What are shift questions?
How to create custom timesheet fields and set up shift questions
What do team members see when they check in or out?
Example shift questions you may choose to use in your business

What are shift questions?

Shift questions are custom timesheet fields that users with access permission of System Administrator or Advisor can configure.

Shift questions are displayed when an employee clocks in, out or during a shift. This can be useful to capture information such as:

an employee’s current state of health
determine the reasoning behind an employee's hours being different than scheduled
track kilometres or miles travelled
capture tips earned during the shift

There is also an option to block employees from clocking into a shift and/or notify a manager based on an employee’s response. This enables Deputy businesses to take control of an employee clocking in if they are breaching policy (e.g fever, sick, etc).

Shift questions will appear when clocking into shifts on the Deputy website, Deputy mobile apps, Deputy Kiosk for iPad and Deputy Time Clock for Android.

How to set up shift questions

To begin using shift questions you will first need to create a new timesheet custom field.

1. Click on Business Settings in the drop-down menu under your name on the Deputy website.

2. Select the Timesheets tab and click on Shift Questions.

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3. Click on New Custom Field.

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4. Set the Custom Field Type to ‘Timesheet’.

5. Choose to make the field active will be for ON or active.

6. Complete the remaining fields as required by your shift question and then click Save This Custom Field when you are done.

Custom field type	Timesheet
Active/Inactive	set to ON to make this question active
Field name	Enter text to name the custom timesheet field you are creating
Field details (optional)	Enter additional text to guide the employee on how to answer the question
Type of field	Choose how you want the team member to answer. Options are: text number large text (same as text but font size displays larger) boolean/check box for yes/no answers list multi-list file upload / attach boolean/checkbox Yes with comment required boolean/checkbox No with comment required
Validation	Do you want to make the question mandatory to answer or not
Default value	If you have multiple default values, separate them with commas
Display timing	Choose when to display the question: clock out and update (default) clock in clock in/out and update
Display rules	Choose when to display the field based on a customer rule: n/a display custom rule when timesheet has no break display custom rule when timesheet is 60mins shorter than scheduled
Field conditional rules (only displayed if you choose a Boolean field)	If you have selected a boolean / check box option as your Type of field and the team members answers: N/A No Yes then you can ask Deputy to trigger the action selected in the next field
Trigger the following action (only displayed if you choose a Boolean field)	N/A Prevent clock in Notify manager Prevent clock in and notify manager Which manager is notified?
Areas	Select the Location / Areas that the custom shift question will apply to. The way this logic works is: If you do not select a specific location (or it’s areas) with a tick then the custom shift question will NOT apply to any shifts in that location. If you tick a location, then by default all areas in that location will be ticked as well, and the question will be applied to all shifts in that location If you wish to only apply the custom shift question to selected areas in a location you must select those specific areas in the location with a tick individually.
Sort order	Control the sort order of field relative to other fields. Sorted lowest number to highest number.
API name	API Name is required to connect with 3rd party solutions with this field. Pre-populated once you enter a Field Name.

Note: For Yes / No Questions (also called Boolean)

If you choose a boolean / check box option as a type of field then you are able to further set Field conditional rules which allow you to set a workflow based on the inputted answer an employee provides.

Select the value, which is Yes/ No in this case, and then select what action will be triggered.

In this example below, we added the question, 'Are you experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms?' and made it a Yes/ No question. We then designated that if the employee selects 'Yes' to the question, the employee will not be allowed to clock in and the manager will be notified

Don't forget to click Save This Custom Field when you are done configuring your custom time sheet.

Here is an example of a pre-shift health check question being configured:

Team member's View of the Health Check

Now that we have set up a mandatory Health Check shift question for employees, let's see what it looks like for a team member starting a shift. This example is using the iOS mobile app and this function is also available on the iOS Kiosk and Android Time Clock.

More examples of uses of custom time sheets fields to create shift questions

Questions can be very custom to your business however here are a few common examples that may help you begin using Shift Questions.

Keep Your Workplace Healthy

Prior to each shift worked, employers are able to record a response to whether they are experiencing COVID symptoms which can protect employers from the liability of having employees exposed to the virus and help prevent its spread.
Hygiene checklists at clock in can ensure staff complete hygiene practices before or after they start a shift.

Attest Why an Employee May Be Late

Configure a question that your employees must attest to in the scenario where the worked time differs from their rostered time. In this case, attestation (or lack thereof) drives payment known as predictability pay.

Various Protocol Checks

Configure questions to determine if employees have the right tools for the job or did team members follow the correct procedures required to start their job.

Enter tips or kms/miles during a shift

Configure a question for the end of shift that allows team members to enter the amount of tips they received during a shift
Configure a question for the end of shift that allows team members to enter the number of km or miles they travelled during a shift

Enter active hours during an on-call or sleepover shift (AU)

When setting up an on-call or sleepover shift you could configure a shift question that asks the team member to enter the number of active hours worked during the shift so that the manager can amend the timesheet as required.