How to Create and Manage Shift Settings in Workstatus

1. Overview

The Shift Settings feature in Workstatus allows organization owners to create and manage work shifts according to employees’ working schedules and time zones.
By default, Workstatus provides a 24-hour General Shift for existing organizations and an 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM shift for newly created organizations.
Organizations can have employees working in different time zones, such as IST, EST, Sydney, Singapore, and other regions. Owners can create shifts by specifying the shift name, start time, end time, timezone, and optional buffer time.
Shift Settings also supports overnight shifts, default shift assignment for newly invited members, and effective dates for shift changes.

2. How to Access Shift Settings

1. Log in to your Workstatus account as an Owner or an authorized user.
2. Navigate to Settings.
3. Open Schedules & Time Off.
4. Select Shift Settings.

The Shift Settings page provides the following options:

• View by Shift: View and manage the shifts created for the organization.
• View by User: View and manage shifts assigned to individual users.
• Search shifts: Search for an existing shift.
• Timezone selector: Select a timezone to view shift times in the desired timezone.
• Create Shift: Create a new shift.
• More options (⋯): Access available actions for an existing shift.
• Expand/collapse: View additional shift details, where available.

3. How to Create a New Shift

Follow these steps to create a shift for employees working in a specific timezone.

1. Open Settings → Schedules & Time Off → Shift Settings.
2. Click Create Shift.
3. Enter the required shift details.

3.1 Shift Details

Shift name
Enter a meaningful name to identify the shift.
Examples:

• India Shift (IST)
• US Shift (EST)
• Singapore Shift
• Australia Shift
• Night Shift (IST)

Start time
Select the time when employees are expected to start working.
End time
Select the time when employees are expected to finish working.
Timezone
Select the timezone in which the shift's start and end times should be interpreted.
For example:

• India — Asia/Kolkata
• US Eastern — America/New_York
• US Mountain — America/Denver
• Singapore — Asia/Singapore
• Sydney — Australia/Sydney

Workstatus provides timezone options for different regions. Select the timezone that matches the intended working schedule. For regions observing daylight saving time, the applicable offset may change seasonally.
Important: Shift start and end times are entered in the selected timezone, not necessarily the employee's computer timezone.

3.2 Buffer Time (Optional)

Buffer time allows the owner to configure additional time beyond the defined shift duration.
For example, if a shift is configured from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a 30-minute buffer, the configured buffer is 30 minutes and shift will continue upto 6:30 PM.
To configure it:

• Locate the Buffer (minutes) field.
• Enter the required number of minutes.
• Leave it as 0 if no buffer is required.

3.3 Set as Default Shift

Select Set as default shift if you want the shift to be assigned automatically to newly invited users.
For example, if the India Shift is configured as the default shift, newly invited users will automatically be assigned that shift.
If a different shift is selected as the default later, the previous default designation will be cleared.

3.4 Note (Optional)

Enter additional information about the shift if required.
For example: Night shift for employees supporting US clients.

• Review all the entered details.
• Click Create Shift to save the configuration.

4. Example: Creating Shifts for Different Time Zones

The following examples illustrate how an owner can configure shifts for different employee schedules.

5. How to Set a Default Shift

A default shift is useful when most newly invited employees follow the same working schedule.

• Open Shift Settings.
• Click Create Shift, or open the available management options for an existing shift if default assignment can be changed there.
• Configure or select the required shift.
• Enable Set as default shift.
• Save the changes.

After the default shift is configured, newly invited users will automatically be assigned that shift.

6. How to Manage Existing Shifts

Owners can view and manage existing shifts from the Shift Settings page.

View by Shift

• Use this view to find shifts by name and review their status, configured working hours, timezone, and effective dates.

View by User

• Use this view to check or manage shift assignments for individual employees.

Edit or Manage a Shift

• Locate the required shift.
• Click the More options (⋯) menu.
• Select the applicable management action, if available.
• Update the required information.
• Save the changes.

Note: Any changes made to a shift will take effect from the next day.

Effective Date for Shift Changes

When an owner changes a shift, the change becomes effective from the next day rather than applying retrospectively to the current day.
For example, if a shift change is made on 15 October 2026, the updated shift becomes effective from 16 October 2026.
The effective date shown in Shift Settings helps owners identify when a shift configuration applies.

7. How to Configure an Overnight Shift

Workstatus supports overnight shift schedules in which an employee starts work on one calendar day and finishes after midnight on the following day.
This is useful for employees working night shifts or supporting clients in different countries.

Example: Employee Working for a US Client from India

Suppose an employee is located in India and works according to a US client's schedule.
The employee's working hours are:

• Shift start: 15 October 2026, 6:30 PM IST
• Shift end: 16 October 2026, 3:30 AM IST
• Timezone: Asia/Kolkata

Steps to Create the Overnight Shift

• Open Settings → Schedules & Time Off → Shift Settings.
• Click Create Shift.
• Enter the shift name, for example, US Client Night Shift.
• Configure the start time as 06:30 PM.
• Configure the end time as 03:30 AM.
• Select the timezone Asia/Kolkata.
• Configure buffer time if required.
• Review the details and click Create Shift.

The overnight schedule crosses midnight, so the start and end timestamps belong to two different calendar dates.

Expected Business-Day Behavior

For the example above, the employee's shift begins on 03 October 2026 and ends on 04 October 2026.
All work data associated with this overnight shift should be grouped under the 03 October 2026 business day, according to the overnight-shift behavior described for this feature.
This ensures that the work performed after midnight remains associated with the shift's starting business day instead of being split into a separate business day solely because the calendar date changed.
Example:

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Can I create shifts for employees working in different countries?
Yes. Org Owners and Manager can create separate shifts for different employee schedules and select the appropriate timezone for each shift.

Q2. Do I need to select the employee's computer timezone?
No. Select the timezone in which the shift's start and end times are intended to apply. This may differ from the employee's computer timezone.

Q3. Can I configure a shift that starts in the evening and ends the next morning?
Yes. Overnight shifts can be configured, such as 6:30 PM to 3:30 AM IST.

Q4. Can I provide additional time beyond the shift duration?
Yes. Enter the required number of minutes in the optional Buffer field.

Q5. What happens when I set a shift as the default shift?
Newly invited users will automatically be assigned the default shift.

Q6. When does an updated shift become effective?
A shift change becomes effective from the next day, according to the effective-date behavior described above.

Q7. Can I manage shifts assigned to individual users?
Yes. Use the View by User tab to view and manage individual users' shift assignments.

Q8. What happens when an overnight shift crosses midnight?
For the overnight-shift example described in this document, the work data remains associated with the business day on which the shift started.

9. Best Practices

• Use clear and descriptive shift names.
• Verify the selected timezone before saving a shift.
• Configure start and end times according to the intended working schedule.
• Use buffer time only when additional time is required.
• Set a default shift when most new employees share the same schedule.
• Review effective dates after changing a shift.
• Verify overnight-shift reporting to ensure that work data is grouped under the correct business day.
• Review individual shift assignments when employees work in different time zones.

10. Summary

The Workstatus Shift Settings feature helps organization owners create and manage employee work schedules across different time zones. Owners can configure working hours, select timezones, define buffer time, assign a default shift to newly invited users, manage individual shift assignments, and configure overnight shifts.
Correct shift configuration helps maintain consistent scheduling and business-day reporting for employees working across different regions.

Updated on: 22/10/2026