Shift Bidding

Shift Bidding, also called AutoRoster, fills open shifts through an auction. In a Staff Bidding auction, your staff bid on the shifts they want and you choose who gets each one. In an Automated auction, everyone eligible is put forward, and Microkeeper suggests who works each shift. That's how Microkeeper rosters your staff automatically: you add the shifts you need, and it chooses who works each one for you to check and assign.

Navigate to Menu > Rosters > Roster Calendar, show one week with the range on 1 Week, then click More Actions > Auction.

Turn on shift bidding

In Roster Settings, set Shift Bidding to Staff + Auto Bidding, or to Only Auto Bidding to allow only automated auctions. Until you do, Auction is greyed out under More Actions.

Make shifts open for an auction

An auction only offers open shifts. On the Roster Calendar, add the shift as usual and choose Open instead of an employee. You can also convert shifts with no one in them to open shifts when you create the auction.

In By Employee view, open and auction shifts have their own Open shifts and Auction shifts rows at the top. In any view, the Open and Auction filters above the roster show only those shifts.

Create an auction

1. Click More Actions > Auction, then + Create New Auction.
2. To include rostered shifts that have no one in them, click Convert, choose the dates, set From: to Unassigned and To: to Open, click Convert, then Next. If your shifts are already open, click Skip.
3. Choose the Date Range of shifts to auction.
4. Choose the Auction Type:, Automated or Staff Bidding. For Staff Bidding, choose how staff hear about it under Notifications: Push, SMS or Email.
5. Under Auction Live, choose Live Now, or Live Later with a date and time.
6. Click Simulate, and check the staff under Eligible Bids. Untick anyone you want to leave out.
7. Click Create Auction.

Managers who don't manage every Location can only auction and assign shifts at the Locations they manage.

Staff can't bid on a shift that doesn't suit them. Ineligible Bids lists who was left out and why:

How your staff bid on shifts

When a Staff Bidding auction goes live, staff are notified the ways you chose. On the Employee Console, the Shift Bidding section lists each shift with its Location, Role, date, times and note. They click Bid on the shifts they want, and Hide on the ones they can't work. They can bid on shifts that overlap.

If a shift needs a skill they haven't completed, they see the skill instead of the Bid button.

Follow an auction's progress

Click More Actions > Auction. The Auction Review list shows your Upcoming, Live and Closed auctions, with each auction's bid progress and how many staff have taken part. Choose All Auctions to see other managers' auctions too. Your Dashboard also shows Live Roster Auctions.

Assign staff to auctioned shifts

1. Click More Actions > Auction, then Assign Shifts. Microkeeper suggests someone for each shift.
2. Change how it chooses under Assign By:, then click Apply:
   • Even Distributions spreads the hours evenly across staff.
   • First In Best Dressed favours the earliest bids.
   • Lowest Cost or Highest Cost favours staff by hourly rate.
   • Most Experienced or Least Experienced favours staff by how long they've been employed.
3. Set Protected hours:, the rest each employee needs between shifts, and Allowed OT:, the weekly overtime you'll accept, then click Apply again.
4. To choose someone else for a shift, click the button beside the suggested name and pick from the staff who bid.
5. Click Assign Staff.

The assigned shifts appear on the Roster Calendar under each employee. Click Lock and Confirm, then notify your staff as usual. See Roster Calendar.

Shift bidding troubleshooting

Guides related to shift bidding

• Roster Calendar
• Roster Settings