Staff Management Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about managing team members, permissions, and pay rates in Zipper. Find answers to questions about adding staff, assigning roles, managing permissions, and setting up pay rates.
Product Capabilities and What It Can Do
Q: What can I do with staff management?
A: Staff management allows you to:
- Add team members to your organization
- Assign roles (admin, manager, staff) with different access levels
- Assign granular permissions to control feature access
- Manage pay rates for payroll workflows
- Control who can access which features
- Switch users to kiosk mode for in-person operations
Q: What roles can I assign to team members?
A: You can assign three roles:
- Admin: Full dashboard access for organization owners
- Manager: Full dashboard access except staff management
- Staff: Minimal dashboard access for team members
Roles provide quick access setup, and you can customize permissions beyond roles.
Q: Can I assign custom permissions?
A: Yes! You can:
- Assign specific permissions beyond roles
- Control access to individual features
- Mix roles with custom permissions
- Fine-tune access control precisely
Custom permissions give you granular control over feature access.
Q: What permission categories are available?
A: Permission categories include:
- Organization Management: Org settings, integrations, branding, staff, reports
- Sites & Content: Sites, blog posts, CMS, forms, media library
- Customers & Operations: View/manage customers, financials, calendar, notes, metrics, leads
- Business Ops & Marketing: Products, schedule, automations, emails, SMS, reviews
- Customer App: Configure in-app pages
Each category contains multiple specific permissions.
Q: Can I set pay rates for team members?
A: Yes! You can:
- Define pay rates for individual team members
- Set organization-wide pay rate templates
- Update pay rates as needed
- Export pay rates for payroll workflows
Pay rate management helps you handle payroll efficiently.
How to Use the Product
Getting Started
Q: What do I need before I can add staff?
A: Before adding staff, you should have:
- An active organization account at https://app.joinzipper.com
- Organization owner or admin permissions (you need the "manage-org-staff" permission)
You can start adding staff immediately once you have the required permissions.
Q: How do I get started adding my first staff member?
A: To add your first staff member:
- Log in to https://app.joinzipper.com
- Go to Organization Management → Staff
- Click Add Staff button
- Enter staff information:
- Name: Staff member name
- Email: Staff email address
- Role: Admin, Manager, or Staff
- Permissions: Assign specific permissions
- Click Save
The staff member will be added and can access the dashboard based on their permissions.
Common Tasks
Q: How do I add a staff member?
A: To add staff:
- Go to Organization Management → Staff
- Click Add Staff
- Enter staff information:
- Name: Staff member name
- Email: Staff email address
- Role: Select admin, manager, or staff
- Assign permissions (beyond role defaults if needed)
- Click Save
The staff member will receive an invitation to join your organization.
Q: How do I assign permissions to a staff member?
A: To assign permissions:
- Go to Staff → select staff member
- Click Edit (or edit permissions)
- Review role permissions (assigned automatically)
- Assign additional permissions:
- Check boxes for specific permissions
- Permissions are organized by category
- Save changes
Permissions control what features staff members can access.
Q: How do I change a staff member's role?
A: To change role:
- Go to Staff → select staff member
- Click Edit
- Change Role (admin, manager, or staff)
- Permissions update automatically based on role
- Adjust custom permissions if needed
- Save changes
Role changes update default permissions automatically.
Q: How do I remove a staff member?
A: To remove staff:
- Go to Staff → select staff member
- Click Remove (or delete)
- Confirm removal
The staff member will be removed from your organization and lose access.
Q: How do I set pay rates for staff?
A: To set pay rates:
- Go to Organization Management → Pay Rates (or Staff → Pay Rates)
- Click Add Pay Rate
- Enter rate details:
- Staff Member: Select team member
- Rate: Enter pay rate
- Type: Hourly, salary, etc.
- Save rate
Pay rates can be used for payroll workflows.
Configuration and Settings
Q: How do I create a pay rate template?
A: To create a template:
- Go to Pay Rates → Templates (or organization-wide rates)
- Click Create Template
- Enter template details:
- Name: Template name
- Rate: Pay rate
- Type: Rate type
- Save template
Templates can be assigned to multiple staff members.
Q: How do I switch a user to kiosk mode?
A: To switch to kiosk mode:
- Go to Staff → select staff member
- Find Kiosk Mode option
- Enable kiosk mode
Kiosk mode provides limited-scope access for in-person operations.
Troubleshooting
Q: Why can't I add a staff member?
A: You might not be able to add staff if:
- You don't have "manage-org-staff" permission
- Staff email is already in use
- You're not logged into the correct organization
Solution: Check your permissions, verify email is available, and ensure you're in the correct organization.
Q: Why can't a staff member access a feature?
A: Staff might not have access if:
- They don't have the required permission
- Permission wasn't assigned
- Role doesn't include the permission
Solution: Check staff member's permissions, assign required permission, or upgrade their role.
Q: Why don't I see the Staff menu?
A: You might not see it if:
- You don't have "manage-org-staff" permission
- You're not an organization owner or admin
- Menu is hidden based on your role
Solution: Contact your organization admin to grant staff management permissions.
Q: Why can't I set pay rates?
A: You might not be able to set rates if:
- You don't have permission to manage pay rates
- Pay rate feature isn't available
- Staff member doesn't exist
Solution: Check your permissions, verify pay rate feature is available, and ensure staff member exists.
Edge Cases and Advanced Usage
Q: Can I have multiple admins?
A: Yes! You can:
- Assign admin role to multiple team members
- All admins have full dashboard access
- Admins can manage other staff members
- Multiple admins help distribute management responsibilities
Multiple admins provide redundancy and shared management.
Q: What's the difference between roles and permissions?
A: Roles and permissions:
- Roles: Quick access setup with default permission sets
- Permissions: Granular control over individual features
- You can assign permissions beyond role defaults
- Mix roles with custom permissions for precise control
Roles provide quick setup, while permissions provide granular control.
Q: Can I assign permissions that aren't in the role?
A: Yes! You can:
- Assign specific permissions beyond role defaults
- Mix roles with custom permissions
- Fine-tune access control precisely
- Override role defaults with custom permissions
Custom permissions give you flexibility beyond role defaults.
Q: What happens if I remove a staff member?
A: When you remove staff:
- Staff member loses access to your organization
- Their permissions are removed
- Pay rates may be removed (depending on configuration)
- Historical data may be preserved
Important: Be careful when removing staff, as this affects their access immediately.
Q: Can I export pay rates for payroll?
A: Yes! You can:
- List pay rates for payroll workflows
- Export pay rate data
- Use exported data in payroll systems
- Generate payroll reports
Export helps you integrate with payroll systems.
Q: How do I manage permissions for a large team?
A: To manage large teams:
- Use roles for quick setup
- Create permission templates
- Assign permissions in bulk (if supported)
- Review permissions regularly
Efficient permission management helps you scale team access control.
Q: Can I see what permissions a staff member has?
A: Yes! You can:
- View staff member's permissions
- See permissions organized by category
- Understand what features they can access
- Review permission changes over time
Permission visibility helps you understand and manage access control.
Complimentary Access
Q: How do I add an all-access membership (or another membership type) for my staff?
A: Assign them an externally tracked payment with a far-future end date. See the detailed guide: How to Give Staff an All-Access Membership
Quick steps:
- Make sure the staff member has a customer profile in CRM (create one if needed)
- Open their customer profile
- Find the Purchases or Subscriptions section
- Click Add Externally Tracked Payment
- Select the all-access or unlimited membership product
- Set the Start Date to today
- Set the End Date far in the future (e.g., 5 years)
- Add a note: "Staff membership"
- Save
The staff member now has access to all benefits of that membership without being charged. To end early, edit the end date. To extend, push the end date further out.
Substitution Management
Q: What is the substitution board?
A: The substitution board is a centralized system for managing instructor substitutions:
- View all open shifts that need coverage
- Staff can claim available shifts
- Administrators can approve or reject claims
- Automatic notifications keep everyone informed
The substitution board streamlines finding replacement instructors for classes and events.
Q: How do I set up substitution management?
A: To set up substitution management:
- Go to Dashboard → Substitutions
- Click "Get Started" or initialize the substitution board
- Configure your substitution settings:
- Which staff can claim shifts
- Notification preferences
- Approval requirements
- Staff will now be able to claim open shifts
Q: How do staff claim shifts?
A: Staff can claim shifts by:
- Viewing the substitution board
- Seeing available open shifts
- Clicking "Claim" on a shift they can cover
- Waiting for approval (if required)
Staff receive notifications when their claim is approved.
Q: Can I approve or reject substitution claims?
A: Yes! As an administrator, you can:
- Review pending substitution claims
- Approve claims to assign the shift
- Reject claims if the staff member isn't suitable
- Configure automatic approval for trusted staff
Tool Onboarding
Q: What is tool onboarding?
A: Tool onboarding provides guided setup experiences for different features:
- Step-by-step wizards for new features
- Contextual help as you explore the dashboard
- Progress tracking for setup completion
- Quick access to support resources
Onboarding helps new staff members get started quickly with each feature.
Q: How do I access onboarding for a feature?
A: Onboarding appears automatically when you:
- Access a feature for the first time
- Haven't completed the feature's setup
- Can also be manually triggered from feature settings
Look for "Get Started" buttons or onboarding prompts in new sections.
Clone Staff & Edit Names
Q: How do I clone a staff member?
A: You can clone an existing staff member to quickly set up a new team member with similar permissions:
- Go to Organization Management → Staff
- Find the staff member you want to clone
- Click the Clone button (or use the three-dot menu)
- The "Create Staff" modal opens with permissions pre-filled from the original staff member
- Enter the new staff member's name and email
- Adjust any permissions if needed
- Click Save
This is useful when adding staff with similar roles, such as multiple instructors who need the same permissions.
Q: Can I edit a staff member's name?
A: Yes! Admins can now edit staff member names directly:
- Go to Organization Management → Staff
- Click on the staff member
- Edit their name in the profile section
- Save changes
The name change is saved to the user record and reflected throughout the system. This is useful for correcting typos or updating names without needing to recreate the account.