With Connecteam's Job Scheduler, you can manage your team whenever and wherever you are, even if your employees are on the other side of the world! Job scheduling makes it effortless to create shifts or dispatch jobs for your team and make sure they have all the information they need regarding their shift right in their mobile app.
Connecteam's mobile app automatically adjusts the scheduled shift times according to the user's date and time settings on their mobile device. However, you can be sure to get it right by scheduling for the exact times you need so that you and your employees can be on the same page, regardless of where you're located.
In this article we will go over the following:
The Default Option for the Time Zone
If you're managing employees who work in the same time zone as you, set up your job schedule according to the time zone that you and your employees are in. Default shift hours will be shown in your time zone, according to the default hours you set up.
Access the Job Scheduler from the sidebar, and choose a schedule.
Access the settings and click on 'Week & Time'
Scroll down to the time zone and change to the relevant time zone (the default option that appears will be your current location)
In the example below we can see that the work hours are set from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and the time zone is set to Jerusalem/Asia. In the picture on the right, we can see that the default option when creating a shift will be for these hours and this time zone. If necessary, adjust the hours and time zone to reflect your current location.
How to Set Up the Time Zone According to Your Location
Do you have an employee that is working remotely but you need them to work during the office's work hours? No problem! When creating a shift according to your time zone, the shifts will appear on the job schedule according to those hours. If your employee is away, and their time zone is set up to a different time zone, they will see the hours of the shift according to their new time zone.
For example, if I'm a manager in Israel and I want my employee to work from 9 AM until 5 PM in my time zone, I need to set up the shift according to my time zone. When the user opens the shift while they are away in New York, they will see the shift hours from 2 PM until 10 PM.
In the picture on the right, we can see I've set up a shift from 9 AM to 5 PM in my time zone (Israel). In the picture on the left, we can see what it looks like from my employee's POV on their mobile app. She sees the shift as 2 PM to 10 PM due to the 7-hour time difference.
How to Set Up the Time Zone According to Your Employee's Location
Say you have an employee who works in another country or is away for a business trip and you need to set up their schedule according to their new time zone. This way, the employee will be able to see the shift hours according to his time zone. It's that simple, no need to manually calculate the hours!
Access the job schedule settings and make sure that the job schedule settings are set to your time zone by default.
Create a new shift and add in the work hours according to your time zone. For example, if your office is active from 9 AM to 5 PM, put in these hours as usual.
Change the time zone to the time zone of the employee's location.
Click 'Publish'.
In the example below, I am a manager in Jerusalem, Israel, and I created a shift for April, my employee who is away in New York. I want her to work from 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST). My schedule settings are set to Israel's time zone, therefore, when creating a shift for April, I changed the shift time zone to America/New York (which is the same as EST). Now, April will see her shift scheduled from 9 AM to 5 PM EST. On the other hand, I will see the shift in my time zone (4 PM to 12 AM) making it clear to me when she is on shift without redundant calculations. Notice that in the schedule view, you will see the shift in your hours with the GMT hours stating the time difference.
What Does it Look Like From the Employee's Point of View?
April will see her shift scheduled on January 12th from 09:00 AM until 05:00 PM.
Common Use-Cases
Global Teams: For businesses that have different teams or branches located in different parts of the world, scheduling shifts with time zones is helpful to coordinate when staff can work together on projects or when they're available to communicate.
Customer Service: For businesses with a customer service department that caters to clients all over the world, scheduling shifts according to your clients' needs for service availability will guarantee you've got all grounds covered and won't miss any peak times in demand.
Remote Work: For businesses with employees who work remotely from different time zones, scheduling shifts can streamline working hours and availability, which is useful for collaboration, communication, and efficiency.
Frequency Asked Questions
I know generally which time zone my employees are working in but I don't know exactly in which country or city they're located. What should I do?
When choosing a timezone in the shift details, you can choose any time zone abbreviation without having to input a specific country and city. For example: EST, CST, MST, GMT, UST.
Does changing the time zone on my schedule impact the time zone of the entire dashboard site? Nope! You can change the time zone of the dashboard site by clicking on your name at the top right --> Settings --> General tab --> Time zone.
When scheduling new shifts, should I do it on my laptop to ensure the proper time zone is used? Even if you schedule new shifts on the admin tab on the mobile app, users will see the hours in their time zone. The option for you to switch the schedule's time zone on the dashboard site is to make it easier for you to see their schedule in their hours.
How do I know if Daylight Savings Time begins or ends in the time zone I'm scheduling a shift for?
Daylight Savings Time begins and ends on different dates and times in each time zone. When scheduling a shift for a night in which the clock changes, you'll receive a message indicating this. This message will appear according to which time zone you are scheduling the shift for.
To get started with the Job Scheduler, check out this article!
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