You have your choice of ways to fill shifts. You have learned about how to create shifts and shift templates and now lets talk about how to fill those shifts.

In this article, you can learn the different ways to schedule and link to the specific help pages on how to set up the right method for you.

Note: Many customers use a hybrid of multiple or all methods of filling shifts, depending on the type of shifts they are trying to fill. You may find more than one suites your operations!

This article will cover the following steps in different methods of scheduling employees in Schedule Xpress:

Here are the different ways to schedule:

*Celayix AI relies on historic data of 3 months of human scheduling, making it impossible to showcase in the free trial, however, read below and we can give some more detail. Speak to your representative if you have more questions!

What: The most simple version of scheduling is filling shifts one-by-one. Although we highly recommend using one of the automated methods below, this is a great option for one-off shifts. To add individually, right click on the shift. This can be for a shift that is open or already assigned.

Once you hit Edit, the Shift Tools will open and you can select an employee from your list or add a new employee on the go.

Hit OK once completed to save the actions to draft mode. Once you hit the Save Icon on the page, that employee will be assigned to the shift!

What: Autofill is Celayix's powerful way to fill shifts, while using our rules based engine to automatically accounting for the rules you have set up for those shifts. For example, it takes into account specific requirements/certifications, overtime rules, double booking, and much more. This way, you fill the shifts with applicable staff without having to manually remember their details.

This process can take less than a few minutes once you have set up the rules you are looking for! This is the most popular way to schedule and saves an enormous amount of time!

How: There are already a set of pre-configured examples for autofill within your free trial account. To try it out, create a shift and go to the schedule tools and hit autofill.

Helpful hint: The autofill button will be greyed out if you have no shifts on the page. Simply add a shift and it will become clickable.

To take a deep dive into how to use autofill from the scheduling page, check out Autofill for Filling Shifts.

What: Self-scheduling is a very unique and useful way to allow employees to be able to self-select into shifts, with some BIG caveats. Similar to autofill and all other automated ways Celayix has to schedule, these shifts are only shown to those that are eligible to work those shifts. This means only those who have the qualifications will see the shifts. Automatically they will not be able to double book or work more hours than their threshold. Many organizations use this as their main way to schedule while others send out only some shifts to certain people for self-scheduling.

How: Shifts can be sent to self-schedule from the main scheduling screen. To learn how to use self-scheduling, check out our specific self-scheduling help guide on how it looks both administrators and employees!

What: Similar to self-scheduling, this gives some choice to the employee on when they would like to work. However, instead of awarding the shift once selected like in self-scheduling, employees can bid on shifts they would like to work. Similarly, they will only see shifts they are applicable for. Then, the system will either select the best fit candidate, or managers can manually select which person they would like to have work this shift. Shift bids, like self-scheduling, can be sent only to specific employees and can have expiry times/dates ahead of the shift to ensure shifts are filled.

How: As the other methods, shift bidding happens from the main screen of the scheduler in Schedule Tools. To learn how to use shift bidding, check out our Shift Bidding help page!

What: Celayix AI is the next level on how to schedule. It can look at both existing schedules and offer suggestions along with filling shifts based on criteria and historical data. You will see the Celayix AI option under schedule tools.

How: The AI studies the scheduling behaviors and mimics the actions of a human scheduler. As it relies on data of about 3 months, it is impossible to run during the trial process. However, your representative can show you more or you can check out our Celayix AI eBook!

For more information on methods of scheduling, please Contact Support now!