The Shifts feature lets you plan work schedules using different calendars. This article has two parts: the first is for the manager who creates and publishes the schedules, and the second is for the employee who views their assigned shifts.
💎 To access this feature you need to have the Team Pro Gem active.
For employee managers
This part is for the manager or supervisor who plans the team's schedule.
Complete the Shifts onboarding
The first time you go to HR > Shifts without any shift or calendar created, you'll see a welcome page with two steps:
Create first shift: define the first shift type.
Create first calendar: create the first team calendar.
Each step is marked as completed as soon as you do it. When you complete both, Holded automatically redirects you to the main shifts and calendars view.
You can also skip manual creation and import shifts directly from a photo or a PDF on the welcome screen itself. AI generates the shifts and the calendar for you instantly.
Create a shift type
Shift types are the templates you use when scheduling. Set them up before assigning them to employees in the calendar.
Go to HR > Shifts.
Click + New shift type in the shift types panel.
Enter a name and choose a color.
Enable Flexible schedule if the shift has no fixed hours, or disable it to set a start time and an end time.
Click Save.
From the creation or edit window of each shift type you can Edit, Duplicate or Delete it.
You can also create or edit shift types later from within a calendar: open the three-dot menu and select Edit shifts.
You'll see the list of your existing shift types, which you can edit right there. To add a new one, start from a suggested template (Morning, Afternoon, Night, Office or Flexible) or click + Custom shift to create it from scratch.
When you click Save, all the changes in the list are applied at once, both new and edited types.
Create a shift calendar
Calendars group employees and shifts for a period for a specific workplace.
Go to HR > Shifts.
Click + New calendar.
Enter a name and, if you want, upload a cover image.
Select the employees who will be part of the calendar.
Choose the associated workplace.
Click Save calendar.
The calendar is created in Draft status and is not visible to employees until you publish it. When you do, the assigned employees will see their shifts in My Zone and receive an email notification letting them know they have new shifts.
If you create new shifts in an already published calendar, or edit existing shifts, they are also saved in Draft status and are not published until you click Update.
When you update the calendar, the assigned employees will see the changes in My Zone and receive an email notification.
If you already have at least one calendar and want to add another, click the name of the current calendar at the top of the screen to open the calendar selector and click + Create calendar at the end of the list.
☝️ As a shortcut, with the focus on the Shifts screen you can press the N key to open the creation form directly.
In addition to creating it manually, you can create a calendar from a photo or a PDF of your schedule. Holded automatically detects the shift types and the employees, and creates the calendar in Draft status so you can review it before publishing.
Go to HR > Shifts.
Click the name of the Main calendar > Create calendar.
Upload a photo or a PDF of your schedule.
Review the shift types and employees that Holded has detected.
Confirm the creation.
The calendar is created in Draft status and is not visible to employees until you publish it. Review the detected shifts before publishing, as automatic detection may contain errors.
Set a default calendar
If you manage several calendars, you can set one to open automatically when you go to HR > Shifts, instead of having to choose it every time.
Click the calendar name at the top to open the selector. Next to the calendar you want, open its three-dot menu and select Set as default.
The selected calendar shows the Default label in the selector. There can only be one at a time: when you set a new one, the previous one is automatically unset.
Assign shifts
With the calendar and shift types ready, open the calendar to assign shifts to each employee.
Open the calendar from HR > Shifts.
Find the employee's row and the date column.
Click the cell or the + button to open the assignment panel.
Check the employee field, assign the shift type, the date or date range and, if you want, add a note (maximum 1,000 characters).
Click Assign.
From the assignment panel, in addition to assigning a shift to a single employee, you can:
Assign the same shift to several employees at once.
Repeat the shift automatically every day, week or month.
To move a shift to another day, drag it to another date from the Week view. If you want to assign the shift to another employee, drag it to the new employee's row from the Day view or the Week view.
To delete an assignment, click the shift and select Delete in the details window.
Delete several shifts at once
If you need to delete more than one assignment, you don't have to delete them one by one:
Hover over a shift: a checkbox appears in its top right corner. Tick it to select the shift.
Repeat with each shift you want to delete. You can also tick the checkbox in a day's header to select all the shifts for that day at once.
When you select at least one shift, a bar appears at the bottom of the screen with the number of selected shifts and a Delete button.
Click Delete and confirm in the warning.
Keep in mind that this bulk deletion removes exactly the shifts you tick, regardless of whether they are part of a recurring series: it won't ask whether you want to delete only that occurrence or the whole series, as it does when you delete a shift individually.
Check conflict warnings
If assigning or editing a shift overlaps with another of the employee's shifts, falls on the same day as another shift (multi-shift) or clashes with one of their non-working days or holidays, you'll see a warning with the details before confirming. These warnings don't prevent the shift from being created.
Navigate and filter the calendar
Use the toolbar to change the view:
Switch between Day view, Week view and Month view at the top of the grid.
Use the arrows or the Today button to move through the calendar. You can also use the keyboard arrows.
Filter by employee or by team from the dropdowns.
Use the search bar to find employees by name or job title.
In each employee row, under their name, the planned shift hours for the week are shown against their contracted hours.
Export the calendar
Navigate to the day or week you want to export (using the arrows or the Today button). The export always reflects the range currently visible on screen.
In the toolbar, click the download icon (next to the add shift button and before Publish / Update).
Choose Export Excel or Export PDF from the dropdown menu.
There is no option to choose a range other than the one on screen: if you want to export another period, first navigate to it and then export.
Publish the calendar
When the schedule is ready, publish it so your employees can see it.
Open the calendar.
Click Publish.
Confirm the action in the dialog.
The status changes from Draft to Published. Employees will receive an email notification and will be able to see their assigned shifts in My Zone.
You can keep editing a published calendar. Any change will be reflected in your employees' My Zone when you click Update in the calendar view.
While the changes are in Draft, you can discard them to go back to the last published version.
Edit or delete a calendar
From the list of calendars in HR > Shifts, when you hover over the calendar row, a three-dot menu will appear with the following options:
Edit: change the name, the image or the assigned employees.
Delete: permanently delete the calendar.
Keep in mind that the workplace cannot be changed once the calendar has been created.
For employees
This section is for employees who check their work schedule.
Your manager uses Shifts to plan and publish the team's schedule. When a calendar is published, your assigned shifts automatically appear in the Shifts section of My Zone, where you can check them at any time.
Access your shifts
When your manager publishes the shift calendar, you receive an email notification and can see them in My Zone.
Open My Zone.
Go to the Shifts subsection.
Your assigned shifts appear as colored blocks on the corresponding days.
If you don't see any shifts, your manager may not have published the calendar yet or you may not have any shifts assigned.
Shifts show status indicators:
Yellow border and icon: the shift has been modified compared to the version you originally saw.
Grey shift with dashed border: the shift has been deleted.
View shift details
Click any shift block to see its information:
Shift name: for example, Morning, Afternoon or Weekend.
Start and end time: or Flexible schedule if no fixed hours have been set.
Workplace: the location associated with the calendar.
Notes: additional information added by your manager.
To move through the calendar, use the arrows to change day or week, or the keyboard arrows. Click Today to go back to the current date.
Export the calendar
Navigate to the day or week you want to export (using the arrows or the Today button). The export always reflects the range currently visible on screen.
In the toolbar, click the download icon (next to the add shift button and before Publish / Update).
Choose Export Excel or Export PDF from the dropdown menu.
There is no option to choose a range other than the one on screen: if you want to export another period, first navigate to it and then export.