Instead of manually handling shift trade requests from your agents, you can enable shift trading. This allows agents to trade directly with one another. Once both agents mutually approve a shift trade, you'll see their request to trade in the Manage Requests page.
You can also set conditions for shift trading in WFM.
For example, you can create shift trading conditions to ensure:
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Agents have the appropriate skills to take over new shifts.
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Agents cannot trade shifts after you finalize a weekly schedule.
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Shift trading won't cause agents to exceed their weekly hour quota.
To enable shift trading:
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Click the app selector
and select WFM. -
Go to Setup > Shift Trading.
Permission
You must have this permission: Go to Admin > Security Settings > Roles and Permissions >WFM > Setup > Shift Trading).
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Turn on Allow agents to trade shifts. Your employees will now be able to trade shifts with each other.
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Set the conditions agents must meet so they can trade shifts:
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Agents must be in the same scheduling unit: For example, Sara is in the Atlanta SU and would like to submit a trade. You want to make sure that Sara only trades with an agent in the Atlanta SU.
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Agents must have the same skills: Let's say Oscar is assigned two skills: English and Spanish. Brenda is assigned one skill: English. If you select this condition, Oscar and Brenda won't be able to trade shifts. WFM compares only which skills the agents are assigned. Proficiency is not considered.
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Agents must have the same operating hours: To validate this condition, the system checks the following:
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The requester's shift must fall within the operating hours of the requestee’s scheduling unit (If the requestee doesn’t belong to an scheduling unit, this check is skipped.)
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The requestee’s shift must fall within the operating hours of the requester’s scheduling unit (If the requester doesn’t belong to an scheduling unit, this check is skipped.)
Example:
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Requester Shift: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Requester Scheduling Unit Hours of Operation: 6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
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Requestee Shift: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Requestee Scheduling Unit Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
In this case, both conditions are met, so the agents can trade shifts.
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Agents can trade partial days: Allows agents to trade part of their scheduled shift. WFM considers what is defined in minimum time that may be traded (hh:mm). The agent can select any maximum up to the length of their schedule.
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Set the conditions for the number of requests and time that can be traded:
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Maximum open trade requests: Set how many requests can be open per day. A request is open until it's either accepted by the other agent and the manager, or rejected by one.
See example
Let's say you set the maximum at 20.
Brenda learns that she won't be able to make her shift. She wants to send a trade request to as many people as possible to increase her chances of finding someone to replace her. She can only send out 20 requests at a time.
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Maximum days allowed between trade request and start time: Set the maximum number of days that can fall between the date the trade request is made and the shift start time. WFM applies this limit to both the source agent's shift and the target agent's shift.
Agents see the result of this limit differently:
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The source agent sees this error: Cannot trade shift. Shift trade date beyond permitted period from the requested date.
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Target agents whose shifts fall outside the limit do not appear in the list of agents fetched by the source agent for trade.
See example
If today is Friday and you set this value to 5, only schedules through Wednesday are eligible for trade.
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Minimum time required between trade request and start time: Set how close to the start of a shift an agent can trade. If you don't want to limit the minimum time, keep the values at 0 days, 0 hours. If all the other conditions are met, agents can trade shifts with no required time between the request and start time.
See examples
You finalized your unit's weekly schedule on Monday and don't want any changes. You can set the minimum time required to 7 days.
This way, agents won't be able to trade shifts that fall within the finalized schedule. The earliest shift they can trade is seven days from the shift's start time.
For example:
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Oscar has a shift on Tuesday and Brenda on Thursday. He won't be able to trade shifts with her because the time between trade request and start time is less than 7 days.
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Oscar has a shift on Tuesday and Brenda next week. If they successfully trade shifts, Brenda will work on Tuesday, and your unit's weekly schedule won't change.
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Minimum time that may be traded: If you don't want to limit the time, keep the value at 00:00.
See example
You set the minimum time as 3:00.
Oscar is in the middle of his shift and decides he wants to go home two hours early. He won't be able to trade and move those last two hours, because it falls under the minimum time that may be traded.
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Set the conditions regarding the agents' schedule and shift:
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Total scheduled hours (including shift trades) cannot exceed: Limits the number of hours agents can work per week or per day. They won't be able to trade shifts if the new shift causes them to exceed their limit. WFM calculates scheduled hours by comparing the lengths of activities in the shift with the work attribute defined on the Activity Code configuration page.
See example
You limit the total scheduled hours per week to 40. Brenda is already scheduled to work 40 hours. She cannot trade a 5-hour shift for an 8-hour shift. She'll be scheduled for 43 hours, and that exceeds the limit.
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Minimum scheduled hours per week required, including shift trades: Sets the minimum number of hours agents can work per week. They won't be able to trade shifts if the new shift places them below that quota. WFM calculates scheduled hours by comparing the lengths of activities in the shift with the work attribute defined on the Activity Code configuration page.
See example
For example, you set the minimum scheduled hours at 40. Oscar is scheduled to work for 42 hours that week. He cannot trade an 8-hour shift for a 5-hour shift during that week. That would mean he's scheduled for 39 hours, and that's below the quota.
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Maximum difference in shift length (in hours): Agents can trade only when the length of the other shift is within the range you define.
See examples
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You set the difference as 01:00: This means that the difference between shifts must be up to one hour.
Brenda has a ten-hour shift and wants to trade with another agent. She won't be able to trade with an agent that has an eight-hour shift.
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You set the difference as 00:00: This means that agents can trade only with shifts of the same length.
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Select the time frame for shift trading:
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Time frame must occur in the same calendar month: Limits your agents to trading shifts that occur in the same month.
For example, agents that have a shift in April will only be able to trade for shifts that are in April.
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Time frame must occur in the same: Customize the time frame within which agents can trade shifts.
See examples
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You set the following time frame: 1 week period, starting Sunday.
Oscar wants to trade his shift that's scheduled for Wednesday, May 18.
He can trade with shifts that occur between Sunday, May 15 and Saturday, May 21.
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You set the following time frame: 2 week period, starting Sunday.
Brenda wants to trade her shift that's scheduled for Wednesday, May 18.
She can trade with shifts that occur between Sunday, May 8 and Saturday, May 28.
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You set the following time frame: 3 week period, starting Sunday.
Oscar wants to trade his shift that's scheduled for Wednesday, May 18.
He can trade with shifts that occur between Sunday, May 8 and Saturday, June 4.
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Select how trade requests are approved:
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Send to manager for approval: Trade requests that agents accept go to a manager for approval.
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Auto approve: Trade requests receive manager's approval automatically once agents accept.
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Click Save.