Helpdesk schedules and time off

Set your team's working hours and time off so Hourzero only hands tickets to people who are working.

Schedules tell Hourzero when each teammate works. When a team assigns tickets automatically, Hourzero skips anyone who is off shift or on time off. A ticket that arrives at 2 a.m. doesn't land with someone who's asleep.

Schedules only cover your support team's hours. Your agent still answers customers around the clock, and schedules aren't appointment bookings.

Where to find it: open Helpdesk and go to Manage → Schedules. Only workspace owners and admins can add or change schedules and time off.

How schedules affect assignment

1Ticket arrivesA ticket with no owner lands on a team that assigns automatically.
2Check hoursHourzero looks at who is working right now and not on time off.
3Check availabilityOf those, only people set to Available and under the ticket limit qualify.
4AssignOne of them gets the ticket. If nobody qualifies, it waits or stays unassigned.

Whether a ticket waits or stays unassigned depends on the team's Assign to next shift setting. See Teams and assignment.

People without a schedule count as always working

If a teammate isn't in any schedule, Hourzero treats them as working at all hours (except during their time off). Once you add them to a schedule, they only get automatic tickets during its hours.

Create a schedule

Go to Manage → Schedules and select Add schedule.
Enter a Name, such as Europe weekdays.
Check the Time zone. It starts as your computer's time zone. If the team works somewhere else, type theirs, such as Europe/Berlin or America/New_York.
Under Weekly hours, set the hours for each day. A new schedule starts with Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00.
Under Members, tick the teammates who work these hours.
Select Save schedule.

The schedule appears in the list with its time zone, how many working days it has, and how many members.

Set the hours for each day

Change the start and end time of a block by editing its two boxes.
Select Add hours to add another block on the same day, for example around a lunch break. Each day can have up to four blocks.
Select the trash icon to remove a block. A day with no blocks shows Unavailable.

A few rules the form checks:

Times use the 24-hour clock, so 5 p.m. is 17:00.
Each block has to end later than it starts, on the same day. For a night shift, split it across two days: Monday 22:00 to 23:59, then Tuesday 00:00 to 06:00.
Blocks on the same day can't overlap.
The time zone has to be a real name in Region/City form. Otherwise you'll see "Select a valid time zone."

Here's a schedule for Acme's European team, with a lunch break:

Name: Europe weekdays
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Monday to Friday: 08:00 to 12:00, and 13:00 to 16:00
Saturday and Sunday: Unavailable
Members: Maya Chen, Priya Shah

Tip

Pick a city time zone like Europe/Berlin rather than a fixed offset. Hourzero then follows daylight saving time for you, and 08:00 stays 08:00 all year.

Cover different hours

A teammate can be in more than one schedule. Hourzero counts them as working whenever any of their schedules says so.

For example, Alex is in Americas weekdays (Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 in America/New_York) and in Saturday cover (Saturday, 10:00 to 14:00). He gets automatic tickets during both.

Add time off

Time off keeps someone from getting automatic tickets for a while, even during their usual hours.

In the Time off section, select Add time off.
Choose the Member.
Set when it Starts and Ends, with both a date and a time. The form suggests an eight-hour block starting at the next full hour.
Optional: add a Reason, such as Vacation.
Select Save time off.

The time off appears in the list with the person's name, the dates, and the reason. Select the pencil to change it, or the trash icon to delete it. Deleting happens straight away, without a confirmation.

Note

Starts and Ends use your computer's time zone, not the schedule's. Keep that in mind when you plan time off for someone in another country.

Time off doesn't hand over tickets someone already owns

Before a teammate leaves, move their open tickets to someone else. In the inbox, open All, filter Assignee by their name, tick the tickets, and use Assign.

Change or remove a schedule

Use the ⋯ menu next to a schedule:

Edit changes its name, time zone, hours, and members.
Archive stops the schedule from counting. It shows Archived in the list. To use it again, select Edit, then Save schedule.
Delete permanently removes it straight away, without a confirmation.

Removing someone's only schedule makes them always available

If you archive or delete a schedule, its members go back to counting as always working, unless they're in another schedule. They can then get tickets at any hour. Add them to another schedule, or set them to Away.

Schedules, time off, and availability

All three have to agree before someone gets a ticket automatically.

Schedules are the hours someone usually works, week after week.
Time off covers planned absences, like a holiday or a doctor's appointment.
Availability is how someone is right now: Available, Away, Busy, or Paused. Change it under Manage → General. See Teams and assignment.

Troubleshooting

A ticket stayed unassigned during working hours

Check, in this order:

The ticket's team uses Balanced workload or Round robin, not Manual.
The person is in that team's Members.
Their availability is Available.
Their schedule uses the right time zone, and today has hours.
They aren't on time off.
They haven't reached the team's Maximum open tickets per member.