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How to Block Your Calendar and Plot for Cleaner's Time-Off/Vacation, Lunch Breaks, and Holidays
How to Block Your Calendar and Plot for Cleaner's Time-Off/Vacation, Lunch Breaks, and Holidays
Natalia avatar
Written by Natalia
Updated over a week ago

This article shows how to plot your holiday hours, cleaner's availability (such as time off, vacation, lunch breaks), or even company time off.

Option 1: Create a Task.

  • From your Zenmaid dashboard, go to your Calendar.

  • Click on the Actions button located in the upper left corner of the screen and select Create a Task.

  • A new pop-up window will appear on the right part of the screen.

  • Name the task relevant to the event you'd like to plot under the Task field and type in additional details in the Note field.

  • Don't forget to select the date you want to plot this task on under the Due field.

  • Hit on the Create button to create the task.

  • You will now be able to see the task on your calendar in the Tasks row.

  • If you need a recurring task, just click on the Set to repeat button before creating a task and choose the frequency (daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, custom).

  • Tasks are a great and quick way to plot events that last the entire day. In this case, events like half-day time-offs and lunch breaks are best plotted in the calendar using the next option.

Option 2: Create a Fake Appointment.

Create your fake customer.

  • From your Zenmaid dashboard, create a new dummy customer by going to Contacts > Add New Contact.

  • Come up with your fake customer's name. Make sure it implies the event you want to plot on your calendar to block it off (like Holiday, Sick Leave, Vacation Leave, Time-Off, Lunch Break, etc.).

  • Add at least one fake address to this dummy profile for smooth dummy appointment creation.

  • Don't forget to save your new fake customer by hitting the Save button at the bottom.

Create a status for your events.

  • After that, go to Settings > Calendar.

  • Go to the Status section and click on the +Add Status button.

  • Name the new appointment status relevant to you so that it would let you know that it's for the fake account/s you made to block off your calendar (like Holiday, Sick Leave, Vacation Leave, Time-Off, Lunch Break, etc.).

  • Drag it down so it does not set as the default status when you create new appointments.

  • Pick a color if you'd like. Also, don't forget to click on the "+" icon and tick on/off the following items:

-Show by Default in Calendar? - gives you the option of visibility on the calendar. If you would like the blocking appointments to run behind the schedule, keep this 'off'

-Put in Work Order? - keep off so fake appointment won't be counted and sent out as a work order.

-Make sure to check Use to calculate scheduling conflicts? in the Calendar Settings under the Appointment Statuses so it will let you know if a cleaner is unavailable to be assigned on a real appointment (as you would assign him/her on the dummy appointment for this to work).

-Include in payroll? - keep unchecked so it won't be accounted for in your payroll. Accrual for paid time off can be done through an independent spreadsheet linked to exported payroll reports.

-Make sure you uncheck Include in Revenue Reports? so it doesn't mess up with your revenue reports.

  • Once you're done, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Create an appointment on the day/s you want to block your calendar off for time-offs, holidays, etc.

  • Go to your Calendar.

  • Create a new appointment on the day and time you want to plot your event using the dummy customer you created.

  • Assign the relevant cleaner/cleaners for the event.

  • Specify the start and end times.

  • Before creating the appointment, change its Status to the one you created.

  • Finally, click on the Create Appointment button.

Keywords:
plot time off, plot holiday, plot leave, plot sick leave, block calendar, block day, block cleaner, cleaner availability, cleaner on leave, cleaner leave, plot break, plot lunch break, cleaner lunch break, cleaner break, lunch break clock in, lunch break clock out

Updated on 12/03/2019.

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