How moving lunches and short breaks works

With self-scheduling, the agents can move their own lunches and breaks. This empowers the agents and reduces the need for manual changes by team leaders or resource planners.

The feature to move lunches and short breaks is available in the MyTime week view and in the day view on the mobile app. Click the pen icon for the lunch or short break to move and then pull the lunch or short break and drop it in the position you want. It is possible to move by 5 min intervals. Self-scheduling does not take into account the shrinkage.

NOTE Self-scheduling doesn't work if multisite skills are used. This affects agents who have a multisite skill assigned, but also agents with skills for which the staffing levels are affected by the staffing of a multisite skill.

Configuration

The following things must be set before agents can move lunches and short breaks:

The agents must have the MyTime > Self-scheduling permission and the underlying Move lunch and Move short break permissions.
The lunch or short break activity types that the agents can move need to have the Report as setting set to Lunch or Short break in Options > Scheduling > Activities.

Validations

When the agent clicks to move a lunch or short break, the possible new positions are shown in color. Any new positions that would break the validations listed below show as not available. When the agent selects a new position and clicks to confirm, the validations are done again to ensure that the situation has not changed since the agent loaded the page.

Open period

Moving lunches and short breaks is available for today and the next six days. The agents cannot move lunches and short breaks outside of that period.

Staffing levels

If you choose to use the staffing validation, the agent can only move the lunch or short break if the move does not cause the staffing levels to exceed the threshold values defined in the skill properties. The threshold values for understaffing and overstaffing are used. The staffing levels for both the original position and the new position for the lunch or short break will affect the possibility to move it.

The agent is blocked from moving the lunch or short break in these situations:

If the move would cause the staffing levels for the original position to exceed the overstaffing threshold.
If the move would cause the staffing levels for the new position to fall below the understaffing threshold.
If the overstaffing threshold has already been exceeded for the original position.

You can select to allow agents to move their lunch or short break regardless of the staffing situation. If you do, the agents can move their lunch or short break both on days where the staffing on the skills already exceed the overstaffing or understaffing limits and on days where the move causes the staffing to exceed those limits.

Overlapping activities and absences

The agent is blocked from moving the lunch or short break if the move would cause the lunch or short break to overlap any of these items:

A personal activity.
An overtime activity.
A meeting.
An absence.
A non-overwritable activity.

Consecutive work hours without lunch

Control for how long the agents can work without a lunch break. Use the Maximum work time without lunch setting on the Self-scheduling tab in the workflow control set settings.

The agent is blocked from moving the lunch in these situations:

If the move would cause the consecutive work hours either before or after the lunch break to exceed the Max working time without lunch setting.

Minimum continuous work time

Control how breaks can be moved to block agents from stacking breaks together or moving them to the beginning or the end of the shift. Use the Minimum continuous work time setting on the Self-scheduling tab in the workflow control set settings.

The agent is blocked from moving the lunch in these situations:

If the breaks are moved to the very beginning or the very end of the shift.
If the move causes the consecutive work time to go below the defined Minimum continuous work time.
If one break is placed next to another break, with no work time in between.

Scheduled overtime

Breaks or lunches which are scheduled as overtime can only be moved within the scheduled overtime. They cannot be moved to the main shift, as that could change the contract time for the agent.