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Open Shifts

Open shifts are shifts that have no assigned employee. They allow you to post available work that employees can claim on a first-come, first-served basis.

Creating an Open Shift​

Click an empty cell in the Open Shifts row at the top of the roster grid, or choose Open Shift in the Employee field of the shift drawer. The shift is saved as open.

Open shifts sit in their own Open Shifts row, so you can easily distinguish them from assigned shifts. The Window list also counts them per window, e.g. "42 shifts assigned · 3 open".

Draft from forecast also creates open shifts, marked with a sparkle icon, for you to review and assign.

How Employees Claim Open Shifts​

  1. Employees see open shifts for their location in the Open Shifts section of their schedule. Only open shifts on published rosters are shown — drafts are never visible to employees.
  2. The employee clicks Claim on a shift they want to pick up.
  3. The system checks for time conflicts with the employee's existing shifts.
  4. If there is no conflict, the employee is assigned to the shift immediately.
  5. If another employee claimed the shift first, the employee sees a message: "This shift has already been claimed".

Claiming is first-come, first-served. Only one employee can claim a given open shift.

Managing Open Shifts​

As a supervisor or manager, you can manage open shifts in the following ways:

  • Scan the Open Shifts row in the roster grid to see which shifts still need coverage.
  • Convert an assigned shift to open: Edit the shift and set the Employee field to Open Shift. It returns to the open shift pool.
  • Convert an open shift to assigned: Edit the shift and select an employee, or drag it onto an employee's row (draft windows only). The shift is no longer available for claiming.
  • Assign draft proposes employees for open draft shifts in one go — see AI Roster Drafting.

Tips​

  • Open shifts are useful for filling gaps in coverage without manually assigning every shift.
  • After publishing a roster, any remaining open shifts are visible to employees right away.
  • Keep an eye on open shifts as the roster period approaches to ensure all shifts are covered.