What you'll learn in this article
What open shifts are
When to use open shifts
How to create an open shift using the SameSystem Check-In app
How to approve open shift requests
What are open shifts?
An open shift is a shift created without being assigned to a specific employee. Which employee gets the shift, depends on what setup you made when you created the open shift, as well as system settings made by your administration. In this article, we'll go step-by-step through the process of creating an open shift using the SameSystem Check-In app.
NOTE: This article will suit those departments whose settings allow to use open shifts. Note that some of the below features we present, might not be available for you. If you cannot create an open shift, or see features you wish to use, please reach out to your administrator to request changing your settings.
When to use open shifts
Publishing an open shift when you're in need of additional employees to cover hours on a specific day is a great way of using open shifts. But there are many other situations where open shifts can truly save you both time and effort,- leaving you with time to focus on your top priorities. Here are some examples:
Somebody called in sick on short notice: An open shift solves the issue quickly since you don't have to spend time calling around or sending messages to your team; All the available employees get a notification on their phone immediately after you send the request.
Special events: Extended opening hours, campaign days, market days - some days require several extra staff members. Publishing multiple identical open shifts at the same time takes just a few seconds, leaving you with more time to prepare for the big day(s).
Planning your schedule: If you have hourly-based employees that don't have their workdays specified on specific days of the week, there's always a risk that somebody will call in unavailable after the schedule is released. Publishing the schedule with open shifts included will allow the employees who are available to request filling the shift themselves.
How to create open shifts
To start, make sure you are logged into the SameSystem Check-In app.
1. Tap the button called More located in the bottom right corner.
2. Tap Pending requests, followed by Open shifts.
3. The screen you are presented with shows you three tabs, representing the three different variations an open shift can be;
Active: Any open shifts that are published and available (active) at the moment
Automatic: Any active open shifts that were included in the schedule when you published it
Drafts: Any open shifts that you've started creating, but haven't finished or sent out yet
To create a new open shift, tap the blue circle with the white plus-icon inside, located in the bottom right corner:
4. Enter the date of the open shift, start time, end time, and break duration (0 minutes if no break). Remember to press Save as you enter each detail. Once you're ready, tap Create shift to continue.
5. The following screen will show you a list of all the employees who are available to take the open shift. Any employees that already have a shift that day, or have marked themselves unavailable in the schedule, will not appear in this list. Notice that you can untick employees from the list, if you want to limit who to send to.
Tip: If you have an open shift search template, you can apply this to filter out employees based on criterias in your template.
Hit the Send button once you're ready 🎉
6. All done! You should see your open shift in the Active column, as shown below:
What's next?
Your employees have gotten a notification on their phone, telling them an open shift has been made available. They can choose to either request taking the shift, or decline it.
To see the status of the open shift (requested/declined), head back into the app and tap More > Pending requests > Open shifts. Below we can see that Sofie and Jane have requested to take the shift, while it's still pending for the other teammates. Clicking Accept will notify the employee that she/he got the shift. The rest of the employees will be notified that the open shift has been taken. ✔️
Help & Support
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