---
title: "Staff communication · BlastoClean docs"
description: "Post announcements to your team, see who read them, and share quick updates and photos in a team feed."
url: "https://www.blastoclean.com/docs/staff-updates"
---

# Staff communication

Running the company · Web and mobile · 4 min read · Updated October 19, 2026

**On Pro and Business, Staff gives your team one place for announcements, a team feed and photo posts, with a report of who read and acknowledged each announcement.**

**Staff** is your team's own space in BlastoClean. Owners and managers post
announcements, and team members who can post share quick updates in the team
feed. It works
for a two-person home cleaning team and for a commercial crew spread across
several buildings.

Staff is included with **Pro and Business**. Everyone on your team with access
to a location sees that location's Staff page. Crew members only see Staff
content. They do not see customer messages, invoices, prices or visits they are not assigned to, except the few details a [shift swap](/docs/staff-shift-swaps) request shows them: a visit's date and time, the client's name and city, who is asking and their note.

## One Staff hub

Open **Staff** from the menu. **Updates** appear first, with no open draft in
front of them. **Request time off** is beside **New message**, with **Shift
swaps** next to it on the website, where [shift swaps](/docs/staff-shift-swaps)
are asked, answered and approved. The website also works in your phone's
browser. Documents and **Notification settings** are
secondary links in Staff.

Owners and managers can also use **People and teams** to open Settings. The
existing member, administrator and saved-team settings remain accessible on
the plans and roles that already include them.

## Send a message to everyone, a team or a person

1. Open **Staff**, then select **New message**. Owners and managers use this
   composer to send an announcement.
2. Enter a **Title** and a **Message**.
3. Choose **Send to**: **Everyone at this location**, **Person** or **Team**.
   **Team** uses saved teams and is offered to people who can view the schedule.
   Select at least one person or team when using those choices.
4. Open **More options** to **Pin announcement** or **Require acknowledgement**
   if each person must confirm they read it.
5. Select **Send**.

Everyone means the current location. Owners and managers at that location can
also see messages sent to a team or a person. These messages are not confidential
private chats.

The people who receive an announcement are set when you publish it. Adding
someone to a team later does not add them to an earlier announcement.

## Read and acknowledge

Open **Staff** to see **Announcements** for your current location. Select
**Mark as read** when you have read one. If it asks for acknowledgement, select
**Acknowledge** as well. Opening the page does not mark anything for you.

Owners and managers can open the **Read and acknowledgement report** on an
announcement to see who has read it and who has acknowledged it.

## The team feed

The **Team feed** on the Staff page is for everyday updates: "Front door code
changed at the Main Street office" or "Great job on the move-out today." Select
**Share an update**, type a
**Message** and select **Send**. Team members who can post can also start this
draft with **New message**. These updates go to **Everyone at this location**.
People can **Like** and **Comment** on posts.

Owners and managers can **Remove** a post; the team then sees that a manager
removed it. In **New message**, open **Posting access** to select
**Pause posting** for a person and **Allow posting** to turn it back on. A
person whose posting is paused can still read updates available to them. Read-only team
members can read the feed but cannot post.

## Photo posts

On the web **Team feed**, select **Add a photo update**. If you have typed an
update draft, the web app asks you to discard it before starting a separate
photo update. Cancel to keep your draft. On mobile, open an update draft and
select **Add a photo update**; returning from the photo screen keeps your draft.
Photo actions are unavailable while a send is busy or waiting for a retry.
Owners and managers can also select **Share a photo update with everyone at this
location** in **New message**. On web, this action also asks you to discard any
message draft before continuing. Cancel to keep its title, message and selected
recipients. Use it for pictures such as a finished job or a supply closet that
needs restocking. Add a **Message**, select
**Choose photos** (up to 4 JPEG or PNG photos, 5 MB each), then select
**Publish photo post**. Photos are visible to active staff at that location.
Removing a post also hides its photos. Photo updates always go to everyone at
that location, even if your separate announcement draft selects a team or person.
The photo draft does not carry that audience over.

Keep W-9s, IDs and certifications in **My documents** (or **Staff documents** for
managers, who can file them for any team member). Each private document is
visible only to the person it is about and the location's owners and managers.
They are separate from shared photo updates.
Ordinary file attachments to messages are not supported.

## Good to know

- Staff needs an internet connection. If a post or announcement cannot be
  confirmed, the app keeps your draft and offers to retry the same one.
- Nothing on the Staff page is sent to your customers.
- People can get an email notice when a new announcement is posted. See
  [Staff notification preferences](/docs/staff-notifications).
- Related: [Staff time-off requests](/docs/staff-time-off),
  [Shift swaps](/docs/staff-shift-swaps),
  [Offer an assigned visit](/docs/staff-visit-offers) and
  [Private staff documents](/docs/staff-private-documents).

Questions? Email hello@blastoclean.com.

## Refreshing and recovering photo posts

In **Staff photos**, use **Refresh** for new posts and **Load more** for older
ones. If a publish response cannot be confirmed, choose **Retry the same
post**. Photos and the draft remain available while that page stays open;
this is not the restart-safe offline visit-photo queue. Keep the page open
until the publish result is clear.

**Unused uploads** lists uploaded files that were not attached to a published
post. Use **Discard unused upload** to remove one you no longer need. These
shared photo posts are separate from visit evidence and private staff documents.
