What's covered in this guide?
Create a Shift
To create a shift:
Navigate to ROTAS
Click any cell on the schedule to open the new shift panel.
Enter the shift details.
Click Save.
Assign an Employee and Team
Employees and teams can be assigned to a shift in any order.
If you select a team first, the employee dropdown will only show employees assigned to that team. If you select an employee first, the team dropdown will only show teams the employee belongs to.
💡 Tip: Use Vacant as a placeholder when you do not know who will work the shift. Vacant shifts are useful when creating schedule templates or planning future schedules.
Enter Shift Times
Times can be entered in a variety of formats. For example, Workforce.com will recognise all of the following as 8:00 am:
8a
0800
08:00 am
8:00
Schedule Breaks
Unpaid breaks can be added manually or automatically.
Option 1: Add breaks manually
Enter the break start and finish time directly on the shift.
Option 2: Use automatic break rules
Configure break rules that automatically apply based on shift duration.
📝 Important to note: Automatic break rules are configured in your account settings.
Publish the Schedule
Publishing a schedule/ rota makes it visible to employees.
To publish a schedule:
Filter the rota to the dates, location and teams you want to publish
Click Review & Publish. If it says All Published, there’s nothing in your current view to publish
Under Choose which shifts to publish, select Publish All Shifts (everyone on the rota is notified) or Publish Updates Only (only staff whose shifts changed are notified)
Under Additional, tick Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming) if you want staff to be able to claim vacant shifts (optional)
Choose how staff receive their rota. They always get it in the Mobile App. You can also tick Email. (US: if your organisation has SMS turned on, you can also tick Cell Phone.)
Check the details under Review before publishing, then click Publish
💡 Tip: You can also publish an individual shift directly from the schedule.
Publish Vacant Shifts
Vacant shifts can be published so employees can claim them.
When publishing a schedule/ rota containing vacant shifts, ensure both of the following options are selected:
Publish All Shifts
Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming)
📝 Important to note: If both options are not selected, employees will not receive notifications about available vacant shifts.
Add Vacant Shifts to an Already Published Schedule/ Rota
If you have already published a schedule and need to add additional vacant shifts:
Add the new vacant shifts to the schedule.
Click Review & Publish.
Under Staff receiving Schedules, click Deselect All.
Ensure Publish All Shifts and Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming) are selected.
Click Publish.
This prevents employees from receiving duplicate schedule notifications while still notifying them about newly available vacant shifts.
Customise Your Schedule/ Rota View
View Options
Use the controls above the schedule to customise how information is displayed.
Use the date range selector or the Day, Week, Fortnight, and Month options to customise the schedule view
Select a Location
Switch to Stacked View
Change how the schedule is grouped by selecting No Grouping, Team, Shift Group, or Position
Filter by Classification Tags
Sort employees by first name, surname, or other available options
Use Spotlight to highlight overtime, vacant shifts, validation errors, and shift statuses
When in Staff View, Spotlight also exposes additional display preferences:
Hide users with no shifts
Hide staff with no shift but display leave
Collapse Multiple Cards
Only show leave
Show staff ratings
Shift Groups
Shift Groups let you split the day into named parts (like Morning, Afternoon, Night)
so you can schedule and view shifts by time-of-day rather than the whole day at once.
To set up a Shift Group:
Navigate to Rotas > Rota Planning > Shift Groups
Click + New Shift Group (or Create a shift group)
Enter a Name for the group
Set Starting After / Starting Before and, optionally, Ending After / Ending Before times
Choose a Colour to help identify the group at a glance
Click Save
💡 Tip: every Shift Group should have at least a Starting Before time to be useful. Once set up, you can group your schedule by Shift Group from the View Options below.
Events / Custom Events
Custom Events help managers plan for periods that may affect staffing requirements.
To create a Custom Event:
Navigate to Rotas > Rota Planning > Manage Events
Click Events & Comments.
Click + Add New Event.
Enter the event details.
Select the locations and teams the event applies to.
Choose whether leave requests or unavailability submissions should be discouraged or blocked during the event period.
Click Save.
📝 Important to note: You can also add instructions for the Roster Agent to influence rota generation during the event period. Learn more in [Get Started: Roster Agent].
Import Custom Events in Bulk
If you need to create multiple Custom Events at once, you can upload them using a CSV file.
This is useful for importing public holidays, school holidays, major sporting events, promotional campaigns, or other recurring events across multiple locations.
To import Custom Events:
Navigate to Settings > Customise & Extend Workforce > Import & Export.
Click Import next to Custom Events.
Click Download Template.
Enter the details for each event in the template.
Save the file as a CSV (.csv).
Upload the completed file.
Review the field mapping and import preview.
Resolve any validation errors.
Click Confirm Import.
💡 Tip: Downloading the template ensures your CSV contains the correct column headings and formatting.
Custom Event CSV Requirements
The CSV template supports the following fields:
Name (required)
Start date (required)
Finish date (required)
Leave restriction
Unavailability restriction
Max leave requests
Max unavailabilities
Locations
Roster Agent instructions
📝 Important to note: Dates should be entered using the format YYYY-MM-DD.
Location names must exactly match the location names configured in Workforce.com.
Leave the Locations field blank to apply the event to all locations.
Restriction Settings
The Leave restriction and Unavailability restriction fields support the following values:
Value | Effect |
none | Employees can submit requests as normal |
discourage | Employees receive a warning but can still submit requests |
blackout | Requests are blocked during the event period |
FAQs and Troubleshooting
Why can’t I publish my rota?
Why can’t I publish my rota?
There are four common reasons:
There’s nothing to publish. If the button says All Published, every shift in your current view is already published. Check you’re looking at the right dates, location and teams.
You don’t have permission. By default, Admins, General Managers and Team Managers can publish. Payroll Officers and Employees can’t. Team Managers can only publish shifts in teams they manage.
Some shifts have blocking errors. You’ll see Publishing is blocked until these shifts are fixed. Fix those shifts, or untick the person or team they belong to and publish the rest.
The shifts are in the past. Shifts that start before today and are new or changed are blocked by default.
Why is the Review & Publish button missing or greyed out?
Why is the Review & Publish button missing or greyed out?
Either you don’t have permission to publish, or your role can’t publish for the teams you’ve selected. If you hover over the button and see You do not have permission to publish this rota/ schedule, ask an Admin to check your role or your teams. By default, Admins, General Managers and Team Managers can publish, and Team Managers only for the teams they manage. Payroll Officers and Employees can’t publish. If the button says All Published, everything in your current view is already published.
It says “Publishing is blocked until these shifts are fixed”. What do I do?
It says “Publishing is blocked until these shifts are fixed”. What do I do?
Some shifts break a rota validation that your organisation has set to Blocking, such as a shift clash, leave clash (US: time off clash) or unavailability clash. The flagged shifts are highlighted on the rota and listed in the publish window. You can:
Open each flagged shift, read the error and fix it, for example by moving the shift or choosing another staff member, or
In the publish window, untick the person or team the shift belongs to and publish everyone else, or
If your organisation uses rota publish approvals, click Request publish approval. If some of your shifts have no errors, the button reads Publish (X) schedules and request approval for (Y) and publishes the shifts without errors straight away. See Rota Publish Approvals.
Admins can change whether each validation blocks publishing or only shows a warning.
Go to Settings > Rotas > Rota Validations (US: Settings > Schedules > Schedule Validations), then set each validation to Blocking, Warning or Disabled. You can also get there from Rota settings by clicking Manage roster validations.
If you see Publishing is blocked until these days are fixed instead, a rule for a whole day has been broken. Unticking people won’t help. Fix the shifts on those days.
Why can’t I publish shifts for one or two staff members?
Why can’t I publish shifts for one or two staff members?
Check their profile. These problems always block publishing, even if rota validations are turned off:
Employment Ended: the shift is after their employment end date
Employment Not Started: the shift is before their employment start date
Inactive: their profile is no longer active
Cannot Work Team: they aren’t allowed to work in the team the shift is in
Fix their dates, status or teams, then publish again. If you’re a Team Manager, you also can’t publish shifts for staff or teams you don’t manage.
It says “Under staffed” or under their contracted hours and won’t let me publish. Why?
It says “Under staffed” or under their contracted hours and won’t let me publish. Why?
This check compares a staff member’s shifts (plus any leave) with their contracted weekly hours for the pay period.
On the rota it shows as Under staffed (US: Under scheduled), and in Rota Validations it’s called Under Rostered (US: Under Scheduled). It only appears on shifts in the last week of the pay period, and only blocks publishing if your organisation has set it to Blocking. It’s a warning by default.
To publish, add shifts to make up their hours, untick that person in the publish window, or ask an Admin to set Under Rostered to Warning in Rota Validations.
Why can’t I publish shifts in the past?
Why can’t I publish shifts in the past?
Shifts that start before today and are new or changed show Unpublished shift starts before today. This blocks publishing by default. Untick the staff member whose past shift has changed, or ask an Admin to set Starts Before Today to Warning in Rota Validations (US: Schedule Validations).
My shifts look greyed out and the button says All Published. What’s happening?
My shifts look greyed out and the button says All Published. What’s happening?
Shifts fade while your mouse is over the Review & Publish or All Published button. This highlights the shifts that still need publishing, so when everything is published, the whole rota fades. Move your mouse away and the shifts go back to normal.
Shifts also look faded when they’re outside the filter you’re using, for example a different team or shift group. All Published only counts shifts in your current view, so check your location, team and grouping filters and the dates. If the shifts are in a team you don’t manage, ask an Admin or that team’s manager to publish them.
I published vacant shifts but staff can’t see them. Why?
I published vacant shifts but staff can’t see them. Why?
Check these:
Shift claiming is on. An Admin turns on Enable vacant shift claiming in Rota settings (US: Schedule Settings).
You ticked Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming) when you published. If you didn’t, publish again with it ticked.
The shift has a team, a start time and an end time, and starts at least 15 minutes from now.
The staff member is an active member of the shift’s team. Secondary team members only see it if your organisation has turned on Secondary Teams for shift claiming and you ticked Publish Vacant Shifts to Secondary Team Members.
They don’t have a clash. Staff who already have a clashing shift, or who would break a blocking validation, aren’t offered the shift.
Why don’t I see the Request publish approval button?
Why don’t I see the Request publish approval button?
It only appears when publishing is blocked, and it takes the place of the Publish button. To use it, an Admin needs to turn on Enable approval of rosters to be published despite ‘blocking’ validations on the Rota Validations page, and set up a rota publish approval process that includes you (by role, team or name). You also need permission to publish. See Rota Publish Approvals.
Can employees see schedule changes?
Can employees see schedule changes?
No. Employees only see schedule changes after they have been published.
Why can’t I see costs on my schedule?
Why can’t I see costs on my schedule?
Schedule cost visibility is controlled by user permissions. Contact your administrator if you require access.
Can I switch between 12-hour and 24-hour time?
Can I switch between 12-hour and 24-hour time?
Yes. Each user can select their preferred time format in their personal profile settings.
What are the red and orange flags?
What are the red and orange flags?
Red and orange flags highlight potential issues that may require attention, such as shift clashes or validation errors. Click a flag to view more details about the issue.
Can I dismiss schedule flags?
Can I dismiss schedule flags?
Flags are controlled by your account settings. While they highlight potential issues, they will not prevent shift creation or publishing unless publishing blocks have been configured.
Can I add events to influence scheduling decisions?
Can I add events to influence scheduling decisions?
Yes. Use Events & Comments to create a Custom Event. You can also discourage or block leave and unavailability requests during the event period.
Can I create multiple Custom Events at once?
Can I create multiple Custom Events at once?
Yes. Custom Events can be imported in bulk using a CSV file from Settings > Customise & Extend Workforce > Import & Export
What do the icons on a shift mean?
What do the icons on a shift mean?
Hover over any icon on a shift card to view a tooltip explaining its meaning. Additional information is available within the shift details panel.
Why can’t I see an employee on the schedule?
Why can’t I see an employee on the schedule?
You can only see and roster employees in the teams you manage, plus employees who have one of your teams as a secondary team. Working at the same location isn’t enough. If someone isn’t showing:
Check they’re in one of your teams. Go to their profile and open the Teams tab.
Check their profile is active. Inactive employees don’t appear on the schedule.
If you can’t change their teams yourself, ask an admin to add them.
Why can’t I see an event I created?
Why can’t I see an event I created?
Make sure the schedule is showing the dates the event covers. Events only appear for the dates they apply to. You can also find and edit events under Rotas > Rota Planning > Manage Events > Events & Comments.
An employee has moved teams. What do I need to do?
An employee has moved teams. What do I need to do?
On their profile, open the Teams tab and add their new team.
If the old team is their Default payroll team, change it to the new team first. You can’t remove someone from their default payroll team.
Remove the old team and click Update Teams.
Check the schedule for any future shifts still under the old team, and move or delete them.
How do I schedule morning, afternoon and evening shifts?
How do I schedule morning, afternoon and evening shifts?
Use Shift Groups to split the day into parts like Morning, Afternoon and Evening, so you can schedule and view shifts by time of day. See the Shift Groups section above.
Why does the rota show different shifts from what was worked?
Why does the rota show different shifts from what was worked?
The rota shows the shifts managers have scheduled. The timesheet shows what was actually worked, based on clock-ins.
Why are there duplicate shifts on the rota?
Why are there duplicate shifts on the rota?
On the rota, open View edit history to see who created each shift and when. Then delete the extra shift on the rota.