Agent statuses and breaks (Team Management)

Overview

In the Conversa Labs Team Management module, every agent works on top of a status catalog that you customize. On top of the platform's native presence (Online / Busy / Offline) you create your own work and break statuses, organized into three sections:

• Availability — the presence statuses (Online, Busy, Offline).
• Timed breaks — breaks with a configured limit and a live countdown (e.g. Coffee 10 min).
• Open breaks — breaks without a limit (Meeting, Training, External work…).

Each status maps to a native availability. When an agent goes on a break, the platform parks them in Busy/Offline and auto-assignment stops routing new conversations to them — no change to your routing rules. While on a break, a full-screen timer and/or a floating widget show the elapsed time against the limit. If the time runs out, the over-limit policy decides what happens (flag, notify, return to Online…).

Prerequisites

• The Team Management module must be enabled for the account. With the module on, the grouped status switcher replaces the native availability picker (Online/Busy/Offline) for every agent.
• The status catalog and the over-limit policy are for administrators (and custom roles granted the Team Management permissions). Any agent can change their own status from the grouped switcher.

Step by step

Build the status catalog (admin)

1. Open Team Management and go to the Status catalog tab.
2. The account starts with just the native Online / Busy / Offline trio. Use Templates to apply a ready status pack (lunch, coffee, meeting…), or Add status in any section to create your own.
3. For each status set the Section (Availability / Timed break / Open break), the Availability it maps to, color, icon, and the behavior flags.
4. Reorder within a section with the up/down arrows, edit with the pencil, and delete custom statuses with the trash. System statuses (Online/Busy/Offline) can be renamed and recolored but not deleted.

Configure a timed break (admin)

1. Add or edit a status in the Timed breaks section.
2. Set the Time limit (minutes) — this drives the live countdown.
3. Choose the over-limit policy: flag it on the board, notify the agent, notify supervisors, return the agent to Online automatically, plus a grace period and a repeat-reminder interval. A per-status policy overrides the account default.
4. Optionally turn on Requires a reason, Full-screen takeover and Show floating widget.

Switch your status during the day (any agent)

1. Open the profile menu in the sidebar and use Set your status.
2. Pick a status from the grouped switcher (Availability / Timed breaks / Open breaks). Timed breaks show their limit next to the name.
3. If the status requires a reason, add a short note and confirm.
4. The native availability is parked automatically (Busy/Offline), so auto-assignment stops sending new conversations.

Use the break timer (any agent)

1. On a full-screen break, a full-screen timer takes over the whole app: current status, configured limit, an elapsed stopwatch with a progress ring, percent consumed and a Within limit / Over limit badge. It has no minimize and no close — the only way out is Go online.
2. On other breaks, a floating widget in the corner shows the status and elapsed time, with a quick Go online button.
3. The elapsed time comes from the server: reloading, reopening, duplicating or hiding the tab does not reset the timer, and the limit is enforced server-side even if the browser is closed.

Settings & options

Fields on each status:

Over-limit policy (per timed break, on top of the account default):

• Flag it on the board — highlights the over-limit agent on monitoring.
• Notify the agent — alerts the person on the break.
• Notify supervisors — alerts supervision.
• Return to Online automatically — ends the break and brings the agent back.
• Grace period (seconds) — waits before applying the policy.
• Repeat reminder every (seconds) — reminder frequency while over the limit.

Catalog sections (families):

Use cases

• Enforce coffee and lunch with a live countdown and an automatic return to Online.
• Let agents step away for a meeting (open break) without a timer.
• Require a reason for certain breaks for auditing.
• Keep "On-site service" mapped to Online so those agents keep receiving conversations even when "away from the chat".

Tips, limits and best practices

• Breaks park the agent in Busy/Offline, so auto-assignment stops — map to Online any status that should keep receiving work.
• Time limit and over-limit policy apply only to timed breaks; open breaks have no countdown.
• The full-screen takeover only exits with Go online — use it for breaks that must be strictly honored.
• The client-side timer is the agent's experience; the server enforces the policy every minute, so an agent can't "shave time" by reloading, reopening or hiding the tab.
• Keep the catalog short and meaningful — too many statuses make adherence harder to read.

Troubleshooting

• I still see the plain Online/Busy/Offline picker — the Team Management module isn't enabled for the account.
• A timed break didn't auto-return — confirm the over-limit policy has "Return to Online automatically".
• The full-screen timer won't close — that's by design; click Go online. If you expected a corner widget, turn off "Full-screen takeover" on the status.
• I can't delete a status — it's a system status; you can rename and recolor it, but not delete.
• The timer reset after I reloaded — it doesn't; the elapsed time derives from the server start time.

See also

• Team Management overview
• Real-time monitoring board
• Monitored agents (enrollment)
• Schedules
• Queues