System and method for scheduling employee shifts

Abstract

A system and method for scheduling employee shifts. Two types of users generally utilize the system to post and view schedules, managers and workers. A manager may define shifts for work areas and post the shifts so workers may obtain their schedule and know when to work. Workers may retrieve the schedule from any network enabled device located anywhere. Worker unavailability times and requests for schedule changes may be made remotely by the worker at any network enabled computing device. Managers may accept or reject requests and utilize employee unavailability times to schedule workers to a shift and readily observe conflicts and schedule around these conflicts using a schedule screen that shows the workers, their unavailability times and scheduled times. Time and wage summaries may be updated directly on the screen when changes to the shifts are made to allow a manager to minimize wages for a shift or work area.

1 . A method for scheduling employee shifts comprising:
 accepting a shift definition that defines a shift;   accepting an association of at least one worker with said shift;   accepting a worker unavailability time period;   displaying said shift in a schedule having a worker axis along which workers are displayed and having a time axis along which time intervals are displayed;   displaying said worker unavailability time period in a cell in said schedule wherein said cell is associated with a first worker and a time frame along said time axis.   accepting an assignment of a first worker to said shift from a manager wherein said first worker is selected from said at least one worker;   displaying a conflict warning associated with said worker unavailability time period and said shift while concurrently displaying said schedule;   accepting an assignment of a second worker to said shift wherein said second worker is selected from said at least one worker and wherein said second worker does not have an unavailability time period conflict with said shift;   displaying assigned time in said cell associated with said second worker; and,   posting said shift so that said at least one worker may obtain said shift.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 displaying at least one replacement worker available for replacing said second worker for said shift wherein said at least one replacement worker is displayed in said schedule.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 emailing said at least one worker said schedule.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 sending a text message to said at least one worker wherein said text message comprises said schedule in shorthand format.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 displaying said shift in a first color when said shift has not yet been posted.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 un-posting said shift so that said at least one worker may no longer obtain said shift;   altering said shift; and,   posting said shift a second time.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 displaying said shift in a second color when said shift has been posted.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accepting a date selection for which to display said schedule.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accepting a date selection comprising a week for which to display said schedule.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 displaying a job title associated with said shift on said schedule wherein said job title is associated with said second worker.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accepting a request for a shift change from said second worker.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 presenting an acceptance of a request for shift change to said second worker.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 presenting a denial of a request for shift change to said second worker.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 displaying a contact screen to said first worker wherein said first worker may obtain contact information of said second worker.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accepting worker metadata associated with said first worker.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accepting a second assignment of said second worker to a second shift wherein said second shift and said shift occur in a one day period.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 copying said shift to another day.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 copying all shifts occurring in a week to a second week.   
     
     
         19 . A system for scheduling employee shifts comprising:
 a computer;   a software component executing on said computer configured to:   accept a shift definition that defines a shift;   accept an association of at least one worker with said shift;   accept a worker unavailability time period;   display said shift in a schedule having a worker axis along which workers are displayed and having a time axis along which time intervals are displayed;   display said worker unavailability time period in a cell in said schedule wherein said cell is associated with a first worker and a time frame along said time axis.   accept an assignment of a first worker to said shift from a manager wherein said first worker is selected from said at least one worker;   display a conflict warning associated with said worker unavailability time period and said shift while concurrently displaying said schedule;   accept an assignment of a second worker to said shift wherein said second worker is selected from said at least one worker and wherein said second worker does not have an unavailability time period conflict with said shift;   display assigned time in said cell associated with said second worker; and,   post said shift so that said at least one worker may obtain said shift.   
     
     
         20 . A system for scheduling employee shifts comprising:
 means for accepting a shift definition that defines a shift;   means for accepting an association of at least one worker with said shift;   means for accepting a worker unavailability time period;   means for displaying said shift in a schedule having a worker axis along which workers are displayed and having a time axis along which time intervals are displayed;   means for displaying said worker unavailability time period in a cell in said schedule wherein said cell is associated with a first worker and a time frame along said time axis.   means for accepting an assignment of a first worker to said shift from a manager wherein said first worker is selected from said at least one worker;   means for displaying a conflict warning associated with said worker unavailability time period and said shift while concurrently displaying said schedule;   means for accepting an assignment of a second worker to said shift wherein said second worker is selected from said at least one worker and wherein said second worker does not have an unavailability time period conflict with said shift;   means for displaying assigned time in said cell associated with said second worker; and,   means for posting said shift so that said at least one worker may obtain said shift.