Shift swaps
Let employees trade shifts. You approve once
An employee picks a coworker's shift to trade for. Before it reaches you, the app works out both people's hours for the week and flags overtime. Approve it and both shifts change hands on the published schedule.
Swaps are on Starter and Pro. New teams get 14 days of Pro to try them.
Updated
- 1MarcusEmployeeRequested
Offers Fri 4–11 PM for Ana's Tue 11 AM–5 PM.
- 2Hours checkBefore sendingOK
Marcus 31h → 30h. Ana 34h → 35h. No overtime warning.
- 3YouManagerApproved
One approval in Requests, with both people's hours.
- 4SchedulePublished weekUpdated
The two shifts change hands in both apps.
Step by step
What happens when two people trade.
Step 1
They pick a shift to trade for
From their own published, upcoming shift, the employee sees which coworkers' shifts qualify: published, in the same week, not already in another pending swap, and not on a day they already work.
Step 2
They see the effect
Before sending, the app shows the hours each person gains or loses and warns if either would pass 40 hours for the week. Agreeing the trade with the coworker is between them.
Step 3
You approve or deny
It lands in Requests with both people's hours before and after and the same overtime warnings. Nothing moves until you decide.
Step 4
Both shifts change hands
Approval swaps the two shifts and updates the published week at once. Both people are told. A denied request tells the requester.
Your controls
Everything you need to say yes or no.
- Hours before and after
- Each person's weekly total on both sides of the trade, and how many hours each gains or loses.
- Overtime warnings
- A warning whenever a swap would push either person past 40 hours. It's advisory: you decide.
- One list
- Every pending swap sits in Requests on the dashboard and in the manager's approvals screen in the app, next to coverage requests.
- Published shifts only
- Draft weeks and shifts that already started can't be traded, and neither can a shift you've marked for removal.
If someone just can't work a shift and isn't trading for another, that's a coverage request instead. It's free and works a little differently: see shift coverage.
Worked example
Marcus trades Friday close for Ana's Tuesday.
- 1.Marcus opens Friday's shift and chooses Request swap. Ana's Tuesday 11 AM–5 PM is one of the shifts he can trade for.
- 2.The app shows the effect: Marcus trades a 7-hour shift for a 6-hour one and loses an hour. Ana gains one, going from 34 to 35 hours. No overtime warning.
- 3.The request arrives in Requests with both people's hours before and after. You approve.
- 4.Friday close is now Ana's and Tuesday mid is Marcus's, on the published week and in both of their apps.
Result: Two shifts changed hands with one approval, and you saw the hours before you gave it.
Names and times are illustrative; the rules are the product's.
Plans
Which plan you need.
Which plan
- Shift swaps
- Starter — $19.99/month per team
- Coverage requests
- Free
Coverage requests are on the free plan for teams of up to 10 people. Swaps start on Starter. Every new team gets 14 days of Pro-level access, which includes both.
FAQ
Questions worth answering up front.
No. Shift swaps start on Starter, $19.99 a month per team. Every new team gets 14 days of Pro-level access, which includes swaps. Coverage requests, where someone gives a shift away, are free.
Yes. Nothing on the schedule changes until a manager approves the swap. There is no setting that lets employees rearrange the schedule on their own.
They can ask. The request shows both people's hours before and after, and warns when either of them would go past 40 hours for the week. The manager decides.
Only published shifts that haven't started yet. The swap has to be for another published shift in the same week that belongs to someone else, isn't already in a pending swap, and doesn't give the requester two shifts on the same day.
Through the notification center in the app and on the web, push notifications on the iPhone app, and email for decisions: a swap approved or denied, and any schedule change that affects them.
Related
- Shift coverage
Someone can't work a shift, coworkers volunteer, and you pick who takes it.
- Employee scheduling
Build the week on one board, check it, and publish it to your team's phones.
- How to handle shift swaps
A simple swap policy and the checks to make before you approve a trade.
- Restaurants
Front of house and the kitchen on one week, and call-outs posted as open shifts.
- Retail
Opening, closing, floor coverage and weekends staffed by part-timers.
- Pricing
Free for small teams, then one flat monthly price per team, not per person.
Let the team sort out trades. You just approve them.
Try swaps free for 14 days on Pro, then keep them on Starter.
No credit card. The trial starts with your first shift, not today.