Setting Limits

Shift Agent allows you to create some boundaries for Day Off requests that we call Soft Limits™. There are three main parts to how Shift Agent give you control of Day Off requests:

Days Off Policy
Soft Limits – explained in this post
Overrides & Exceptions

Employees still have the option to submit requests that are over the limit, and you have the option to approve or disapprove them.

Setting Soft Limits for Days Off

Two basic types of limits can be set with Shift Agent

General Limits for each day of the week (repeats until it's changed)
Specific Date limits (i.e. Limit Christmas Eve to 5 requests)

General Limits for Days of the Week

In general, you want to set basic limits that apply to each day of the week. For example, you can go in and set Monday to a limit of 12, Tuesday to a limit of 9, and so on and so forth. These limits will apply to EVERY Monday, and every Tuesday, etc. (for exceptions, see Limit Exceptions below)

Steps:

Navigate to the Days Off area using the orange button on the Admin menu on the bottom right of the app.
Click the Edit Limits button on the upper right corner of the page.
Select the number you wish to set for each day of the week.
Click save. You can update at any time.

Shift Agent will keep track of when limit changes are made for future reference.

Effect:

The Days Off Limit will be reflected in your request response window to show you where each request stands with respect to the limit for the day.
When Employees submit a request that is over the limit, they will be made aware.
Employees will have to click a button that says "I acknowledge that this request comes in over the limit on 1 or more days."
The request still comes in for your approval, but as always it is listed in chronological order.

(Manager Limit Set View)

(Mobile Employee View)

Limit Exceptions: Specific Day Limits

You can override the general limit for any number of days that you want to make exceptions for.

From the limit setting page, click the button that says, "Create Exception."
An Exception will override the current general day off.

(Create Exception Window)

Why Soft Limits works:

Soft Limits™ for Days Off helps build a culture of hospitality because you can provide the highest level of flexibility to your employees. Life is often unpredictable, and the need for exceptions is something the Shift Agent is designed to accommodate. "Soft Limits" simply means that you can establish and communicate limits through the system, but we eliminate the need for a rigid prevention-of-requests that may come in over the limit. We believe that it also helps to encourage employee responsibility to make sure that they get their requests in on time.