Admins and Managers can add staff profiles to brightwheel. Staff can create a brightwheel account and login if an email address is listed.

If navigating through our Getting Started checklist, first add your staff/teachers accounts so they can begin taking various action in brightwheel, like logging activities.

Once accounts are created, staff can download the mobile app to their personal device or log in to their account from a school designated device, depending on program preference. Check out some Affordable Devices we Recommend!

💡 If you'd like to offer your staff some initial training, share this helpful Teacher Training Overview.

Understand Staff Roles

There are multiple role options you will see available when adding or updating a staff member's permissions. Please review our Teacher/Staff Permissions resource for details.

If your staff member(s) are using brightwheel as a staff member and a parent, review our resource Using brightwheel as a Student Contact and Staff Member for more information on how their accounts should be set up. In order to facilitate different user roles, the user will be required to set up TWO brightwheel accounts.

Add Staff on the Web

Log in to your account on the web
Click to open the Staff & Payroll page from the sidebar
Click the Add Staff button in the upper right corner of the Staff List
In the pop-up, enter the staff's first and last name in the boxes provided
Select the appropriate role for the staff member
🚩 A role is required. If you are a manager, you can only add a new staff member as a Manager, Lead Staff, or Staff. If the staff member should be an admin, connect with an existing admin at the program for assistance.
Select the appropriate room assignments the staff member using the drop-down menu
Input an email address if you would like the staff member to log in to brightwheel
💡 Adding an email address will prompt you to send the invite email immediately or skip to wait until later. If you want to leverage Room Device Mode, adding an email will not be needed! Learn more below.
If an email has been added, check the Invite staff to join brightwheel box to send an email invitation now or leave the box unchecked to send at a later time
Click Add new staff when complete
Open a the staff's profile through the Staff List to input additional information such as a phone number, emergency contact, certifications, etc.
[Optional]
1. View an invite preview sent to staff by clicking Invite > Preview invite
2. Bulk invite staff who haven't registered by clicking Invite > Invite unregistered staff

If there's an error adding a staff member's email, it might be because they already have a brightwheel account linked to another program or inadvertently created a school before joining yours. To fix this, advise the staff member to reach out to brightwheel Support and request an account deactivation. After we help them with this, their email address will be free to use and can be added successfully to your program's account.

Add Staff on the App

ℹ️ Staff members can be added from the mobile app, but you will only have the option to set up their role as Staff or Lead Staff. If the staff member should be a Manager or Admin, add them on the web by following the steps above!

From the Administrator Home, tap Staff
Click Add in the top right corner
Input the first and last name
Input an email address if you would like the staff member to have their own account
💡 Adding an email address will you prompt you to send the invite email immediately or wait. If you want to leverage Room Device Mode, adding an email will not be needed!
Choose whether to toggle the Edit Student Information permissions setting on
💡 If toggled on, this will create the staff member's role with the role of 'Lead Staff'. If this remains toggled off, the role will default to 'Staff'. If the staff member should be a Manager or Admin, add them from the web instead!
Add optional Phone Numbers
Designate the assigned Rooms using the room selector
Tap Save
If an email address has been added, click Invite Now to send and invitation or No, thanks to send one at a later time
💡 You can view the Staff list on the web and click View invite to view a preview of the invitation!

Restore Deleted Staff Members

Admins do have the ability to reactivate staff members who have been deleted from the program. This is great for staff that are seasonal, have decided to return to your program or were deleted on accident.

Navigate to the Staff & Payroll page from your brightwheel account on the web
Use Status filter at the top of the page to show Deleted staff
Once located, click the Actions dropdown menu on that staff member's row
Click Reactivate
In the pop-up, hit Reactivate to confirm the action

🚩If the staff member’s email address is now in use for a new brightwheel account or they deactivated their account, you will receive an error message when restoring their staff profile. Please add them as a new staff member or contact our Support Team for more assistance.

Impact of Adding Staff without an Email

Staff and Lead Staff can be added without an email address listed on their profile, but Billing only roles, Managers and Admins are required to have an email address listed.

There will also be a Needs Email status next to their name on the Staff List to alert you of who does and doesn't have an email added to their account.

If you do this, the staff member will not be able to log in to brightwheel directly but they will be assigned a check-in code to check themselves in, and their name will be selectable when logging actions from a shared device set in Room Device Mode. This is a great option if you do not want staff to have their own accounts and want them to use a shared device locked into Room Device mode

Send a Reminder & Track Staff Signups

If you have already added staff accounts but declined to send an invitation to set up their brightwheel account during the creation process, you can send the initial invitation, or a reminder anytime after as long as the staff member has an email address listed for their account. You can also track the status of your staff member's account registration.

On the Web

Log in to your account on the web
Click to open the Staff & Payroll page from the sidebar
On the Staff tab, review the Status column to determine the current activation status
💡 You may see the following statuses: Not Invited, Invited, Signed Up, or Needs Email
Use the search bar, Room filter, or Role filter to narrow down the list and locate the staff member to be invited
On the applicable staff member's row, click the Actions drop down menu
1. If the initial invite was never sent, click Invite
2. If the initial invite was sent and staff need a reminder, click Remind
To bulk invite multiple unregistered staff at once, click Invite > Invite Unregistered Staff

On the App

From the Administrator Home, tap School Profile
Select the Staff tile at the top of the dashboard
Tap on the specific staff member needing to be reminded
Tap the Remind to join brightwheel banner at the bottom of the page

ℹ️ If you’ve resent an invitation, but the staff member is still not receiving it; we suggest advising them to manually sign up and activate their account by using the same email address you use to create their account.

Manage Staff Profiles

Maintaining accurate employment information for each staff member is critical for any business. To access a staff member's profile, simply click on their name from the Staff List. The following information can be seen and updated within a staff member's profile:

Personal Information: This section holds all the basic information for the employee - including Name, Email Address, Phone, Birthday, Address, and any notes.
💡 Staff members must use an email address to log in to brightwheel. The phone field is reserved solely for administrator records.
Brightwheel role & status: This area allows Administrators and Managers to update a staff member's role and manage a staff's room assignments. In addition, view their sign-up status and check-in code here along with adding their hire date and additional notes.
Payroll Information: If you use our Gusto < > Payroll Integration and have mapped staff in brightwheel to Gusto, this section will auto-populate staff's information that is entered in Gusto such as their name, start date, employment type, onboarding status, jobs, and dismissed status. For more information, check out our Payroll help center article.
Emergency Contact: Enter a staff's emergency contact and add this contact's name, relationship to the staff, and phone number.
Medical Information: Add in the staff's Allergies, Medication, and Doctor's name & number.
Certifications: Log any Degrees, Certifications, and educational credits. See more on this in our Staff Certifications article.
Personal Development Hours: The perfect place to log any trainings, courses, or any other educational accomplishments that the staff member has attended or earned internally or through a third party. Dive deeper by reviewing our Staff Professional Development Hours article.
Attachments: This feature enables administrators to add attachments directly to an individual profile for download later and report on expiring documents that need to be renewed. See more on this in our Staff Profile Attachments help center article.

When to Contact Support

Please Contact Support in the following scenarios:

If you can't add staff because the email is already in use at different, or previous program and you need to deactivate the account to free up the email for staff use.
If you can't add staff because the email belongs to a parent account and you need to deactivate the account to free up the email for staff use.
💡If they are both a guardian and staff member, please review our Using brightwheel as a Student Contact and Staff Member for options on setting up two accounts.