What’s covered in this guide?
Check the shift has been published
A vacant shift can only be picked up once it has been published and is in the future.
On the rota, a published vacant shift has a blue dot in the top right corner. A green dot means the shift has been assigned to someone.
To publish a vacant shift:
Click Review & Publish
Tick Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming)
Check Shifts to be published shows at least 1, then click Publish
Check it was published to secondary team members
The blue dot shows the shift has been published, but not who it was sent to. Secondary team members only see the shift if Publish Vacant Shifts to Secondary Team Members was ticked when it was published.
📝 Important to note: Publish Updates Only only sends shifts that have changed since they were last published. Republishing an unchanged vacant shift this way won’t send it to secondary team members.
To send a vacant shift to secondary team members:
Open the vacant shift and re-save it, or choose Publish All Shifts (this notifies everyone on the rota)
Tick Publish Vacant Shifts (Shift Claiming)
Tick Publish Vacant Shifts to Secondary Team Members
Check Shifts to be published shows at least 1, then click Publish
Secondary team members only see vacant shifts in the specific teams they’ve been added to on their profile.
Check the employee is free that day
An employee can’t claim a vacant shift if any of these apply:
• They already have a shift that day
• They have approved leave that overlaps the shift
• They have unavailability or a rostered day off that overlaps the shift
Check rota validations
If a rota validation is set to blocking, the employee can’t claim a shift that would break it. For example, if they’re limited to 30 hours a week, they can’t claim a shift that takes them over 30.
FAQs and Troubleshooting
The shift has a blue dot but a secondary team member still can’t see it.
The shift has a blue dot but a secondary team member still can’t see it.
It was probably published before secondary team members were included, or republished with Publish Updates Only. Follow the steps in Check it was published to secondary team members.
The shift was claimable yesterday but isn’t now.
The shift was claimable yesterday but isn’t now.
Vacant shifts can only be claimed while they’re in the future.
How long does it take to appear in the app?
How long does it take to appear in the app?
It can take a few minutes. Staff can find it under Pick up shifts.