Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Team Management & Scheduling!

[Tom]

On January 28th, we hosted a Square Team Management & Scheduling Live Q&A!

@seiderman is the product manager on Square Team Management, focused specifically on scheduling, timecards, and the Square Team app. Having worked at Square for 6+ years, he’s experienced in working directly with sellers on how they can use Square to improve their team operations. While passionate about all things Square and Team Management, he still finds time to indulge in other hobbies including video games, working out, and playing with his 7yr old cocker spaniel / lab mix dog.

A few example questions:

• How can I use shift scheduling to improve my labor cost margins?
• How can I share the schedule out with my team?
• Is there a way to test out the paid scheduling features?

[Tom]

Thanks @seiderman and hello @beautymtl! I checked in with our Appointments team and it sounds like the best solution is within the Processing Time setting. For an illustration on how to set it up, have a look here: Add Processing Time to Your Square Appointments Services.

If that doesn't solve for what you're needing to do, can you reply back with a bit more information? With that we'll take a deeper dive.

[knieuwoudt]

Where do we go to join the live?

[pizzadoughnais]

I second this question. Not sure how to access the live answering session on here?

[happycaptain1]

Same question...When and how do we go live?

[happycaptain1]

I guess we don't???

[knieuwoudt]

Looks like its all text driven? I thought it was an educational. Never mind, I might just drop off.

[knieuwoudt]

Hello? Square, are you in here, or are we in the wrong place?

[Tom]

Hi @pizzadoughnais, @happycaptain1, and @knieuwoudt — welcome! We just signed in and we'll be posting answers shortly. Feel free to write in your questions below within this thread right now and we'll reply soon. 💯

[seiderman · Accepted solution]

Hey all,

I want to say thank you for taking the time to ask questions, and give feedback on Shift Scheduling. This is obviously a brand new area of the product for us, so your input is critical as we look to take it to the next level. To close, just wanted to highlight a few things based on the questions asked during the Q&A:

1. It’s easy and free to get started with Square Shift Scheduling. To get started, we recommend making sure you’ve added your entire team, and get them using Square Team app. Once you’ve completed those steps, your team can start adding their recurring availability, and you can start building your schedule.  
2. We hear you on the need to manage time off, print schedules, and drag and drop shifts between team members. These three features are in active development, and should rollout as an update within the next couple of months. If anyone is interested in participating in a beta, definitely let me know!
3. When upgrading to Team Plus, you unlock several features that provide more flexibility for both you and your team. First, you can build schedules further than 10 days out (as far as you want). In addition, you can publish open shifts to allow team members to pick up extra shifts as they come up. Next, shift trading empowers your team to trade shifts with each other other members of the team if they’re unable to work due to a change in their availability, or just prefer the hours of another shift (with your approval of course!). Finally, time enforcement allows you to prevent early / unscheduled clock-ins from your team members. 

Finally, while this may be the end of our live Q&A, this should not be the end of the discussion! Please feel free to tag me directly in your future posts on any other questions or ideas you have. I also look forward to setting up another Q&A in the not so distant future. 

Thanks again everyone, and feel free to continue posting/replying to questions. Happy to help!

[ShellyWall]

It would be nice for availability to be attached to specific dates and extend out into the future. For example, in feb 14 enter not available July 4-11. 

OR

Extend things out and change availability to unavailable.

Will indicating specific date be intergeated?

[seiderman]

Hi @ShellyWall ,

Definitely hear you on the need to allow team members to schedule their future time off. The good news is that this is something the team is actively working on. If interested, happy to include you in our future beta.

[thecreamerymm]

I'd like to be in this beta if possible.

Thanks!

[ShellyWall]

I am very interested in being in part of that group.

[Maegan]

Hi there! Would love to be included in the scheduling beta! 

[EMCorp]

Any update?? I'm new to square and I switched from a competitor for scheduling feature. However, there is no way on the schedule to indicate if someone requested off???? This is an extremely important feature, as most my employees have other jobs.

[Andrew6]

Those options are currently in beta testing and are working fabulously so far that I can tell! They should be released very soon to everyone I hope. I also switched from another platform and those features are very important. Hopefully someone will comment on a timeframe for you. 

[seiderman]

Thanks for reaching out @EMCorp. As @Andrew6 mentioned, this feature is currently in beta and we're hoping to rollout more broadly within the coming weeks. If you're open to it, I'm happy to enable your account as part of our beta program. 

[Andrew6]

Thanks seiderman, I am part of the beta already and I’m loving the features. 

[hmsmith]

I have Team Plus so can my employees set their weekly schedule directly from the team app? can I send out a reminder text asking them to update their schedule for the next week?

[pcuttica]

Hi @hmsmith, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. 

Your employees are able to set their own availability for the week from the Team app. But they are not able to create their own shift schedules. I'm assuming that's what you were referring to, though: the ability for an employee to designate when they are available to work for that week. You can read more about this process in our Support Center article here.

When employees set their availability via the Team app, their availability is then reflected while creating new shifts from Square Dashboard (Shifts > Schedule > Shifts). 

We currently do not offer the ability to send out a reminder text asking your team to update their schedules. 

Hope this was helpful! 

[Scoops]

Came in to see if there’s any advancement in the asks put forward here 2 years ago? Drag and drop, or even changing assignment of shifts between team members on a specific date?