Shift Offers
If you can't work one of your shifts and just want to give it away — no exchange needed — post a shift offer. A colleague can then claim it on their own. No manager review on the happy path; compliance is checked automatically when they claim.
For a two-way exchange ("I'll work yours if you work mine"), use Shift Swaps instead.
Posting an Offer
- Open the shift card on your Schedule.
- Click Offer this shift. A small dialog appears with two modes:
- Targeted — offer to a specific colleague at the same location. Only that named person can claim it.
- Open — open the shift to anyone assigned to the same location. Whoever clicks Claim first takes it.
- Click Offer. The shift now shows an "Offered" badge on your schedule.
If you change your mind, you can cancel the offer any time before it's claimed.
Until Someone Claims, the Shift is Still Yours
This is the most important thing to know: posting an offer does not free you from the shift. Until the status flips to "Claimed", the shift is still your responsibility. If no one claims an open offer before the shift starts, the offer expires unclaimed and you still work the shift — there is no automatic cascade to a manager.
So plan ahead: post offers as early as you can, especially for less popular slots like late evenings or weekend mornings.
Claiming an Offer from a Colleague
When colleagues post offers you can take, they appear under Available to take from colleagues on your /schedule page.
- Browse the list — each card shows the date, time, location, and who's offering.
- Click Claim on one you want.
- The system runs a quick compliance check (rest period, overlap with your other shifts, etc.).
- If it passes, the shift is reassigned to you immediately. You'll see it on your schedule, and the original employee is notified.
- If it fails (a working-time rule would be broken), the claim is blocked with a clear message naming the rule. The offer stays open for someone else.
Targeted offers — where a colleague picked you specifically — also surface in your notifications and can be claimed from the same list.
Compliance is Checked Twice
The "Available to take from colleagues" list runs a cheap pre-filter to hide offers that obviously won't work for you (for example, you already have an overlapping shift on the same day). The full compliance suite still runs at claim time, so a claim can occasionally fail with a 422 even though the offer appeared in the list. Read the error message — it'll name the specific rule.
Why Claims Can Fail
| Reason | What it means |
|---|---|
| Shift overlap | You already have a shift at the same time. Claim blocked, no override. |
| Insufficient rest | You'd have less than the minimum break between shifts. |
| Period hours exceeded | Taking this shift would push you over the overtime threshold for the period. |
| Period locked | The shift is in a payroll period that's already been locked or exported — the manager closed the books on it. Wait for unlock or pick a different shift. |
In every case the system tells you why so you can decide whether to look for a different offer.
Offers Auto-Cancel When the Shift Changes
If a manager cancels, reschedules, or reassigns the underlying shift, the offer auto-cancels. The offerer (and the targeted recipient, if any) gets a notification: "Shift offer cancelled — the shift changed". You don't need to do anything — if you still want to give the new shift away, post a fresh offer.
Why Open Offers Don't Notify Everyone
When someone posts an open offer at your location, you do not get a push notification. Discovery is pull-based — you'll see the offer when you next open /schedule or the Active Offers tab on /shift-swaps. This keeps notification noise low; one offer that one person eventually takes shouldn't ping a whole location.
Targeted offers (where someone picked you specifically) do trigger a notification, since there's exactly one person who needs to know.