If you have freelance or temporary surfers, there's a chance that they may not be included in the HR system your permanent team use to record time off.
For these cases, we usually recommend creating a new calendar that you can add to Surfboard. Here's how to do it in Google Calendar:
How to create a new calendar
To create a time off calendar go to Google Calendar and press the ‘+’ button next to ‘Other calendars’ on the left sidebar.
Give your new calendar a helpful name that explains what it’s used for. Make sure that the time zone you select is correct for your team - if you have team members in many different countries, they can set their own timezone later when creating a ‘time off’ event.
Once your calendar is created, find it in the sidebar and click the '...' button. Then select 'settings and sharing' from the menu.
You can either choose to create a public or secret link. We usually recommend a secret link for improved privacy:
Public links: Tick the box that makes this calendar public, then copy the public iCal link.
Secret links: Copy the 'secret address in iCal format' further down the page. Note, if you don't see this option then you most probably don't have permission to access this link. Ask the calendar owner to copy the link for you.
Go to Surfboard and head to settings > time off and add that iCal link to Surfboard.
💡 You can share this calendar link with your surfers so that they can add it to their own calendar and book their own time off, or you can choose to control it yourself.
How to add time off events in that calendar
Create a new event in your calendar
In the title of the event include the surfer's first and last name, exactly as they appear in Surfboard.
Then, include any of these keyword so Surfboard knows which events are time off:
vacaciones,
urlaub
vacation
absences
time off
holiday
away
leave
absence
appointment
ooo
substitute day
sickness
sick
maternity
paternity
jury
floater day
🌴
substitute
not available
Make sure that the calendar event is added to the time off calendar you created and added to Surfboard.
Once created, events will show up in Surfboard within 20 minutes.
How your team can set their availability
If your team want to communicate their availability, they can do that directly inside of Surfboard. Check our guide to find out how.