Shifts and schedules

Define working hours, assign them to people, rotate them, override a single day, plan the roster on a board, fill open shifts, swap shifts and record availability.

Contents: Who can use it · Menu · Shift types · Work schedules · Assignments · Rotations · Overrides · All employee shifts · Roster board · Open shifts · Shift swaps · Availability · Example · FAQ

Who can use it

Staff with the shift permissions: shifts, work schedules, rotations, overrides, and the all-employees view. The roster board, open shifts, shift swaps and availability have their own permissions in the Roles screen (List, Edit, Publish, Create, Claim, Request, Approve), described in each section below. People without an Approve permission only see their own rows.

Where: HR → Shifts.

Shift types and the roster.

The Shifts menu

Menu item	Purpose
All employee shifts	Who works which shift, every day
Shift types	Shift templates, plus Assignments and the weekly Roster
Work schedules	The weekly pattern, including the week start day
Shift change requests	See Shift change requests
Shift rotations	Repeating shift patterns
Employee shift rotations	Attach a rotation to employees
Shift overrides	Change timing for specific people on a specific day
Roster board	Drag shifts onto people and days, then publish
Open shifts	Shifts that still need people; staff claim them
Shift swaps	Trade a shift with a colleague, with approval
Availability	When someone can, cannot or would like to work

Shift types

Click New shift templates (shown as New shift template).

Field	Meaning
Shift name	For example "Morning shift"
Work Schedule	The weekly pattern it follows
Start time, End time	Working hours. Overnight shifts are supported
Break (min)	Unpaid break length
Flexible time (min)	Extra minutes people may start late without being marked late
Track late and overtime	Turn lateness and overtime counting on
Color	Colour on the roster
Effective at	The date the shift starts to apply
Set as default	Used for everyone without their own shift
Split shift	Turn on "This shift has several parts" to work in two or more parts in one day with unpaid time between them. Set each Part 1 starts / Part 1 ends, and Add a part (up to 6)

Work schedules

New work schedule defines a week (which days are working days) and the Week Start Day. Shifts reference it.

Assign a shift

1. On Shift types, open the Assignments tab and click New shift assignments.
2. Choose Employees and Shifts.
3. Set Effective From and, if the change is temporary, Effective To.
4. Click Save Assignment.

Shift rotations

For crews that rotate (day, evening, night):

1. Open Shift rotations, click New shift rotations.
2. Enter a title. Under details choose the Shift, the Duration Days and the Sequence, then Add detail for each block.
3. Save with Save rotation. It takes effect from the anchor date.
4. Open Employee shift rotations, click New rotation and attach the rotation to employees.

Shift overrides

Use an override for one-off changes, such as staying late for a network cut-over.

1. Click New Shift Override.
2. Choose Employees, the override date, Start Time and End Time, and an optional reason.
3. Click Create Override.

All employee shifts

Switch between Week and Month and search by name or ID. Each cell shows whether the day is the organization Default, a Rotation, an assigned custom shift or a Holiday from the person's calendar. Click a day for details. Change shift lets you assign a different shift from there.

Roster board

Plan who works which shift on which day. Changes stay drafts until you publish them.

Permissions: roster List to see the board, Edit to make drafts, Publish to publish or discard them.

1. Open Roster board. Pick the range (7 days, 14 days or 28 days), move with the arrows or This week, and use Search people to narrow the list.
2. In the Shifts card, drag a shift (or Day off):
   • onto one day of one person;
   • onto a person's name to fill the whole range for them;
   • onto a date heading to fill that day for everyone shown. You can also click a shift to pick it, then click the days. Click it again to stop.
3. Draft cells have a dashed border. Edits save on their own after a moment.
4. Read the things to check card. It warns about Rest (less rest between shifts than your country requires), Unavailable (the person said they cannot work that day) and Outside availability. A ! marks the cell. Warnings never block; you decide.
5. Click Publish (n) to make the drafts the real shifts, or Discard drafts to drop them. Both act on the range on screen.

Published days become per-day shifts, so attendance uses them like an override. Split shifts show a Split tag.

Open shifts

Post a shift that still needs people; staff claim it and a manager confirms.

Permissions: open shifts Create to post and cancel, Claim to ask for one, Approve to decide claims.

Post an open shift

1. Click Post an open shift.
2. Choose the Shift, the Date (not in the past) and People needed, and add an optional Note.
3. Click Post an open shift.

Claim a shift

1. Find a row with status Open and click Claim.
2. Your row shows "Your claim: Pending". Click Withdraw to take it back.

You cannot claim a day on which you already work a shift, a shift for another branch, a past shift, or one that would leave you less rest than required.

Decide claims

1. Click Claims on the row. "n waiting" shows how many claims are pending.
2. Click Decide on a claim, add a Note if you like, then Approve or Reject. If an approval flow handles claims, the row says "Waiting in the approvals inbox" instead.

The first claims approved fill the slots ("n of m filled"). When the last slot is taken the shift becomes Filled and other waiting claims close. Cancel an open shift to close it and its waiting claims.

Shift swaps

An employee offers a shift to a colleague. The colleague accepts, then a manager approves. This is different from a shift change request, which moves one person to another shift.

Permissions: swaps Request to propose, accept or decline, Approve to decide.

1. Click Propose a swap.
2. Pick the Colleague, Your day, and Their day (leave it empty to swap on the same day). Add a Reason.
3. Click Send to colleague. The colleague is notified.
4. The colleague opens Shift swaps and clicks Accept or Decline. Declining ends the swap.
5. After acceptance, a manager clicks Decide, then Approve or Reject. If an approval flow handles swaps, it is decided in the approvals inbox.

On the same day, the two people exchange shifts. On different days, the colleague takes your day and you take theirs. A swap that would leave either person with too little rest is refused, both when proposed and when approved. A day can be in only one waiting swap.

Status	Meaning
Waiting for the colleague	Sent; the colleague has not answered
Waiting for approval	Accepted; a manager must decide
Approved	Both people's days are changed
Rejected	Declined by the colleague or not approved
Withdrawn	Taken back by the proposer or a manager

Availability

Employees tell their manager when they can, cannot or would like to work. Approved entries show as warnings on the roster board.

1. Click Add availability.
2. Choose the Kind: Available, Unavailable or Preferred.
3. Under Repeats, choose Every week (then the Weekday, with optional From date and Until) or On one date (then the Date).
4. Tick All day, or set From and To times. Add an optional Note.
5. Click Send request.

An entry is Pending until decided. Managers click Decide and Approve or Reject. Withdraw removes a pending or approved entry. Only approved entries count.

Permissions: availability Update to add and withdraw. Deciding uses the Approve permission under shift swaps.

Example scenario

Padma Net Support runs a 24-hour NOC. HR creates three shift types: Morning 06:00 to 14:00, Evening 14:00 to 22:00 and Night 22:00 to 06:00 (overnight). A rotation of 7 days each is attached to six engineers. Each Thursday the NOC lead plans next week on the Roster board and publishes it. Arif wants Sunday's night shift off, so he proposes a swap with Jahid, who accepts; the lead approves. When two engineers are sick on Eid eve, the lead posts an open shift for 2 people; Mitu and Shakil claim it and are approved. Sadia has added "Unavailable, every Friday", so the board warns if she is rostered on a Friday.

Tips

• Set one default shift first. Everyone without a custom shift uses it.
• Use rotations for repeating patterns instead of re-assigning every week.
• Check All employee shifts after any change.
• Publish the roster only after reading the warnings card.
• Ask staff to keep Availability up to date before you plan the roster.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

A person shows the default shift. No assignment or rotation covers that date. Check Effective From and Effective To.

Lateness did not change after I edited the shift. Regenerate attendance for the affected dates.

My roster changes do not show in attendance. They are still drafts. Click Publish (n) for that range.

I cannot see Publish or Discard drafts. You need the roster Publish permission.

"You already work a shift that day." Open shifts can only be claimed for a day you are not already working.

I cannot Decide a swap. The colleague must accept it first, or it is decided in the approvals inbox.

Related pages

Shift change requests · Attendance · Holidays