What are flex hours and when does the diary use them?

Let a team member start a little earlier or finish a little later on a weekday, used only when a visit or job cannot otherwise fit.

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What it is#

Flex is extra time at either end of a team member's working day. For each weekday you set how much earlier they can start and how much later they can finish. It is a last resort: the diary plans inside normal hours first, and a day only stretches when a visit or job cannot fit any other way.

Flex never creates a working day. A day with no working hours stays a day off, however much flex you set.

When to use it#

Use it when a team member is happy to start early or stay late now and then, and you would rather stretch their day than turn work away. Leave it at nothing for anyone who must finish on time.

How to do it#

  1. Go to Team and open the team member.
  2. Open the Standard working hours tab.
  3. On each working day, find the Flex row.
  4. Set Can start up to so many hours and minutes earlier, and and finish up to so many hours and minutes later. Each can be up to 4 hours.
  5. Press Save working hours.

What your customer sees#

Nothing directly. A visit placed in flex time is confirmed and emailed like any other, with the day and whether to expect you in the morning or the afternoon. The customer is never told a clock time.

What happens next#

When the diary plans, it tries every slot in normal hours first: the customer's usual team member and weekday, then any other slot, then moving one other visit. Only after that does it use flex.

On the diary, time used from flex is shaded amber and listed in the key as Flex. When you choose a slot yourself, slots that need flex are listed after every slot that fits in normal hours, and they say how much flex they use, for example 30 minutes.

When you move a visit onto a full day that flex can stretch, the move sheet tells you that booking there stretches the team member's day.

The team member sees the longer day on their page, with its start and finish.

Good to know#

  • Flex is never counted as room when the diary judges whether a settled day is full. A day that only fits its visits by using flex counts as full.
  • A day that runs past its hours and its flex is marked Overloaded. The diary never does this by itself.
  • In automatic mode ("Let the diary plan itself"), the diary uses flex only when nothing in normal hours works.
  • In self mode ("I place visits myself"), flex is your call. The suggested slots show which ones need it, and you decide.
  • When you switch back to automatic mode and press Place the overdue visits now, a visit that only fits by using flex is left for you rather than placed.

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