Trading and Bidding Shifts

You can send shift trade requests to other employees. An employee who receives the request can accept or decline the shift trade request. Trades will work as per the configurations set by the manager.

Your manager needs to enable shift trading for your account. Then only you can do shift trading with an agent from your or another scheduling unit.

For example, you have a morning shift coming up on Monday. You need that morning for personal reasons and don't want to take a vacation day. A fellow employee doesn't mind trading their shift with yours. You both need to meet validations for the trade to succeed.

In addition to trading shifts, you can trade your weekly day off with another agent. This allows you more flexibility without affecting the staffing needs.

Trade a Shift

You can trade a full-day or partial-day shift. Different options for trading a shift are available based on your organization’s configuration.

You can trade shifts with agents who:

Having shifts falling on the same day as yours or on different days.
Belong to your scheduling unit or other scheduling units.

Shift trades must be enabled in the configuration and meet the required validations to use it.

Required validations based on the configuration:

Valid minimum time between the trade request and the shift start time.
Valid maximum days between the trade request and the shift start time.
Shift to trade must not contain non-tradable activities. In this case, a partial-day trade could be possible if it is enabled in the configuration.
When you do a full-day trade request, the maximum difference between the shift lengths must be valid as per the configuration.
Partial-day trades must be of equal length.

You can make only full-day trade requests when:

Partial-day trades are disabled from the configuration.
Full-day trade request is pending for the same shift.

You can send multiple trade requests for the same shift based on the configuration. You need not cancel the previous request.

You can make only partial-day trade requests when:

There is a pending partial-day trade request for the same day.

Based on the configuration, you can send multiple trade requests for the same shift hours. You need not cancel the previous request.
The shift you are trading contains non-tradable activities.

In this case, a partial-day trade can be submitted. You can trade segments of the schedule that do not contain non-tradable activities.
Not all the hours from your shift meet the minimum advance notice validation.

Let’s say the minimum advance notice is configured as 3 hours. Your shift is from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM on a particular day. You make a shift trade request on the same day at 12:00 PM. In this case, you won’t be able to trade the first 2 hours of the shift because of the minimum advance notice validation. This means you can trade partial-day, not full-day.

For trading a shift:

Go to My Zone > My Schedule, or from MAX, go to WEM > My Schedule.
Use the date picker to go to the shift date you would like to trade.
Click Options > Trade Shift. The trade shift window pops up. Trading shift details are selected by default.
Define your preferences for the shift you want in exchange in the Preferred shift day and time:
- From the drop-down, select your preferred days.
- Set the preferred time.
Click Find Matching Shifts.

You will get the corresponding validation error message if there are validation issues with your shift selection or the Preferred shift and time preferences. Modify your preferences based on the error message.

If all the trade preferences are valid, all matching shifts appear in the results area.

All of the search results from the current search are disabled when you modify:
- Preferred shift and time preferences
- Trading shift details
The number next to the Search agents field is the total number of matching shifts available to trade, based on your preferences. You can search for the specific agents you want to send the shift trade request using the Search agents field.
Select the agents you want to send the trade request by selecting the check box next to the agent’s name. The maximum number of agents you can choose depends on the shift trade configuration. The administrator sets this configuration.
To view selected agents only, switch the toggle on Show selected only.
Click the Submit Trade Request button to send the request to the selected target agents. A message shows the status of the trade request.

Based on the trade request submission status, messages:
- Trade request sent successfully to all the selected agents.
  
  This message is generated when a trade request is sent to all the selected agents.
- Trade request sent successfully to <number of agents> agents.
  
  This message is generated when a trade request is sent to a few of the selected agents.
  
  Suppose there is a schedule change by the time you select target agents to send the trade request. The target agents whose schedules got changed might not receive your trade request. This means not all the target agents you select get the trade request. This is a case of partial success.
  
  Technical exceptions can also be responsible for partial success.
- Trade request failed.
  
  This message is generated when a trade request is not sent to any of the selected agents due to a technical exception.
All target agents who receive the trade request get the notification.

You can see your pending shift trade request under the Schedule Request page of the corresponding date.

Once any target agent accepts your request, a manager must approve the trade.

After approval, you get the notification of the shift trade acceptance in My Zone.

You can cancel your shift trade request at any time before any of the target agents accepts it.
To cancel the request:
- In My Zone > My Schedule, go to the date on which you made the shift trade request.
- Go to Schedule Request.
- Select the shift trade request and click Cancel.

Accept a Trade

Click the notification to see the received trade request.

This takes you directly to the day of the shift that your fellow employee requested.
Click View Request to see the two shifts side-by-side. This shows you which shift you'll be giving and which shift you'll be getting in return.
Accept or Decline the request.

Keep in mind that the trade will not be finalized until your manager has reviewed it and approved it. Once it has been approved, you'll get a notification letting you know.

Trade the Weekly Day Off

The key features of this trade are:

Automatic and Manual Approval Processes: The system supports both automatic and manual approval workflows.
- Auto Approval: If auto-approval is enabled, the first target agent who accepts the trade triggers automatic approval, and all other pending requests are declined.
- Manager Approval: If manager approval is required, all accepted requests are sent to the manager for final approval. The manager can view trade details and approve or deny the request.
Skill Matching: Ensures that agents with the required skills are matched during the trade process.
Comprehensive Notifications: Both source and target agents receive notifications at various stages of the trade process.

To trade a weekly day off:

Go to My Zone > My Schedule, or from CX Agent WEM > My Schedule.
Use the date picker to select the shift date you would like to trade.
Click Options > Trade. The trade shift window pops up. Trading shift details are selected by default.
Select Day-off as Trade Type and select a date you want as day off to trade.
Define your preferences for the shift you want in exchange in the Preferred shift day and time:
1. From the drop-down, select your preferred day off.
2. Set the preferred time frame for shift.
Click Find Matching Shifts.

You will get the corresponding validation error message if there are validation issues with your shift selection or the Preferred shift and time preferences. Modify your preferences based on the error message.

If all the trade preferences are valid, all matching shifts appear in the results area.

All of the search results from the current search are disabled when you modify:
- Preferred shift and time preferences
- Trading shift details
The number next to the Search agents field is the total number of matching shifts available to trade, based on your preferences. Use this field to search for specific agents to send the shift trade request.
Select the agents you want to send the trade request to by checking the box next to their names.
Click Submit Trade Request to send the request to the selected target agents.

All target agents who receive the trade request get the notification.

You can see your pending shift trade request under the Schedule Request page of the corresponding date.

After approval, you get the notification of the shift trade acceptance in My Zone.

You can cancel your shift trade request at any time.
To cancel the request:
1. In My Zone > My Schedule, go to the date on which you made the shift trade request.
2. Select the shift trade request and click Cancel.

Bid on Shifts

Your managers can create weekly shift patterns for you to bid on. These are combinations of shifts for possible weekly schedules. Each possible weekly schedule is made up of a collection of different shifts. You can bid on which schedule you want the most. The bid statuses will be managed by the manager or supervisor. Agents will only be able to view and submit bids.

When your manager opens a bid, you'll receive a notification. You can then bid on the available weekly schedules.

Once the bid is closed, you'll be scheduled based on the priorities you set in your bid, as well as your rank and seniority.

To bid on shifts:

Go to My Zone > Shift Bidding, or from MAX, go to WEM > Shift Bidding.
Each week available for bidding is made up of rows, with each row displaying a different possible weekly schedule. Drag and drop the rows in the order of your preference from top to bottom.
Click Submit Bid.

Your bid will be submitted to your supervisor and considered when assigning your schedule.