Manage availability and time-off requests - Getting Started for Managers
You've published your first scheduleđź‘Ź Once your team starts using the 7shifts app, availability and time-off requests will start coming in. This article shows you how to handle them so they don't create conflicts in your next build. The habit to establish now: check for pending requests before you schedule, not after.
Phase 2 - Run your first schedule
Build and publish a scheduleÂ- Manage availability and time-off requests (you are here!)
- Add a new employee and send their invite
Things to know
- Availability and time-off requests are separate workflows in 7shifts. Availability reflects an employee's recurring weekly constraints. Time-off requests are for specific dates.
- Before you build each week's schedule, check for pending requests first. Approved time-off blocks appear on the Schedule page so conflicts are visible before you finalize shifts, not after you publish.
- Your Admin controls whether employees can submit availability changes and time-off requests, and whether those requests require approval. If these features aren't visible in your account yet, but you think they should be, ask your Admin to confirm the settings.
Review and approve time-off requests
- In the left navigation bar, click Schedule.
- Click the Time Off to view pending requests.
- Review each pending request. The request shows the employee name, the dates requested, and any note the employee included.
- Click Approve or Deny for each request. Add an optional note to the employee if you're denying the request.
- Approved time-off blocks will appear on the Schedule page for those dates, marked so you know not to schedule that employee.
Review employee availability
Availability shows an employee's recurring weekly constraints: the days and hours they're available to work. Check availability before scheduling to avoid building shifts the system will flag as conflicts.
- In the left navigation bar, click Team.
- Click the Availability tab to see all requests.
- Click an employee's name to expand weekly details of the request.
- If an availability change request is pending, review and approve or deny it from this tab.
Note: Availability conflicts appear as warnings on the Schedule page when you create a shift outside an employee's available hours. The system will let you save the shift anyway. The warning is informational, not a block.
Use the Shift Pool to manage shift changes
The Shift Pool is where employee shift change requests land for your review. It covers three types of requests: employees offering up shifts for others to claim, employees bidding on available shifts, and direct trades between two employees. All of them require your approval before the schedule changes.
Note: To approve Shift Pool requests, you need both the Can manage schedules and Can approve/decline shift pool requests permissions. If you can see the Shift Pool but can't approve requests, ask your Admin to confirm your permissions. The Shift Pool must also be enabled for your account by an Admin before employees can use it.
- In the left navigation bar, click Schedule, then click Shift Pool.
- Click the Shift pool requests tab to view employee bids that need approval. Bids appear chronologically, oldest first.
- Click the Up for grabs tab to see shifts employees have offered up that haven't been claimed yet.
- Click the Trade requests tab to review direct trades between two employees. These appear only after both employees have accepted the mutual trade.
- Select any request to expand the details and approve or deny it. Review any overtime or labor exception warnings before approving.
- Tap the More menu and select Shift Pool. A red notification badge on the More menu indicates pending requests that need your attention.
- Select the Requests tab to review trade requests and employee bids on dropped shifts.
- Select the Up for grabs tab to find shifts employees have offered up for the team to claim.
- Tap any request to expand the details and approve or deny the submission.
What's next
You can now review and act on team requests before they create schedule conflicts.
Your next step is add a new employee and send their invite. When a new hire joins, this is the process to get them into 7shifts and onto the schedule.