> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.shiftsheet.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Departments > How to organize employees into departments, assign candidate managers, and manage membership in bulk. The **Departments** page lets you group employees into departments and control which managers can be assigned to people in each one. Go there from **Departments** in the sidebar (visible to Company Admins and Managers). > [!NOTE] > > Managers can view the Departments page, but creating, editing, deleting departments, and managing members is restricted to Company Admins. *** ## Creating a department **1. Go to Departments** Click **Departments** in the sidebar. **2. Click Add New Department** Found at the top right of the page (Company Admins only). **3. Enter a name** e.g. "Sales". **4. Choose Candidate Managers (optional)** Check off one or more managers from the list. With one manager selected, employees added to this department are assigned that manager automatically. With more than one, you'll choose which one per employee when adding them. **5. Click Create** The department appears in the table immediately. *** ## Candidate managers Each department has a pool of **candidate managers** — the managers eligible to become the direct manager of anyone placed in that department. This pool determines what happens when an employee is added to the department: | Candidate managers | What happens when a member is added | | - | - | | None | The employee's department is set; their assigned manager is left unchanged | | One | That manager is assigned to the employee automatically | | Two or more | You must pick which manager to assign, either per employee or once for the whole batch | Assigning a manager this way uses the same direct-manager assignment as [Reassigning a manager](https://docs.shiftsheet.io/user-guide/admins/team-management.md#reassigning-a-manager) — it changes who future timesheets and leave requests route to. You can change a department's candidate managers at any time from its detail page's **Managers** tab. *** ## Department stats and the list view The list page shows, alongside the department table: * **Total Departments**, **Total Managers**, and **Total Employees** counts for the company * An **Organized** donut chart showing what percentage of eligible employees (everyone except Company Admins) currently have a department assigned The table itself lists each department's name, its managers (as stacked avatars), its member count, and whether it's **Active** or **Inactive**. Use the search box to filter by department name, or click a row to open that department's detail page. *** ## Managing a department Click a department in the table to open its detail page. From here (Company Admins only) you can: * Click the pencil icon to rename the department or toggle it **Active** * Click the trash icon to delete it — see [Deleting a department](#deleting-a-department) The detail page has two tabs: **Employees** — lists current members. Click **Manage Members** to open the bulk assignment dialog (see below), or remove someone from the department individually using the **X** next to their row. **Managers** — lists every manager in the company as a checklist; the checked ones are this department's candidate managers. Check or uncheck names and click **Save Managers** to update the pool. *** ## Bulk member assignment From a department's detail page, click **Manage Members** to add or remove several employees at once: 1. Search the employee list by name or email 2. Check employees to add them, uncheck currently-assigned employees to remove them (an employee already in a different department shows which one) 3. If the department has two or more candidate managers and you're adding new members, choose a **Direct Manager for New Members** — this manager is applied to everyone you're adding in this batch 4. Click **Save Changes** The dialog reports how many were added, removed, or failed. > [!TIP] > > You can also assign a department to one or more employees directly from the **Users** page — use **Assign Department** in a user's actions menu, or select multiple users and click **Assign Department** in the bulk action bar. See [Managing Your Team](https://docs.shiftsheet.io/user-guide/admins/team-management.md). *** ## Deleting a department If a department currently has members, deleting it deactivates it instead of removing it — it stays out of active lists but its historical data (past reports, invoices) is preserved, and its members' department and manager assignments are untouched. A department that has never had any members is permanently deleted. *** ## Where departments show up elsewhere Once departments are in use, they surface throughout the app: * **Reports** — the Overview tab charts team performance by department, and the Payroll tab breaks down payroll cost by department * **Schedules** and **Approvals** (timesheets and leave requests) — filter by department to narrow the view to one team * **Invoices** — filter invoices by the department of the employee they're for * **Inviting employees** — the invite form lets you pick a department for the new employee, using the same candidate-manager logic described above This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.