Open shifts
Leave a shift open for staff to claim, find cover when someone can't work, and review who asks to pick it up.
An open shift is one that isn't assigned to anyone yet — your team can put their hand up to work it. Open shifts are how you cover a gap when someone calls in sick or you're short-staffed. This guide covers creating an open shift, finding cover for an assigned one, inviting staff to claim shifts, and handling their requests.
Who this is for
Owners and managers using the Shiftly web platform to run your business.
Before you start
- You're an owner or a manager with access to the location you're rostering.
- Open Roster from the main navigation and pick the location at the top left.
What's an open shift
An open shift has a position and time but no one assigned. On the grid it shows Open shift instead of a staff member's name.
You can create one two ways:
- Leave it open when you build it — in the shift form, leave For which staff member? set to Open. See Creating & editing shifts.
- Mark an existing shift open — use Mark as open in the Find cover window (below) to unassign a shift and hand it back to the roster.
Find cover for a shift
When the person on a shift can't work it, Find cover shows you who else can take it.
Open Find cover
Right-click the assigned shift and choose Find cover for this shift.
Shiftly lists everyone who can take it — it leaves out anyone already working a clashing shift or on leave for that window. Each person shows as Available or Set as unavailable (they've marked themselves off, but you can still pick them). If there's genuinely no one, you'll see No one available to cover this shift.
Assign someone, or open it up
Select Assign next to a person to give them the shift, or Mark as open to unassign it and leave it open for anyone to claim. Either way the shift becomes a draft — publish to send it out.
Invite staff to claim open shifts
To let your team know there are shifts going, open the dropdown beside the publish button and choose Send open shifts to all staff.
Shiftly emails the open shifts to staff who could actually work them — anyone already on a clashing shift is skipped. You'll see Open shifts sent to all staff. (The option is greyed out when there are no open shifts in view.)
When staff ask for a shift
Staff request open shifts from the Shiftly Me app. When someone does, the managers at that location get a notification, and the shift card on the grid shows how many requests it has.
Click the indicator to open Open shift requests, which lists each person who asked with their shift cost and when they requested it.
For each request you can:
- Accept — gives the shift to that person and automatically turns down everyone else who asked for it. The shift moves back into your drafts assigned to them, so publish the roster to confirm it and let them know.
- Reject — turns down that request and leaves the shift open.
Accept is greyed out for anyone who has since been given another shift at the same time — you can't double-book them.
A staff member can't request a shift that clashes with one they already have — Shiftly stops them with "You already have another shift during this time." So every request you see is for someone who was free when they asked.