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Secondary Teams

What are secondary teams and how to use them in Workforce.

Updated over a week ago

👥 What are Secondary Teams?

Secondary teams are additional team memberships that allow employees to pick up vacant shifts from teams they don’t primarily work in.

This creates a flexible workforce where employees can cover shifts for other teams when their primary team members are unavailable.

📸 Suggested image: Diagram showing one employee connected to a Primary Team and multiple Secondary Teams with arrows to “vacant shifts.”


🔑 How Secondary Teams Work

Key Concepts

  • Primary Teams – Where employees are regular members and can be rostered normally

  • Secondary Teams – Additional teams where employees can only claim vacant shifts, not be directly rostered

  • Default Team – The employee’s main team used for payroll and reporting

Important Rules

  • An employee cannot be both a primary and secondary member of the same team

  • Employees already working in or managing a team cannot be added as secondary members of that team

  • Secondary members can only see and claim vacant shifts – they cannot be rostered directly


⚙️ Prerequisites

Before using Secondary Teams, make sure you’ve enabled:

  1. Vacant Shift Claiming → Settings > Rosters

  2. Secondary Teams → Settings > Rosters


🚀 Setting Up Secondary Teams

Step 1: Enable the Feature

  1. Go to Settings > Rosters

  2. Scroll to the Vacant Shifts section

  3. Enable Vacant Shift Claiming

  4. Enable Secondary Teams

  5. Save your settings

Step 2: Assign Secondary Teams to Employees

  1. Open the employee’s Profile

  2. Navigate to Personal > Teams

  3. In the Secondary Teams section, select additional teams

  4. Save changes

💡 You can also use Bulk Actions to assign secondary teams to multiple employees at once.


📅 When to Use Secondary Teams

Ideal Use Cases

  • Cross-training initiatives​

  • Seasonal flexibility (busy periods)

  • Small teams with coverage gaps

  • Multi-skilled workforce coverage

  • Emergency backup for absences

Examples

  • Kitchen staff helping with front-of-house during peak times

  • Admin staff covering reception

  • Experienced employees assisting in training

  • Part-time staff picking up extra hours


👩‍💼 How It Works

For Employees

  • Primary Team Members​

    • Can be rostered directly

    • Receive normal shift notifications

    • Can claim vacant shifts from secondary teams

  • Secondary Team Members

    • Cannot be rostered directly

    • Can see and claim vacant shifts only

    • Must wait for shifts to become vacant


For Managers

When publishing vacant shifts, managers can:

  • Make them available to primary members only​

  • Or to primary + secondary members

✅ This gives managers flexibility and control over shift coverage.


🌟 Benefits

  • Increased shift coverage​

  • Workforce flexibility with cross-trained staff

  • Reduced understaffing

  • More employee opportunities for extra hours

  • Cost efficiency without extra hires


🏆 Best Practices

  1. Cross-train thoroughly – ensure employees are skilled for backup roles​

  2. Set clear expectations – secondary = vacant shifts only

  3. Monitor utilization – track shift claiming activity

  4. Review regularly – check who still needs secondary assignments

  5. Communicate clearly – keep teams updated on arrangements


🔧 Troubleshooting

❌ Employee can’t be added as secondary

  • Check if they’re already a primary member or manager​

  • Make sure the feature is enabled in Settings

❌ Secondary members not seeing vacant shifts

  • Confirm Vacant Shift Claiming is enabled

  • Verify shifts are published to both primary + secondary

  • Check the employee has the mobile app + correct permissions

❌ Too many people claiming shifts

  • Limit secondary assignments

  • Use manager approval for claims

  • Review which teams need extra coverage


🔗 Related Features

  • Vacant Shift Claiming – Core feature for Secondary Teams​

  • Shift Acknowledgement – Helps track shift acceptance/completion

  • Team Management – Organize primary and secondary team structures

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