How to make a time off request in a bid round under calendar partition rules.
Bid rounds
In bid rounds, a designated number of agents “bid” in rank order for time off. As one person validates and commits their request, the next agent in line is able to validate and commit their request. Even before their turn, agents can view the calendar with others’ requests and validate their own, but still must wait their turn to commit. Once all of the agents complete their bids, the system validates and completes all of the requests, placing the time off onto the agent’s schedules.
Making time off requests
If you are part of a calendar partition that is in an active bid round, you cannot make a separate request for time off within the calendar dates. Any requests must be made through the bidding process. After all bidding is complete, the calendar may move to open selection with different rules (for example, some may have bidding for weeks of time, then move to open selection where people may request single days).
Making a request in a bid round
When participating in a bid round, you are bidding against other agents for the same blocks of time. Depending on the settings created by your WFM team, there may be multiple people bidding at the same time, or only a few, or even one. You will be able to see your place in line (your rank) and assess how likely approval is of your time off request before you make the request.
You will receive a notification when a bid round is open. At that point you can review your options for time off and validate your request, however, you can’t commit your request until it is your turn.
There are several ways to get to the area where you can make your request. The recommended way is to go to Show available PTO. This will display a calendar view showing blackout, brownout, and special calendar days, any current requests from you, requests already committed by other agents, and is a quick way to determine the likelihood that your request will be approved. Green days are very likely to be approved, yellow is less likely to be approved, and red is unlikely to be approved.
To get to Show available PTO:
- Go to Plan > Time off worksheet
- Select Calendar Partitions from the Time off worksheet options menu on the left.
- Click on the partition name. If you are in more than one partition they will all be shown here.
- Select Time off bid rounds from the PTO Calendar overview options on the left.
- Open bid rounds will be green, and your place in line to bid in the upper right corner. Select Show this bid round status.
- On the bottom right select Show available PTO.
- From the calendar view, click Add a block at the bottom left of the calendar.
Your current requests have poker chips (the icon of the bid round).
An alternative way to reach Add a block
- In the left side menu, click Time off bid rounds. You will see your bid rounds, current and past. For past bid round you can view but not edit the details.
- To make a bid in a new round, click Show this bid round status.
- Review the details, including your bid rank, open and close date, minimum and maximum block sizes allowed, your accrued hours, hours already scheduled, etc.
- To request a new block of time, click Add a block.
8. Are you requesting off a portion of a day or a whole day(s)? In the pop-up window, select whether your request is for a full or partial day. The rules of the calendar may not allow partial days, and requests for partial days may only include a single date. Whole days may include a date range.
9. Event type: Select the event type to use for your time off. You may only select from event types including in the PTO classification.
10. Select the Start date and End date for your request. The calendar rules may require a minimum or maximum number of days for your request.
11. Comments: add a comment (required).
12. Click Next.
The validation for your block (the single request) will run and display the results. This includes checking blackout and brownout days, minimum interval request rules, minimum/maximum block size, etc. If any rules fail, you have the option to go back and adjust your request. Even if a rule fails, you still have the option of saving the block (see Requesting an exception).
A note about the timing of requests: When validating a request, the system looks at how much time you have accrued as of the date of making the request, how much time you will have accrued by the date of the request, minus any already approved time. Because of this, you may want to validate your requests in the order of your preference, i.e., if you really want that time in November, more so than the time in May, validate the November time first.
Your request will be added to your calendar partition worksheet.
13. Add any additional blocks to request other time off.
14. After you have added all of your time off requests (blocks), click Validate this round. The validation for your entire block (all of your requests) will run and display the results.
15. Click Close.
If your block passes validation and it’s your turn to complete your bid, the Commit this round button will be available. At that time, you will be at the same ranking as all other people who are eligible to commit bids. It’s first committed – first served.
This screen will automatically refresh and the button available when it’s your turn to commit.
16. Click Commit this round to confirm your selections.
17. Are you sure you want to commit this bid? You will need to check a box confirming your understanding that the selections are final. You will receive a notification that you have committed your bid.
After all bidding is complete, and your administrator has executed the bid, the system will approve or deny all requests and place the approved requests on the schedules.