user is able to chat direct to the admin/manager via the concerning shift.
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Can I target individual employees for filling specific shifts?
| The best way to do this is to ‘@’ the individual(s) in the comments section on the Open Shift feed post.
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Can I stop a user from applying for conflicting or overlapping shifts? | Currently, no. But the Blink team are looking into how best to improve this for customers. |