Being able to communicate quickly and effectively with your workforce is critical. At 7shifts, we've centralized communication to help you keep everyone on the same page, no matter where they are. All of these tools are available on web and the mobile app.
Here are the tools you have at your disposal to send messages to your workforce:
SKIP AHEAD TO:
Messaging
Announcements
Read Receipts for Announcements
Deleting an Announcement
Roster Talk
SMS / Push / Email notifications
"Message your manager on duty"
Messaging
This is where you can start a 1-on-1 chat with someone, or a group chat. To access Messaging, click on the chat bubble at the top right.
You'll notice you have three tabs:
If you want to start a group chat with several people, click on the 'new message' icon at the top right.
Effectively convey your message by starting a conversation and choosing from a range of actions:
At the bottom of your message box, you will see three icons:
To send an emoji or a GIF, click on the or
, and use the search bar to type in a keyword related to the emoji/GIF you would like to send:
To attach a file, click on the paperclip icon and attach multiple files (up to 100mb):
If someone has added a reaction, you can tap on it to add the same one yourself.
You're able to view all the users who reacted to a message by hovering over a message and clicking on See All:
To remove your reaction, click on the reaction again, and it will disappear from the message.
Hover over the message > click on the Threads icon
To continue a thread, click on 'x' comments:
From within a thread, you can react
- As you write your message, you can enter a new line by pressing Shift + Return (Mac), or Shift + Enter (Windows) on your keyboard.
- Depending on the user's notification settings, all participants within a thread will receive an email or SMS notification once a comment has been added.
To delete a message, hover over a message, click on the More Options icon
⚠️It is only possible to delete a message from a user-level type below you (i.e: an Admin can delete the message of a Manager, not vice versa).
When you archive a chat, it will remove it from your view.
Open the chat > click on the More options icon > select Archive Chat.
If you wish to unarchive a chat, you can start a chat with the same users to retrieve the same conversation.
Announcements
4. Enter your desired message.
To include additional files/attachments, drag and drop the file into the text box or click on the 'paperclip' icon. You can upload up to 3 attachments on the web app, and 1 attachment on the mobile app. File types can vary from photos, doc, pdf, mp3, mp4, wav, mov.
Depending on the file size, you may momentarily see a progress bar as your attachments upload.
- The maximum size for attachments is 500 MB/per file and for announcements only.
- Currently, exe and dmg file types are not supported.
- Uploading attachments from the mobile app is not available at this time.
You can remove any attachments before you post by hovering over the file and clicking the 'trash can' icon.
5. When you're ready, click the 'green paper plane' icon to send.
Read Receipts
When an Announcement is sent, you can see how many of the recipients have viewed it in the bottom right corner.
1. Hover over this number to see who has most recently viewed the Announcement.
2. Click on this number to see the names of who has viewed the Announcement, and the date of viewing.
3. Click on the 'Unread' tab to see the names of those who have not yet viewed. Click on the chat icon next to a name to send a message as a reminder to one employee, or re-send the notification to all employees in the 'Unread' list using the button at the bottom.
Deleting an Announcement
You can delete an announcement from the web app by completing the following:
1. Select the announcement then click on the three dots in the top right corner.
2. Click 'Delete.'
Roster Talk
3. The 'More' tab contains these schedule choices.
⚠️ Tips for Roster Talk:
- 'Today' is considered a shift that falls within any Hours of Operation for the Location. Click Here for info on how to set or change your Hours of Operation.
- Only employees with published shifts will be included in the chat / announcement; unpublished shifts will not be recognized in the Roster Talk targets.
- If an Admin is set to 'Appear as employee' in their account, and is NOT scheduled, they will be included in any 'Not Scheduled' Roster Talk chats / announcements.
SMS / Push / Email notifications
By default, your employees are informed about changes in 7shifts that affect them via SMS/push notification and email:
- Messages and Announcements
- When you publish / re-publish a schedule
- When you approve or decline a Time Off request
- When you approve or deny an Availability request
- When you approve or decline a shift change, both employees who requested the change will be notified
- If an employee is trying to give away their shift, other employees who are qualified to work that shift will be notified
"Message your manager on duty"
⚠️ Please ensure your Locations/Departments/Roles, and user assignments are in good standing to ensure your Employees can start a chat with their designated Manager
When your Employees log into the mobile app, they will see the option to "Message your Manager on Duty":
By clicking this button, 7shifts will search for an available user and continue to the next step until one condition is met:
- Look for Assistant Managers scheduled to work in the same Role as employee
- Look for Managers scheduled to work in the same Role as employee
- Look for Assistant Managers scheduled to work in the same Department as employee
- Look for Managers scheduled to work in the same Department as employee
- Look for Assistant Managers scheduled to work in the same Location as employee
- Look for Managers scheduled to work in the same Location as employee
- Look for Admins of the company and start a chat with them if no previous criteria was met