How to Set Working Hours

In Converge, go to Settings → Working Hours. This is where you configure when your team is available to respond to customers.

Why working hours matter:

• Auto-replies: Outside working hours, auto-replies are automatically sent to set customer expectations
• Agent status: Agents are marked as "offline" outside working hours, affecting routing
• Response time expectations: Customers know when to expect a response
• Work-life balance: Sets clear boundaries for when your team is expected to respond

Timezone considerations: Working hours are configured in your workspace's timezone. Make sure the timezone is correctly set before configuring hours. If your team is distributed across timezones, choose the timezone that makes the most sense (usually HQ or where most agents are located).

Set the daily time range when your team is available.

Start time and end time: Configure a single daily schedule that applies every day:

• Start time: When your team becomes available (e.g., 08:00)
• End time: When your team goes offline (e.g., 17:00)

The default is 08:00 - 17:00. This schedule applies uniformly to all days of the week.

24/7 support teams: If your team provides round-the-clock support, set hours as 00:00 - 23:59. This effectively marks your team as always available and prevents auto-replies from triggering based on working hours.

Weekend coverage: Since the schedule applies to all days, if you don't operate on weekends, your auto-replies will still only trigger based on the time range (not the day of week). Consider setting your auto-reply mode to "always" if you need weekend coverage handled differently.

Choose the correct timezone for your working hours.

Workspace timezone: This is the reference timezone for all working hours settings. If your workspace is set to "America/New_York" (Eastern Time), your working hours are in ET.

Why timezone matters: A customer in Tokyo messaging at 10 PM their time might reach you during your working hours if you're in New York (where it's 9 AM). The working hours are calculated from your perspective, not the customer's.

Distributed teams: If your team is in multiple timezones, you have options:

• Use HQ timezone: Set working hours based on your headquarters timezone
• Extended coverage: Set hours that cover the union of all agent timezones (e.g., 8 AM - 10 PM to cover both East and West coast teams)
• Extended hours: Set a wide schedule that covers your earliest-to-latest agent timezones

Daylight Saving Time: Converge automatically handles DST changes based on the timezone you select. No manual adjustment needed when clocks spring forward or fall back.

Decide what happens outside working hours.

Auto-reply message: Configure the message customers receive when they message outside working hours. This should set clear expectations.

Example auto-reply:

Thanks for reaching out to {{company.name}}!
Our team is currently offline. We'll respond when we're back on Monday at 9 AM.

Agent availability and routing: Working hours primarily affect auto-reply behavior. If you use auto-routing with "online-only" enabled, only agents who are actively logged in will receive new assignments — regardless of working hours.

Online status: An agent is considered online when they have Converge open in their browser or PWA. Working hours don't automatically change agent online status — agents are online when logged in, offline when they close the app.

Note on notifications: Working hours do not affect push notifications. Agents will still receive notifications for messages outside working hours if they are logged in. To avoid off-hours interruptions, agents should close Converge or use their device's Do Not Disturb mode.

Success indicator: When customers receive timely auto-replies outside your hours — and your team has clear expectations about response times — your working hours are configured correctly.