Shift change requests

Staff can ask for changes to a shift they own — a day off or different hours — and managers decide. Everything runs through the Requests page, so nothing gets lost in hallway conversations.

What staff can request

Open the shift and choose Request change. There are two kinds of request:

• Request day off — ask to be released from this shift. If a manager approves, the shift is released for someone else to pick up.
• Request time change — propose different start or end times, for example starting an hour later for an appointment. If approved, the shift is updated to the new times.

The manager gets an email when a request comes in, and the requester gets an email with the decision — so neither side has to keep checking the app.

The Requests page

The Requests page is the hub for everything waiting on a decision. What you see depends on your role:

• Managers see three tabs: Inbox (things to act on), In progress, and History.
• Staff see Active (their own open requests) and History.

Each request has Approve and Decline buttons for managers. Staff can cancel their own request while it's still pending — useful if plans change before the manager gets to it.

The Requests badge in the sidebar counts everything pending: change requests plus shift swaps, which share the same page.

Change requests vs time off

Change requests are for one-off adjustments to a shift that's already on the schedule. For planned absences — vacations, recurring appointments, anything you know about in advance — use time off instead, so the absence is recorded before the schedule is even built and scheduling tools steer around it automatically.

A quick rule of thumb at Northside Inn: Maria books her July vacation through time off weeks ahead; but when a dentist appointment collides with next Tuesday's shift, she opens that shift and uses Request change to ask for a later start.

What happens after approval

• Day off approved — the requester comes off the shift and it's freed up for someone else to pick up.
• Time change approved — the shift stays with the requester, updated to the proposed times.
• Declined — the shift stays exactly as it was, and the requester is notified by email.

If you'd rather hand a shift directly to a coworker instead of asking to drop it, a shift swap may be the better fit.