Set up your Scheduling Rules; such as limits on weekly work hours, daily shift caps, and required rest periods. And configure Minimum Shift Claim Requirements to ensure employees meet their weekly shift quotas. These tools help maintain compliance with company policies and labor regulations while reducing last-minute scheduling issues and keeping your workforce properly staffed.
Admin Scheduling Setup
Before managing limitations or rules, make sure your admin permissions are enabled.
Required Admin Permissions
Admins must have permission to:
Access the Job Scheduling feature.
Access the specific Job Schedule they will manage.
Manage user details in the Users tab.
How to Enable Scheduling Rules
To enable and manage Scheduling Rules for employees:
Open the Users tab in the left sidebar.
Select the employee you want to manage.
Open the Employment tab.
Scroll to Scheduling rules and click Set rules.
Choose an existing policy or set up a new custom rule.
Save your changes.
Scheduling Rules and Policies
Scheduling Policies
Scheduling Policies apply to groups of employees and define standardized work limits. Policies help maintain compliance with company or regional labor requirements.
Common examples include:
Full‑Time Policy (40 hours per week)
Part‑Time Policy (20 hours per week)
Region-specific rules (e.g., Canada Policy)
Custom Rules
Custom Rules apply to individual employees. These are helpful when an employee has unique work arrangements, such as:
Different weekly hour limits
Variable daily shift limits
Required rest periods between shifts
How to Create a New Scheduling Policy
To create a policy:
Open the Users tab.
Select Company Policies.
Click Create Policy.
Enter a policy name.
(Optional) Select Set as default for all new users-Once a policy is set as default, any new users added to Connecteam will automatically be assigned to that policy.
Add rule limits to the policy.
(Optional) Enable Prevent users from exceeding this rule when claiming shifts.When enabled, this will prevent users from claiming shifts that exceed the specified limit, even if admin approval is required.
Choose whether the policy applies to all schedules or a specific schedule.
Assign users to the policy. In this case, the policy applies to USA Employees only so I will assign it only to the USA employees. Under this tab, you will also be able to view your users' current Scheduling Policies.
In the Overlaps tab in the next stage, in case you have users which are already assigned to a policy, you will have the option to either add to existing policies or override them.
Review the summary and click Save.
Managing Scheduling Policies
To manage your Scheduling Policies, access the Company Policies tab on the Users page. From here you can Create a new policy or edit, duplicate, edit assignments, deactivate, or delete an existing policy by clicking on the three dots next to the specific policy.
Edit: this allows you to edit your policy and make changes to the name or policy rules.
Duplicate: allows you to duplicate the policy to assign it to different users and make any changes.
Edit Assignments: allows you to edit the assignment of the policy in case you need to add or remove any users from it.
Deactivate: allows you to deactivate the policy in case it's outdated or if regulations have changed. You will be able to easily reactivate the policy by clicking on the three dots and selecting Activate
Delete: allows you to delete the policy altogether.
Managing Scheduling Quotas
Managing Scheduling Quotas ensures employees meet their required number of weekly shift claims while keeping your organization compliant with internal policies and labor guidelines. By setting minimum claim requirements, admins can maintain fair workload distribution, prevent understaffing, and ensure employees take responsibility for their assigned shifts. These quotas also give managers clear visibility into who is falling behind, while giving employees a simple way to track their progress and stay compliant with expectations.
Weekly Claim Requirements
Weekly Claim Requirements help ensure employees meet their minimum number of claimed open shifts.
To set weekly claim requirements:
Open the Job Schedule.
Click Settings.
Go to Limitations.
Scroll to Minimum open shift claims.
Enter the weekly required number.
Click Save.
How Weekly Requirements are Displayed
Admins see an indicator showing which users are below their required claims.
Users see a progress bar showing how many more shifts they must claim.
💡 Tip: Notify all employees who are below their required shift count directly from the schedule.
Admin Limitations
Admin Limitations help managers avoid last‑minute schedule changes and ensure proper staffing compliance.
How To Set Up Short Notice Alerts
Short Notice Alerts warn admins when they attempt to create, edit, or publish a shift within a restricted time window before the workweek begins.
To set Short Notice Alerts:
Open the relevant Job Schedule.
Click Settings.
Open the Limitations tab.
Scroll to Short Notice Alerts.
Enable alerts and set the number of hours before the week starts.
Click Save.
How Short Notice Alerts Work
Alerts appear when admins:
Create a new shift
Edit existing shift times, jobs, or assignments
Change shift locations
Publish schedule updates
This is how the alert will appear in your schedule with the rest of the conflicts:
How Rules Apply in the Schedule
On Desktop
Admins receive warnings when:
Publishing shifts that violate employee rule
Saving draft shifts that exceed assigned limitations
Admins can view rule summaries next to each employee:
They can also:
Open user rules directly from weekly statistics by hovering over the weekly statistics and clicking on View User's Rules. From there, you can edit the rules by clicking on the gear icon on the right hand side.
Adjust conflicting shifts using the Conflicts tool
On Mobile
When assigning shifts, the system notifies admins if the shift will violate a Scheduling Rule.
FAQs
Q: Can I apply different limitations to different users within the same Job Schedule?
A: Not yet. All limitations apply to the entire schedule. This feature is on the roadmap.
Q: Where can I find Scheduling Rules?
A: Scheduling Rules are found in each user's Employment tab.
Q: Do employees get notified when they violate a limitation?
A: Yes. They receive an explanation when they attempt a restricted action.
Q: What triggers a Short Notice Alert?
A: Any change to shift time, location, job, or assignment made within your restricted window.
Q: Why can't I see Weekly Claim Requirements?
A: Make sure Weekly Summary View is enabled in your schedule settings.
To Learn more about setting up User limitations check out this article
Please note that at the moment the ability to set limitations on the Job Schedule will apply to the entire schedule and any assigned users or smart groups. You are not able to set different limitations for users under the same Job Schedule. With that being said, this is a feature request on our roadmap. You are welcome to vote for this feature and leave your feedback for our product team.
*Schedule Limitations are available from the Operations Hub Expert Plan*
Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question.