Enable and configure shift trades

PrerequisitesClick to expand

As an administrator, you can set up shift trading for agents in the same management unit to perform cross-week shift trading in addition to daily shift trading. As an agent, you can trade shifts across multiple weeks with other agents based on business rules set by your administrator. The opportunity to trade shifts increases agent satisfaction and reduces the time an administrator spends manually changing schedules.

Note: Shift trades must occur within a single schedule and within the six-week window, including the current week. To support trades across multiple weeks, generate a schedule that is long enough to include the largest number of weeks that you want to include in a trade. For example, if you generate a one-week long schedule, agents can trade shifts within that week. However, when you generate a longer schedule, you can enable trades between weeks, giving agents more flexibility to personalize their shifts.

The following table lists and describes each column on the Shift Trades page.

Column Name	Description
Initiating Agent	Indicates the name of the agent who has initiated the shift trade.
Initiating Agent Shift	Indicates the shift details of the agent.
Receiving Agent	Indicates the name of the agent who has opted for the trade.
Receiving Agent Shift	Indicates the shift details of the agent who has opted for the trade.
Status	Indicates the status of the trade shift.
Review Reason	Indicates the review status of the request.
Violations	Displays the message with corresponding details, if any, for the shift request. For a complete list of violations, see Shift trades overview.
Reviewed By	Displays the name of the supervisor who has handled the shift trade request.
More	Click to either Show/Hide columns or to Reset to the default settings.

Enable shift tradingClick to expand

To configure shift trading for the management unit, perform the following steps:

Click Admin.
Under Workforce Management, click Management Units.
Click Menu > Workforce Management > Workforce Management Configurations > Management Units.
In the Management Units page, do one of the following:
- Add a new management unit.
- Open an existing management unit.
Click the Shift Trades tab.
To allow agents to trade shifts, enable the Enable Shift Trading toggle. You can access the other fields only when you turn on this toggle.
To allow the system to approve shift trades that meet configured constraints automatically, enable the Enable Automatic Review toggle.
To allow agents to request a shift trade with a specific individual, enable the Enable Direct Trade Requests toggle.
Note: Agents cannot see other agents’ schedules. However, they can request a trade with a specific agent. The request recipient receives a notification of the trade offer in their inbox. Agents can also choose not to receive direct trade offers. For more information, see Navigate the Shift Trades panel.
In the Minimum Time Until Either Traded Shift Starts field, use the up and down arrows in the Days and Hours fields to define the minimum shift start time between the traded shifts. The duration you select decides the minimum time until either of the traded shifts start.
In the Minimum Time Between Shifts field, use the up and down arrows in the Hours and Minutes fields to define the minimum time between the shifts. The duration you select sets the minimum required time between shifts. This setting works alongside the Shift Trade Rule that addresses minimum time between shifts violations.
In the Maximum Trade Span Weeks field, use the up and down arrows to define the maximum number of weeks between the earliest and latest date in a trade. When you create a trade, the span between the dates must not exceed the range set by either the published schedule or the Maximum Trade Span Weeks—whichever comes first.
In the Maximum Trades per Agent per Week field, use the up and down arrows to set the number of times an agent can start a trade or drop a shift each week. Maximum trades can be set up to 100.
In the Agent Matching Criteria Requirements section, select the conditions that apply for shift trades.
In the Shift Trade Rules table, indicate whether you want to set a rule condition to Allow, Disallow, or Admin Review. If you enable the Enable Automatic review toggle, then allow refers to automatic approval of the rule. If you do not enable the toggle, then allow also refers to administrator review.

Set the minimum time until either traded shift startsClick to expand

Under Minimum Time Until Either Traded Shift Starts, use the arrows to define the number of hours before either shift is eligible for trade. Depending on the number set here, agents cannot create trade requests where the first possible trade occurs less than the number of hours in the future. For example, if the minimum is 24 hours, agents cannot request trades for the current shift. Agents can request trades for a shift 24 hours from now.

This constraint gives agents and administrators proper warning about a change to the schedule that results from a schedule trade.

Enforce the minimum time between shiftsClick to expand

The Minimum Time Between Shifts rule ensures that agents have enough rest time between shifts after a trade. When active, the rule applies to both single-week and multi-week trades. The system automatically reviews the rule if the shift is not too close to the start or end of the schedule, based on the values that you configure in the Minimum Time Between Shifts field. If the shift is too close to the schedule boundaries, then the system flags the trade for admin review.

Allow shift trades across multiple weeksClick to expand

Use the Maximum Trade Span Weeks field in the Shift Trades tab of the Management Units page to control how far trades can extend across weeks in each management unit.

Note: Shift trade rules related to planning period paid time and minimum time between shifts have special behavior when interacting with the boundaries of the schedule. The default values for both fields are allow, which the administrator can change as required.

Maximum trades per agent per weekClick to expand

Select agent matching criteria for shift trades Click to expand

Optionally select whether agents can only trade shifts with agents in the same queue membership, language, skills, or (new regions only) the ability to handle the same planning group). Once set, agents and administrators cannot override the criteria to create requests with non-matching agents. Under Agent Matching Criteria Requirements, choose any combination of the following:

Agents must have the same queue memberships. The agents must belong to the same queue. If agents are in different queues, they do not appear in the same schedule.
Agents must have the same languages. Two agents can trade shifts only if they have the same language skills.
Agents must have the same skills. Two agents can trade shifts only if they have the same ACD skills.
Agents must be able to handle the same planning group. Two agents can trade shifts only if they are able to handle the same planning group. This criteria is based on the composition of the planning group, which can include one or more queues, languages, and skills.

Set up shift trade rulesClick to expand

For the following constraints, select whether you allow, do not allow, or require administrator review:

Shift trades with unequal paid time. By default, the system allows this constraint.
Shift trades that are one-sided, which allows an agent to drop a shift but does not receive one in return. Another agent can pick up the shift, but does not give up one in return. By default, the system allows this constraint.
Shift trades resulting in minimum weekly paid time violations. By default, the system sets this constraint to not allowed.
Shift trades resulting in maximum weekly paid time violations. By default, the system sets this constraint to not allowed.
Shift trades resulting in minimum time between shifts violations. By default, the system sets this constraint to allow. When you set to disallow or admin review, this rule applies to both single-week and multi-week trades. Genesys Cloud checks whether the trade meets the minimum time gap between shifts, as defined in the Minimum Time Between Shifts setting. When you set the constraint to admin review, Genesys Cloud does not approve the request automatically, instead sends it to admin review. When you set this constraint to disallow, then the trades that do not match the minimum criteria will not appear in the trades possible for an agent to select.

Specify activity category rules for shift trade requestsClick to expand

Activity category rules determine what to do with each activity type when a shift trade occurs between agents. Select an action for each activity type. For example, you can choose to keep breaks and meals with a schedule, or you can choose to prevent agents from trading time-off activities. You can choose to replace an activity by another activity, for example, replace a training activity on the first agents schedule with on-queue for the agent receiving the trade.

To specify these rules, perform the following steps:

Under Activity Category Trade Rules, locate the activity category you want to configure.
Next to the activity, select one of the following actions:
- Do not allow trade: An agent cannot trade any shift that includes this activity.
- Keep with Schedule: The activity given by one agent applies to the schedule received by the other agent.
- Replace: The activity given by one agent does not apply to the schedule received by the other agent. Instead, the time range receives a selected activity.
- Replace with: If you select Replace, then choose the activity that replaces the previous activity.
Repeat step 2 for each additional activity.

Specify activity trade rules for external activity tradesClick to expand

External activity trade rules determine what to do with each type of external activity when a shift trade occurs between agents when either agent has external activities in their shift. External activities are activities created via Activity Plans, Coaching, and Learning Modules. To specify these rules, perform the following steps:

Under External Activity Trade Rules, locate the type of external activity you want to configure.
To the right side of the activity type, select one of the following actions:
- Do not allow trade: An agent with an external activity in their shift of this type cannot trade.
- Keep with agent: External activities of this type stay with the original agent. In the receiving agent’s shift, they are replaced by the default activity defined in the Replace With selection under the specified activity category for this rule.
- Ignore Do Not Allow Trade of Activity Category Rules: Enable this checkbox if you want to allow a shift containing an external activity from an activity category that is set to Do Not Allow Trade in the trade rules to participate in a trade. For example, use this option if you want to prevent trades for shifts that include a non-external training activity, but allow trades for shifts with an external training activity, such as one scheduled by Learning, while ensuring the external activity stays with the original agent.
Repeat step 2 for each additional activity.
Note: Shift trades allowed under external activity trade rules ensure that external activities stay with the original agent at their original time. This means that any shifts matched for trade must include the timeframes of the external activities for both agents. Also, the trade must not cause any overlap with activities that are selected as non-interruptible, which is configured in the Activity Codes section by turning off the Is Interruptible option.

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