This feature is currently in a limited Beta and is available as part of the Plus package.
You now have the ability to create shifts via Birdie rostering, which makes scheduling shift-based or extra care easier for you and your Care Professionals. The flexibility of shifts will also allow you to accommodate complex care packages such as supported living or dom care.
A shift is a set time which is allocated to a Care Professional, they will get paid a set amount regardless of how many visits they complete during this time. This is useful for creating a regular schedule and ensuring they are meeting their contracted hours of work.
How to add a shift
Start by going to the Roster tab, In the top right corner you will see a +create shift button.
Click this button to create a shift, a pop-up will appear where you will enter information such as:
Shift name
Shift initials
Time
Frequency
Start date
End date
All of the above information is mandatory and must be entered to save the shift. Similar to creating a visit schedule you have the option to create a custom shift that repeats every two weeks for example.
You will now see these shifts on your roster dashboard in the unallocated visits section at the top of your screen. These will now be ready for you to assign to a Care Professional and add visits.
How to assign a shift to a Care Professional
Click on the shift name, this will then bring up a right-hand sidebar where you will be able to see the details of the shift such as the time and the care team.
To assign a Care Professional:-
Click on the Care team tab On the pop-up box
Click the Allocate Carer button
You will now see the Care Professional under the Care team tab and it will be allocated to them on the roster page.
Assigning a Care Professional to a shift will only assign them to that specific shift and not the entire schedule.
Please note: You can only assign one Care Professional to a shift.
How to bulk allocate shifts
You also have the option to bulk-allocate shifts to a Care Professional, this is useful if you need to assign multiple shifts in one go to the same person.
To do this, click on the Month view on the Roster page and select Shifts. Here you will be able to see shift information such as:
The name
The date
The time
To bulk allocate click on the Select Multiple button in the top right-hand corner.
You can then select multiple shifts, you can mix and match shifts. Shifts which have been selected will be outlined in green and you will see in the top-left corner how many you have clicked. If you have made a mistake you can untick the shift or click Deselect all.
Once you have selected them click on the Allocate carer button.
Here you will be able to assign them to the Care Professional, you will also be able to see their availability for the shifts you have selected. You can only select one Care Professional at a time to avoid mistakes in scheduling.
Once assigned the shift tile will show the initials of the Care Professional assigned so you can quickly see how many are left unallocated.
How to assign visits to a shift
You are now ready to assign visits to this shift, to do this, you can:-
Drag and drop visits into the shift from the unallocated section
Use the find alternative carer feature when clicking on a visit
Apply the template or auto-assign features
If you need guidance on how to use either one of those methods please see this article:-
You will not receive a pop-up warning before adding a visit that will be assigned to a shift. This is because Care Professionals contracted for shift hours will not be paid for individual visits.
Please note: If you assign a visit that overlaps the end time of a shift the visit will still be allocated to the Care Professional but will not be added to the shift. Instead, it will be paid the visit rate and not the shift rate.
Monthly view of the rota for Shifts
To see a monthly view of the rota select the Month view. This will show you the monthly visits for your Care Professionals. You will be able to quickly see:
Their availability for the month
Shifts assigned
The monthly view is useful for auditing especially if you pay in monthly cycles. You can go back to view the Shifts completed by a Care Professional in a given month.
How to pay a Care Professional for a shift
When you assign a shift to a Care Professional under the Details section you should see the pay rate assigned to them.
The pay rate card must have a shift rate or the Care Professional will not get paid. To check if a shift rate has been created for this pay rate card, click on the rate to open it in the Finance tab.
For further guidance on how to do this, please see this article - How to create a Shift rate [beta].
As best practice, make sure you create shift rates before your Care Professionals start their shifts.
If you do not see a pay rate card with a shift rate in this section you will need to assign the Care Professional a pay rate before they start their shift. If you need more guidance on how to create and assign a pay rate to a Care Professional, please see this article:-
You will also have the option to override a rate card, this would be used to apply a different rate to the one that you have already added to the Care Professionals pay rate. If you need more guidance on how to override a rate card, please see this article:-
How to check into a shift
For more information on how a Care Professional will check into a shift, please read this article - How to check into a shift on the Birdie app.
Once the Care Professional has checked into the shift it will update to 'in-progress' on the Roster dashboard. The shift will not show in the Logs tab, only visits that are added to the shift and checked into will appear on the Logs tab.
How to edit or delete a shift
You can easily edit or delete a shift by clicking on the shift name on the Roster page, this will open up the right-hand sidebar where you can make your edits.
You will be able to edit:
The time for 'This shift only'
The time and start date for the 'Future shifts in the schedule'
Pay rate card
The Care Professional assigned
A shift that happened in the past
Click Save Changes when you are done.
If you want to delete or end the shift you can do this by clicking Delete/End shift at the bottom of the Details tab. Here you will have the option to delete this single shift or to end the entire shift schedule.
It is not possible to recover a deleted shift, deleting a shift will remove it from the Birdie app and the roster.
FAQ's
Can I still use the travel time feature for shifts?
Yes, you will still get a pop-up if there is a travel time clash when assigned visits to a shift. You can toggle this on and off in the Display Options tab at the top.
Can I use shifts on the Client view?
No, Shifts are not available on the client view of the roster page because shifts ensure Care Professionals are being paid a set amount of time regardless of how many Care Recipients they see during that day.
Are shifts the same as runs?
No, Shifts are not the same as runs. Runs create structure for Care professionals, however, if a visit in a run is removed then the Care Professional will not get paid for it; unlike in a Shift, if a visit is removed the Care professional will still get paid for that time.
Will I get an alert if a Care Professional does not check into a Shift?
You will not get an alert if the Care Professional has not checked into the shift on time but you will get an alert if they have not checked into a visit on time. For more information see this article - An overview of all the Alerts in Birdie
How do shifts impact invoicing?
Shifts will not impact invoicing, the shifts will pull through to the Pay dashboard which is where you will pay the Care Professional. Any visits they completed during their shift will still populate the confirm visits section ready to be reconciled and then confirmed for invoicing.
Can you manually check a Care Professional into a shift?
No, you cannot manually check a Care Professional into a shift, however, you can manually check them into a visit that is added to the shift. For more information see this article - How to manually check-in and check-out a Care Professional
Will a Care Professional still get paid if they forget to check into a shift?
Yes, Shifts will now be available in the Finance tab as soon as they are planned in the Roster and have a Care Professional assigned to them.
What will happen if my Care Professional checks into their visits but forgets to check into their shift?
The Care Professional will still be paid for the shift.
What will happen if a visit overruns/overlaps the shift?
For a visit to be in a shift and paid the shift rate, its planned timings should be entirely within the shift's planned timings. For example, if a Shift is 7 am to 11 am, and you assign a visit that is 10:30 am to 11:05 am, this will not be paid the shift rate and will be paid the visit rate.