Compliance Notifications

Learn how to configure, manage, and respond to automated compliance notifications in the Shifts platform to ensure timely awareness and resolution of labor law compliance issues.

Overview

The Compliance Notifications feature in Shifts automatically alerts relevant stakeholders about potential or actual compliance violations in real-time. These notifications help prevent compliance issues before they occur, facilitate quick intervention when issues arise, and create an audit trail of notification and response actions. This article explains how to configure, customize, and manage compliance notifications to maintain labor law compliance.

Understanding Compliance Notifications

Notification Types

The system provides several types of compliance alerts:

1. Preventive Notifications: Alerts about potential future violations
2. Real-Time Violations: Immediate alerts when a violation occurs
3. Summary Notifications: Regular digests of compliance status
4. Escalation Alerts: Notifications sent when issues remain unresolved
5. Documentation Reminders: Prompts to document compliance exceptions

Available Notification Categories

The platform includes notifications for:

• Break Compliance: Missed, late, or short breaks
• Rest Period Violations: Insufficient time between shifts
• Hour Limit Alerts: Approaching or exceeding daily/weekly limits
• Schedule Compliance: Potential violations in upcoming schedules
• Minor Work Restrictions: Violations of youth employment rules
• Attendance Exceptions: Suspicious attendance patterns
• Manager Override Alerts: When managers bypass compliance rules

Accessing Notification Settings

To configure compliance notifications:

1. Log in with administrator credentials
2. Navigate to Admin > Compliance Management > Notifications
3. The notification configuration dashboard will display
4. Select the notification category you want to configure

Configuring Notification Rules

Break Compliance Notifications

To set up break-related alerts:

1. Navigate to the Break Compliance tab
2. Click Add New Rule or edit an existing rule
3. Configure the rule conditions:
   • Break Type: Select which break types to monitor (meal, rest, etc.)
   • Violation Type: Choose what triggers the alert (missed, late, short)
   • Time Threshold: Set how late/short before triggering (e.g., 5 minutes)
   • Grace Period: Configure any allowed flexibility (e.g., 2 minutes)
4. Set up the notification delivery:
   • Recipients: Who receives the alert (employee, manager, HR)
   • Delivery Channel: Email, SMS, in-app notification, or multiple
   • Timing: Immediate or delayed by specified minutes
   • Message Template: Select or customize the message content
5. Click Save Rule

Rest Period Notifications

Configure alerts for rest period compliance:

1. Go to the Rest Period tab
2. Click Add New Rule or edit an existing rule
3. Configure rule parameters:
   • Threshold: Hours between shifts that trigger the alert
   • Warning Time: How far in advance to warn about potential violations
   • Scope: Which employees or roles this applies to
4. Set up the notification details
5. Click Save Rule

Hour Limit Notifications

Set up alerts for hour limit compliance:

1. Navigate to the Hour Limits tab
2. Click Add New Rule or edit an existing rule
3. Configure:
   • Limit Type: Daily, weekly, or pay period
   • Warning Threshold: Percentage of limit that triggers a warning
   • Violation Threshold: Hours that constitute a violation
4. Set up notification details
5. Click Save Rule

Schedule Compliance Notifications

Create alerts for scheduling issues:

1. Go to the Schedule Compliance tab
2. Click Add New Rule
3. Configure:
   • Violation Type: Select specific scheduling rules to monitor
   • Check Timing: When to check (on publish, on edit, before shift)
   • Priority: Set the urgency level of these notifications
4. Configure notification delivery settings
5. Click Save Rule

Notification Recipients

Role-Based Recipients

Configure who receives different notification types:

1. In any notification rule, click the Recipients section
2. Add recipients by role:
   • Employee: The affected employee
   • Direct Manager: The employee’s immediate supervisor
   • Department Head: Manager of the entire department
   • Location Manager: Manager of the specific location
   • HR Representatives: HR personnel responsible for compliance
   • Compliance Team: Dedicated compliance specialists
3. Select which roles receive which notification types

Custom Recipients

Add specific individuals to notifications:

1. In the Recipients section, click Add Custom Recipient
2. Enter the individual’s email address or user ID
3. Select which notification types they should receive
4. Set any filtering conditions (e.g., only for specific departments)
5. Click Add Recipient

Notification Channels

Available Channels

Configure how notifications are delivered:

1. In any notification rule, go to the Delivery Channels section
2. Select from available channels:
   • In-App: Notifications within the Shifts platform
   • Email: Sent to recipient email addresses
   • SMS: Text messages to mobile devices
   • Mobile Push: Push notifications to the mobile app
   • Team Messaging: Alerts in integrated messaging platforms
3. Configure each channel’s specific settings

Channel-Specific Settings

Customize delivery for each channel:

1. In-App Notifications:
   • Persistence: How long the notification remains visible
   • Urgency Marker: Visual indicators for high-priority alerts
2. Email Notifications:
   • Subject Line: Customize email subject formatting
   • Rich Formatting: Enable/disable HTML formatting
   • Reply-To: Set appropriate reply-to address
3. SMS Notifications:
   • Character Limit: Configure message length limits
   • Include Links: Whether to include action links
4. Mobile Push:
   • Badge Count: Update app badge count
   • Sound: Enable notification sounds
5. Team Messaging:
   • Channel: Specify which channel to post to
   • Mention Type: How to @mention recipients

Notification Content

Message Templates

Create and manage notification message templates:

1. Navigate to Notification Templates in the sidebar
2. Click Create Template or edit an existing one
3. Configure the template:
   • Title: Short name for the template
   • Subject Line: For email notifications
   • Message Body: The content of the notification
   • Variables: Insert dynamic content using variables
   • Formatting: Add styling and structure to the message
4. Click Save Template

Variable Placeholders

Use variables to personalize notifications:

• {employee_name}: Name of the affected employee
• {manager_name}: Name of the employee’s manager
• {violation_type}: The type of compliance issue
• {violation_details}: Specific details about the violation
• {shift_date}: Date of the affected shift
• {shift_time}: Time of the affected shift
• {location_name}: Name of the work location
• {resolution_deadline}: When the issue must be resolved
• {action_link}: Link to take immediate action

Notification Timing

Preventive Alerts

Configure advance warnings about potential issues:

1. In the Timing section of any rule, select Preventive
2. Set how far in advance to send warnings:
   • For schedule violations: days before the shift
   • For hour limits: hours/percentage before reaching limit
   • For rest periods: when creating schedules that would violate rest rules

Real-Time Alerts

Set up immediate notifications when violations occur:

1. Select Real-Time in the timing settings
2. Configure any delay tolerance (e.g., wait 5 minutes to allow correction)
3. Set whether to send only on first occurrence or for each instance

Digest Notifications

Configure summary notifications for multiple issues:

1. Select Digest in the timing settings
2. Choose the frequency:
   • Daily: Sent at specified time each day
   • Weekly: Sent on specific day of the week
   • Custom: Set a custom schedule
3. Configure grouping options (by employee, violation type, etc.)

Escalation Rules

Automatic Escalation

Configure when to escalate unresolved issues:

1. In any notification rule, go to the Escalation section
2. Click Add Escalation Rule
3. Configure when escalation occurs:
   • Time Threshold: Hours/days after initial notification
   • Resolution Status: Only escalate if still unresolved
   • Severity Level: Only escalate specific severities
4. Specify escalation recipients (usually higher management)
5. Configure the escalation message template
6. Click Save Escalation Rule

Multiple Escalation Levels

Create multi-tier escalation workflows:

1. Add multiple escalation rules with increasing time thresholds
2. For each level, specify different recipients (e.g., direct manager → department head → executive)
3. Customize messaging to reflect escalation urgency
4. Configure maximum escalation level

Response Tracking

Acknowledgment Requirements

Configure acknowledgment settings:

1. In any notification rule, go to the Response Requirements section
2. Choose acknowledgment options:
   • Required Acknowledgment: Recipient must confirm receipt
   • Optional Acknowledgment: Recipients can acknowledge if desired
   • No Acknowledgment: Simple notification with no response needed
3. Set acknowledgment deadline (hours/days to respond)
4. Configure what happens if not acknowledged

Resolution Actions

Define actions recipients can take:

1. In the Resolution Options section, configure available actions:
   • Fix Issue: Options to directly correct the violation
   • Document Exception: Record a valid reason for the exception
   • Delegate: Assign resolution to someone else
   • Dispute: Contest that a violation occurred
2. For each action, configure required documentation
3. Set whether manager approval is needed for specific actions

Resolution Tracking

Monitor issue resolution status:

1. Navigate to Compliance Management > Notification Log
2. View all notifications with their current status:
   • Sent
   • Delivered
   • Read
   • Acknowledged
   • In Progress
   • Resolved
   • Escalated
3. Filter by status, date range, notification type, or recipient
4. Export resolution tracking reports for documentation

Compliance Notification Dashboard

Access a real-time view of notification status:

1. Navigate to Compliance Management > Notification Dashboard
2. View panels for:
   • Active Notifications: Currently unresolved issues
   • Pending Acknowledgment: Notifications awaiting acknowledgment
   • Escalation Queue: Issues approaching or in escalation
   • Resolution Progress: Metrics on resolution rates
3. Drill down into specific categories for detailed views
4. Take bulk actions on multiple notifications if needed

Notification Testing

Test your notification configuration:

1. Navigate to the notification rule you want to test
2. Click the Test button
3. Select test recipients (usually yourself or test accounts)
4. Choose whether to mark as test (prevents counting in analytics)
5. Click Send Test Notification
6. Verify receipt across all configured channels
7. Test the response and resolution workflow

Best Practices

For effective compliance notifications:

1. Prioritize Clearly: Define severity levels and delivery urgency accordingly
2. Avoid Notification Fatigue: Consolidate similar notifications where possible
3. Use Digestible Format: Make notifications easy to understand at a glance
4. Include Action Links: Provide direct links to take action
5. Test All Channels: Ensure notifications work on all delivery methods
6. Document Everything: Ensure the system retains all notification history
7. Review Regularly: Analyze notification patterns to improve compliance
8. Customize By Role: Target content based on recipient responsibilities

Related Resources

• Compliance Rules
• Compliance Reports
• Compliance Dashboard
• Notification Settings

This article should be updated when:

1. New notification types are added to the system
2. Notification delivery channels are expanded
3. The notification configuration interface changes
4. New escalation or resolution tracking features are introduced
5. Templates or variable options are updated