Schedule volunteers

Overview of the program schedule

Each program in INVOLVE has a schedule where you can create and assign shifts to your volunteers. You can then email the shifts to the volunteers to confirm or decline. You can also add open shifts, which volunteers can put their hands up for.

Navigate to the Schedule tab in a program, and we can note the following features:

Email schedule button - Email a group of volunteers a unique link to access their schedule for the next two months.
Schedule view - view the schedule by day, week, or month and navigate forward and backward through it.
Create shift button - allows you to quickly add a new shift
Role heading - volunteers are grouped by their role. See more on managing roles, including the order in which they appear on the schedule
Open shift row - Add in open shifts if you are not sure which volunteer will be assigned. Volunteers can request to do these shifts
Volunteer shift row - The volunteer's shifts for that day/week/month. Public holidays and volunteer availability are marked on their schedule so you know when they can volunteer.
Shift popover - activated by selecting a shift cell, this is a snapshot of the shift details including the shift title, time, status, a link to notify the volunteer of this shift and the edit menu to delete or update the details.

Adding a shift

Add a shift by selecting a cell on the schedule:

Select the relevant cell, note the assignee row and time/date column
When the slide-out appears, enter the relevant information.
Select the Save button at the bottom of the slide-out to finalise

Note: a volunteer can have more than one shift per cell

You can also activate the shift slide-out by selecting the Create shift button

What is the shift status?

A shift can have one of six statuses. Four are relevant to upcoming shifts, and the other two for past shifts.

Unconfirmed

The volunteer has yet to confirm they will attend this shift

Confirmed

The volunteer has confirmed attendance. Confirmed shifts will automatically be updated to Completed once the day has passed.

Cancelled

You or the volunteer has cancelled the shift

Requested

A volunteer has asked to fill a shift (usually an open shift) and is waiting for a staff member to confirm

Completed

Automatically updated from a confirmed once the day has passed

No Show

The volunteer did not show up for the shift

What are activities?

The shift activities are optional and can be a list of activities or goals specific to the shift. The volunteer will see this list in their schedule view.

To add an activity, select the link and begin typing. If you have added activities to shifts before, they will appear in a lookup that you can quickly select again.

What is the note to volunteer?

This can include anything you would like to communicate to the volunteer, such as the shift manager's contact details, reminders, etc. The volunteer will see this list in their schedule view.

Edit a shift

Select the shift cell.
When the shift popover appears, select the ellipses icon at the top right. This will activate a context menu.
Select Edit to bring up the shift slide-out again.

Reassign a shift

Select the shift cell.
When the shift popover appears, select the ellipses icon at the top right. This will activate a context menu.
Select Reassign. This will trigger a modal
Enter the volunteer who will be taking over this shift

If the shift is part of a recurring series, make sure to select which shifts in the series will be reassigned.

Unassign a shift by converting it to an open shift

This is useful when you don't yet know who will be assigned to the shift.

Select the shift cell.
When the shift popover appears, select the ellipses icon at the top right. This will activate a context menu.
Select Convert to open shift

If the shift is part of a recurring series, make sure to select which shifts in the series will be reassigned. Volunteers with access to their schedules have the opportunity to request this shift

Delete a shift

Select the shift cell.
When the shift popover appears, select the ellipses icon located top right; this will activate a context menu
Select Delete

⭐ TIP: If you had previously notified the volunteer of this shift, it is better to change the status to cancelled and notify the volunteer

Email the schedule

You can email volunteers their whole schedule or a single shift.

Email the schedule to volunteers

Select the Email Schedule button
When the Email schedule modal appears, choose a group to send to
Select the recipients (not needed if you chose to send them to all volunteers)
Add a message to the volunteers (optional)
Select the Send button to finalise

Each volunteer in the group will receive a unique "tokenised" link to access their schedule. They can use the link to view their shifts scheduled up to two months in advance and see any suitable open shifts they could cover.

Email one shift to a volunteer

You can notify a volunteer of just one shift, for example, if there is a recent change.

Select the shift on the schedule.
When the shift popover appears, select the Notify volunteer button on the bottom right-hand side.
When the Notify volunteer modal appears, type a message
Select the Send button at the bottom of the modal to finalise