Microsoft StaffHub – Getting Started Guide

Firstline Managers

September 2017

Microsoft StaffHub is a new go-to tool for everything work. It is designed specifically for the Firstline Workforce and delivers the capabilities that they need to work effectively and perform at their peak. This service combines scheduling, task management, documents, people and tools in one secure place.

Welcome, we’re glad you’re here!

This guide is designed to help you make the most ofMicrosoftStaffHub. As a Firstline Manager, you play a critical role inleading your team, managing the workday andhelping everyone do their best work.

It’s easy to get started!

Start usingMicrosoft StaffHubwith your team by following the steps outlined in this guide. It includes all the resources you need to be successful.

  1. Understand Microsoft StaffHub
  2. Create a team
  3. Invite members
  4. Engage users – including an example set up experience
  1. Understand Microsoft StaffHub

Core Values

Microsoft StaffHub is designed specifically for the Firstline Workerand helps with:

  • Managing and updating schedules and shifts
  • Assigning and tracking tasks and activities
  • Communicating across team members
  • Sharing important employee resources
  • Distributing corporate news and announcements

Microsoft StaffHub is a purpose-built app for the Firstline Workforce in Office 365. It is one collaboration service in Office 365 that addresses the unique needs and challenges of the Firstline Workforce. Because company needs around productivity and collaboration are unique, we recognize that there may not be a one size fits all approach. Companies often rely on one, two or multiple applications in Office 365, such as Outlook, SharePoint, Skype for Business and Yammer to meet different needs of the Firstline Workforce. Before you get started, there’s a few things you should know about the deployment and structure of MicrosoftStaffHub, including team membership, roles and settings.

Deployment

As an Office 365 customer, your IT admin may need to activateMicrosoftStaffHub across your organizationin the Admin Center. Once it is activated, you can log-in directly with your Office 365 credentials on theMicrosoft StaffHub product page. Starting in late 2017, you can access Microsoft StaffHub in theMicrosoft app launcher on the Microsoft online login page. To get started, click on the Microsoft StaffHubtile to open the online app.

Structure

Organization

All teams created by employees in your organization are associated with your Office 365 subscription (tenant). All employees can create teams in Microsoft StaffHub. When a team is created, it follows the same structure asOffice 365 Groups.

Team

A team is often associated with a specific location (e.g. a retail location) and membership is typically associated with all workers who operate within that location. Teams can be adjusted in real-time (e.g. to account for employee turnover). Any content associated with a team (files, chats, notes, etc.) are only visible to active members of a team.

Schedules

A schedule helps organize the workday and assign specific shifts to team members. Schedules can be organized, for example, by role (e.g. sales associate), department (e.g. security), or tailored for your specific needs. Team owners can create schedules, and enable others with the ability to create schedules, as needed and by updating individual permissions. The primary schedule creation screen also serves as a landing page within the application. As a result, the tabs along the top enable managersto share files and provide access to other important employee resources. This content is then easily accessible to everyone on the team within the application. Additional connectors to 3rd party applications can be made available within the employee resources section. Additional employee resources must be enabled and managed by your IT Admin.

Membership

When Microsoft StaffHub is activated for your entire organization, Firstline managers can invite any employee they work with to join their team. Microsoft StaffHub makes it easy for managers to add people in the organization based on their name, email or phone number. Additionally, new employees can be added through StaffHub, who previously did not have an Office 365 account and/or Azure Active Directory ID. Upon a new user being added, a licensing check will occur to ensure your organization has enough subscriptions to cover each user. If there are available licenses, a new user will be created. All employees must have an active Office 365 account to access and use Microsoft StaffHub. Contact your IT Admin with questions regarding the total available licenses and details regarding the licensing check.

Roles

There are two main roles in Microsoft StaffHub: a manager, the person who typically manages the workday, sets the schedule and assigns tasks, and Firstline Workers, the employees who work to complete tasks and activities. Managers can make any member of their team a co-owner when they invite them to the team or at any point after they’ve joined the team. Having multiple team owners enables you to share the responsibilities of managing schedules, membership, settings and invitations.

Team Settings

Users (owners) with management (admin) rights can adjust settings directly in Microsoft StaffHub. Owners need to be identified as Admins during set up or when managing a Team’s membership. Settings include the ability to set and modify schedules, add new members, and share content.

Microsoft StaffHub admins privileges are limited to just the application and do not extend into other Office 365 services.

  1. Create a team

Define the team

Spend some time thinking about of the team you are creating. When you create the team, use a descriptive name so all team members understand the team they will be associated with moving forward.

Tip: Start with a team associated with a specific location (e.g. a single retail location) or department (e.g. security), it’s a great way to define who should be involved.

Share important content

In addition to building the schedule for your team, you can upload and shareimportant content for members to see and access directly in the mobile application. You can also add “Day Notes” - these are notes that all workers assigned to a specific day will see, and “Shift Notes” – these are notes that a worker on a specific shift will see.

Tip:Day and Shift notes are a great way to communicate important information or company news quickly.

  1. Invite members

Host ameeting

The best way to get your Firstline Workers excited about Microsoft StaffHub is to get everyone together, whether in person or virtually. Schedule a team meeting to introduce Microsoft StaffHub. Ask your IT Admin forsome templates and materials to help you host your meeting.

Why Microsoft StaffHub

Kick off the meeting by explaining your goals for using Microsoft StaffHub, how you envision working together with this service and how it helps improve the everyday experience from schedule and task management to accessing important company news and announcements.

Introduction and demo

Introduce Microsoft StaffHub, then jump into a live demo of how to download and use the application.

Tip:Highlighting your favorite features and show how easy schedule and shift management becomes.

Scope of use

Ask team members to commit usingMicrosoft StaffHub as the primary way to manage their schedules, communicate with each other and access important employee resources (e.g. role guidance, employee handbooks, training materials, etc.). Team members can continue to use other communication and collaboration tools.

Tip:Commit to at least using Microsoft StaffHub for schedule and task management for one week and with a group of at least 5 employees so the team can begin to realize the benefits.

Norms

Encourage team members to communicate in the application, rather than one-on-one chats on text message or other non-Office 365 services. This aids adoption and helps ensure critical communications stay secure.

Conventions

Work with users to find the right team and group structures for effective schedule, shift and task management. Suggest a light-weight process for providing feedback.

Setup

Take advantage of this time together to get them set up and signed into Microsoft StaffHub using the mobile application. Advise team members to download mobile apps in the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.

Tip: Getting Microsoft StaffHub setup on team members’ mobile devices will ensure they don’t miss a thing. If a mobile phone number is provided, they will receive an invite to join a team and download the application when they are added to a team.

Follow up with the team

After your team meeting, follow up with an email or announcement summarizing your discussion and providing next steps and resources for team members. Check with your IT Admin for these resources.

  1. Engage users

Schedule Management

Get the most out of Microsoft StaffHub by shifting Firstline Worker scheduling and shift management to the application.This will help workers adopt StaffHub knowing that there is one place they can check to understand their schedules, manage individual shifts and request time-off. Additionally, managers stay up to date and in control of all changes.

Task Management

Maintain momentum by assigning tasks and activities within StaffHub. This will help team members further engage with the application and focus on the work that needs to be accomplished throughout the workday or on a specific shift. Additionally, managers can review and monitor progress.

Communication

UseMicrosoft StaffHub to connect and engage your Firstline Workforce. Users benefit from a familiar chat experience for private or group conversations and managers can share information broadly withDay Notes. Additionally, IT Admins can designate users in an organization who can send messages in Outlook to all StaffHub users – this is an effective way to cascade messages across the organization and reach all members of the Firstline Workforce. Users can access this corporate announcement directly in the application.

Training

Use Microsoft StaffHub to distribute training documents and onboarding materials. Additionally, schedule time during the workday for workers to complete any required training, retraining and onboarding activities. This will help ensure employees have the skills and confidence they need to do their best work.

File Sharing

Upload and share content and files (e.g. employee handbook) in Microsoft StaffHub. Additionally, ask your IT Admin about setting up the Employee Resources tab in StaffHub – here Firstline Workers can quickly access additional tools such as PowerApps. This will save your team time by using one place to access the tools and information they need.

Submitfeedback and ideas

Bring your team’s feedback and ideas to your IT admin. Work together to build custom integrations and applications that your team needs – taking advantage of available APIs and points of integration with Microsoft PowerApps and Flow.

Here we will walk through an example scenario of a small retail location getting set up.

Step 1: Identify the teams / locations you will be using Microsoft StaffHub

In this guide, a single retail location “Contoso Retail” will be used as an example.

Step 2: Set up Microsoft StaffHub for Contoso Retail

In our example, we will set up Microsoft StaffHub, add team members and create an example schedule. Get started on the Microsoft StaffHub product page or, when available, enter the through the Microsoft app launcher on the Microsoft online login page.

Click “Begin setup”

Name your team:Contoso Retail

Pick a familiar name, this will be what employees see when they are invited to join. After some additional team settings, you will be prompted to “Get the mobile app”. Enter your mobile number to be texted a download link. Additionally, the application can be downloaded from the iOS App and Google Play stores.

Step 3:Add team members and invite them to join your team

After creating a Team in Microsoft StaffHub, you can begin adding team members. You can quickly add them by typing in their first and last name or work email address. It’s recommended to add their mobile number as users will receive a text message inviting them to join the team and download the mobile application.

New users who do not currently exist within a company’s Azure Active Directory can still be added to Microsoft StaffHub. However, all users require an active AAD ID and Office 365 account. Appropriate licensing is required for all users.

Click “Finish setup” once you are done adding users. You can continue manage the team roster from the web portal including: adding and subtracting users and changing permission (e.g. admin rights in Microsoft StaffHub) at any time.

Step 4:Take the tour and get started

After adding users, you can take a quick tour to learn more about Microsoft StaffHub or skip ahead to explore on your own. You’re now ready to schedule, manage, share and communicate with the team in Microsoft StaffHub.

It’s recommended that you populate the schedule during the initial set up experience so new users are not greeted with empty space.

Build the schedule:

  • You can use groups to organize your team by role, location or department.
  • You can add and assign shifts to specific team members – frequently used shifts will be recommended, and you can copy and paste shift details.
  • You can add details by shift including: start/stop times, custom labels, color codes, and shift specific notes.
  • Once you’ve completed adding your team and assigning shifts, you’re ready to finalize and publish the schedule. Click “Publish”.

Tip:Complete at least 2 weeks of shift details to provide workers a forward view into the schedules.

Share content:

  • You can use the Files tab to upload and share content and documents.
  • You can also add URLs to link to 3rd party applications or other web-based resources (e.g. internal employee websites).
  • You can add a descriptive title when uploading content and adding links to help employees understands what is being shared

Tip:Share employee resources (e.g. role guidance) and training materials (e.g. how-to guides) to help workers access the information they need at any time.

Communicate updates:

  • You can use “Day Notes” to share information with everyone working
  • You can use “Shift Notes” to share information specific to a shift or employee
  • You can use a familiar chat experience for private and group conversations

Tip:Take advantage of existing communication channels (e.g. Outlook) to deliver important news to employees in the application.

Step 5: Kick off with new team members

The best way to get your team members excited about using Microsoft StaffHub is to get everyone together, whether in person or virtually. Schedule a team meeting to introduce Microsoft StaffHub, discuss the many features and benefits, and get employees to download and experience Microsoft StaffHub. Kick off the meeting by explaining your goals for using Microsoft StaffHub, and how you envision working together. You might introduce Microsoft StaffHub by providing a live demo.

Areas that you may want to discuss in the meeting include:

  • Encourage users to access their schedules, swap shifts and request time-off in the application.
  • Encourage team members to communicate using the in-app chat experience, rather than text message or non-Office 365 services.
  • Describe how chat can be used for private 1:1 conversations or small group conversations.
  • Explain how users can access content, such as employee handbook or training materials directly in the application.
  • Take advantage of this time together to get them to download the application and to sign in to their relevant teams.

Afteryour meeting, follow up with an announcement summarizing your discussion and providing next steps and resources for team members to use Microsoft StaffHub. Host trainings and Q&A sessions to address any challenges.

Maintain momentum by shifting Firstline Worker scheduling details, tasks and relevant content into Microsoft StaffHub.

Microsoft StaffHub