Send shift reminders
Remind employees by email, and optionally by SMS, a number of hours before each published shift starts.
This page is for administrators. Reminders are off until you turn them on. Once on, each employee gets one reminder for each published shift, shortly before it starts.
Turn on email reminders#
- Open Planning → Configuration → Settings (you need the Settings administrator right).
- In the Notifications block, tick Shift reminders.
- In hours before the shift, type how long before the start the reminder goes out (12 at first).
- Save.
The setting belongs to the company. In a multi-company database, set it in each company.
Turn on SMS reminders#
With the SmartERP Planning - SMS bridge installed, a second box appears under Shift reminders: Also by SMS (uses paid SMS credits). Tick it and save.
SMS messages go through Odoo's SMS service, which uses paid credits, so the box is off until you tick it. An employee receives the SMS only if they have a Work Mobile on their employee record (or a mobile number on their work contact). An employee without a mobile number still gets the email. The SMS reads: "Reminder: Role shift Day date time-end time. Company name".
What employees receive#
- Email: subject "Reminder: your shift day, date, time". The body says "A reminder of your upcoming shift:" with the start, the end, the role and the note. It goes to the employee's work email, or to the user's email if there is none.
- SMS: described above.
When reminders go out#
A scheduled action, Planning: send shift reminders, runs every 15 minutes. At each run, for every company that enabled reminders, it looks at published shifts (not forecasts) with a person that start within the next n hours and have not yet been reminded for their current start time.
- Each shift gets one reminder.
- If a shift moves to a new time, it gets one new reminder when its new start comes within the window.
- A reminder is not sent for a draft shift, an open shift or a shift that has started.
Because the action runs every 15 minutes, a reminder can be up to 15 minutes later than the exact hour.
Check that it works#
Publish a shift for a test employee starting inside the next n hours and wait for the next run. Check the employee's inbox, or Settings → Technical → Email → Emails in developer mode. To run the action at once, open Settings → Technical → Automation → Scheduled Actions (developer mode), open Planning: send shift reminders and press Run Manually.