With Custom agent status, admins/supervisors can get complete visibility into how agents spend their time when they’re unavailable to assist customers. Only an agent who is ‘Available’ will be assigned issues. 


There are two default statuses available within your Freshdesk account - Available and Unavailable. In addition to these default statuses, you will be able to add custom statuses that agents can choose when they're not available to take new tickets. 


Note: 

  • Only admins and account admins can set up and enable new custom statuses
  • You will not be able to rename a custom agent status once created and saved 


To add a new custom status:

  1. Log in to your Freshdesk account.

  2. Go to Admin > Team > Agent Statuses. 

  3. Here you can see the list of default and custom statuses available.

  4. Click on New Agent Status.

  5. Enter the status name and select a matching emoji.

  6. Click Add agent status.


The new custom status added will now be visible to all agents. 


Types of custom statuses:

When you create a custom agent status, you can mark it as either ‘Away’ or ‘Busy’ to denote if the agent is engaged in work-related tasks or away from their desktop. For instance, an agent might be assisting a customer over Zoom while they're unavailable to handle new issues.  

  • Away - The agent is logged in but unavailable to address issues due to non-work-related activities. Eg: Lunch, Coffee break, etc.
  • Busy - The agent is logged in but unavailable to address customer issues due to work-related tasks. Eg: Meeting, Workshop, etc. 

Setting your availability status as an agent:


As an agent, you can see a small computer icon in the top right corner when you log into your account. You will be able to view all default and custom agents by clicking on them and can choose a relevant status based on the activity that you’re doing. 




Who can access/change agent availability statuses?


Only those agents that are part of a group with ‘Admin’ or ‘Account Admin’ access can create new agent statuses. Learn more about groups here. 


We are working on a curated report for this feature and it will be available by Q3, 2023.