Initial and Structural Settings for Shift Management

Before creating shift schedules, it is essential to mirror your company’s organizational structure in Day.io.

Configuring Company Structure, Locations, People, Holidays, Absence categories, Breaks, and Permissions ensures that schedules are linked to the correct place and that filters and alerts work properly.

These settings help planners organise employees and prevent scheduling conflicts.

Key actions or configuration

1. Define the company structure
   • Go to Settings > Company Structure.
   • Use the Subsidiaries, Departments, Cost centers, Teams and Positions tabs to add your IDs, departments and teams (more details in this article about Subsidiaries and Departments).
   • In Teams, define who will be the supervisors/managers; these users will receive specific permissions (more details in this article).
   • Save each record so they become available as filters in shifts.
     
     
2. Register locations
   • Navigate to Configure > Locations and click + New location.
   • Fill in ID, Location name and Address; enable verification (GPS/Wi‑Fi/iBeacon/IP) if required (more details in this article).
   • Save to make the location available when creating shift schedules.
     
     

3. Add employees and weekly contracted hours

   • Go to Manage > People and choose Add employee or Import to add several at once (more details in this article on adding individually and in bulk).
   • Complete personal details and set Weekly contracted hours in the employee’s profile.
   • Assign each employee to the correct Teams and Locations.
     
     

4. Create holiday groups, absence categories and breaks

   • In Configure > Holidays, click New group and list the applicable holidays (more details in this article).
   • In Absence & Vacation, customise absence categories to match your company’s policies (more details in this article).
   • In Settings > Schedules > Breaks, click New Break to create break types such as lunch, coffee break, etc. (more details in this article).
     
     
5. Define permissions for shifts
   • Click your avatar in the upper‑right corner and choose Company Settings > Permissions.
   • Select the permission level (for example, Supervisor) and enable Shifts schedules to grant access to the module.
   • The second box opens 5 more options, which serve to define specific actions that group can perform in Shifts. The options are as follows:
     • View all shift schedules - Sees all created shifts, but within them only has visibility of employees allowed in the "Can Access" section in permissions on their profile;
     • Edit and publish all shift schedules - Sees all created shifts, but inside them can only edit and publish for employees allowed in the "Can Access" section in permissions on their profile;
     • Edit only the shifts schedules I am assigned to - Sees the shifts to which they are assigned and can only edit for employees they have access to in the profile;
     • Publish only the shiftd schedules I am assigned to - Sees the shifts to which they are assigned and can only publish for employees they have access to in the profile;
     • View only the shifts schedules I am assigned to - Sees the shifts to which they are assigned and can only see other employees they have access to in the profile.
   • Save the changes.
     
     

Tips or troubleshooting

• Record the contracted weekly hours of all employees: weekly hours alerts depend on this value.
• When creating locations, enable GPS/Wi‑Fi/iBeacon/IP verification only if that infrastructure actually exists on site.
• If you cannot find a function, check if your permission level includes the desired action.

Best practices

• Keep the company structure updated; organizational changes should be quickly reflected on the platform.
• Name branches, departments, teams, and shifts clearly to facilitate searches and reports.
• Review permissions periodically to ensure that only authorized managers edit and publish shifts.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I need to configure the entire structure before creating shifts?
   Yes. The platform requires branches, departments, teams, locations, and employees registered to correctly link each shift.
2. Where do I enter the contracted weekly hours?
   In the employee profile, under Personal Details, enter the value in Contracted weekly hours and click Save.
3. Can I edit branches, departments, or teams after creating shifts?
   Yes. Just go to Settings > Company Structure, edit the data, and save; the changes will be reflected in existing shifts.