We've all been there — scrambling to find coverage for a shift, waiting days for PTO approval, or navigating complex scheduling conflicts. For modern support teams, these challenges aren't just frustrating — they're critical barriers to delivering exceptional customer experiences while managing costs effectively.
Today, we're launching a suite of intelligent scheduling tools that represent the next step in our mission to create truly superhuman support operations. These features put agents in control while giving workforce managers the AI-powered insights and guardrails they need to operate with confidence in an increasingly complex environment.
Finding someone to cover your shift doesn’t need to be a flood of Slack messages or desperate emails. With our new Shift Swaps feature, agents can now browse available shifts and initiate trades directly within Assembled.
Admins have full control over swap eligibility, setting precise criteria based on specific schedules, queues, channels, event types, teams, or skills. You can require exact matches, partial matches, or allow open swapping between any agents. This customizable approach ensures the right people are handling the right work while still giving agents the flexibility they need.
The system automatically checks that swaps follow your defined rules and policies, so managers don't have to. Agents get the flexibility they need while operations stay intact. No more manual approvals for straightforward swaps means less work for managers and faster resolutions for agents. Our early Shift Swap users report that what used to take hours now happens in minutes, freeing up managers to focus on strategy rather than shuffling schedules.
This is now in beta, reach out to the Assembled team to learn more.
Schedule adjustments shouldn't create unexpected staffing shortages. Our new Layers feature organizes each agent's schedule into three hierarchical layers: productive time (bottom), default events like meetings, lunches, and breaks (middle), and time off (top).
This approach intelligently handles overlapping schedules based on priority, preventing gaps before they occur. Since an agent's entire shift is already populated with productive time activities at the bottom layer, when higher-priority events move or disappear, the schedule automatically maintains coverage. When an agent's lunch shifts or a training session is canceled, that time slot doesn't become empty — it simply reveals the already-scheduled productive work underneath, maintaining accurate forecasting and preventing understaffing.
Layers ensure schedules remain complete through any adjustments, resulting in more accurate metrics and fewer unexpected coverage issues.
This is now in beta, reach out to the Assembled team to learn more.
Communication breakdowns are productivity killers. Our new notification hub ensures everyone stays informed — without constant check-ins — via Slack and email alerts:
These notifications serve as the crucial bridge between AI-powered insights and human action, ensuring that intelligence is immediately actionable. This visibility creates a more connected team that can respond quickly to changing conditions without micromanagement.
Time-off requests don't need to create bottlenecks. With our AI-powered automated PTO approvals, Assembled evaluates time-off requests against rules set by managers. Once rules are defined, the system handles the rest, automatically approving requests that don’t violate any rules. Rule types range from maximum monthly hours, maximum days per month, minimum days of advanced notice, and more. Rules can be set for a specific date range, and can be segmented by specific channels, queues, sites, or skills.
Agents receive immediate confirmation when their time-off is approved, giving them certainty for planning personal time. Meanwhile, managers are freed from reviewing every routine request, focusing instead on exceptions and strategic planning.
Navigating regulations and maintaining consistent standards across a global operation is complex, but compliance and labor laws shouldn't be an afterthought. Now Assembled can enforce the specific compliance rules you define, automatically checking schedules against your configured parameters.
You set the rules that match your region and organizational policies for events like breaks and lunches, or define constraints for shift length and consecutive days — Assembled verifies if all schedules follow them. This approach gives you the flexibility to customize compliance requirements while maintaining consistency across your organization.
When potential violations are detected, Assembled flags the issue with an explanation of the rule violation for quick troubleshooting.
"This will replace our hideous spreadsheet where we export schedules to a Google sheet just to flag issues. It's a huge win for our real-time crew doing nightly audits, and also for schedulers. We specifically wished for a tool that would tell us if we were messing up instead of consulting a spreadsheet of rules. Programming them in is just chef's kiss!"
Real Time Management Admin at a global payments company
These enhancements represent a fundamental shift in how support teams operate. By combining smart technology with human expertise, you can empower your agents with more control while giving managers superhuman capabilities to oversee operations without getting bogged down in details. Automations handle routine decisions while flagging exceptions that truly need human attention.
And the payoff is real. Higher agent satisfaction, better coverage, and more strategic use of manager time — all while maintaining the structure and compliance your business requires. With technology handling the complex calculations and routine approvals, your team can focus on what humans do best: creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking.
Ready to transform how your team approaches scheduling? See how Assembled can help you build a more empowered, adaptable support operation that stays ahead of the curve.
