Coverage and swaps
A dropped shift shouldn't cost you an hour of texting.
Somebody's car breaks down on a Thursday. What normally follows is a group chat, four people saying maybe, and you rebuilding the day from memory. Zchedule turns that into a request, a volunteer, and one approval.
Zchedule has two ways for employees to change who works a shift: a coverage request (“I can't work this — who can take it?”) that any coworker can volunteer for, and a shift swap (“I'll take yours if you take mine”). Both wait for a manager's approval, and both update the published schedule the moment it's given.
Coverage requests are on the free plan. Swaps are on Starter, and every new team gets 14 days of Pro to try both.
Updated
Two different requests
Coverage is a give-away. A swap is a trade.
Coverage request
Free plan and up
“I can't work Friday close. Can someone take it?” The employee posts the shift from the app. Every other employee sees it on the coverage board and can volunteer. You pick one volunteer, and the shift is theirs.
Shift swap
Starter and up
“I'll take your Tuesday if you take my Friday.” The employee picks a coworker's published shift in the same week to trade for. The request comes to you with both people's hours before and after; approve it and the two shifts change hands.
Coverage, step by step
What happens when someone can't make it.
Step 1
They post the shift
From the shift itself in the app, with an optional note. It has to be one of their own published shifts that hasn't started yet.
Step 2
Coworkers volunteer
The request appears on the coverage board for every other employee. Anyone can offer to take it, and withdraw the offer later if plans change.
Step 3
You choose
Managers are notified when the request is posted and each time someone volunteers. You pick one offer, or deny the request.
Step 4
The schedule updates
Approval reassigns the shift to the volunteer and updates the published week immediately — no second Publish step. The requester and the volunteer are told; nobody else is.
Swaps, 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 are available: 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 of them would pass 40 hours for the week. Agreeing the trade with the coworker is between them; the request records who asked.
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
What you see before you say yes.
- Hours before and after
- For a swap, 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 for the week. Advisory, not a block: you decide.
- One list
- Every pending swap and coverage request sits in Requests on the dashboard, and in the manager's approvals screen in the app.
- Published shifts only
- Requests can only be raised on published shifts that haven't started, so a draft week or a day that already happened can't be traded away. A shift you've marked for removal can't be swapped either.
- It stays correct
- Approval changes the shift and the published week in one step, so the board, the timesheet and everyone's app agree afterwards.
Worked example
Marcus can't work Friday close.
- 1.Wednesday 2:15pm — Marcus opens Friday's shift in the app and requests coverage, note: “family thing.” The shift is published and in the future, so the button is there.
- 2.You (and any other manager) get a notification: Coverage Needed — Marcus needs their Fri 4:00–11:00 PM shift covered.
- 3.The request is on the coverage board for the other eleven employees. Priya volunteers at 3:40pm; Tom volunteers at 6:05pm. You're notified each time.
- 4.Thursday morning you open Requests, see Priya is at 22 hours this week and Tom at 38, and approve Priya.
- 5.The shift is reassigned to Priya and the published week updates immediately. Marcus and Priya are told; Tom's offer simply closes.
Result: One posted shift, two volunteers, one decision. No group chat, and the timesheet already knows Priya is the one clocking in on Friday.
Names and times are illustrative; the rules are the product's.
- 1.Marcus opens Friday's shift and chooses Request swap. He's shown the coworkers' shifts he can trade for this week; Ana's Tuesday 11am–5pm is one of them.
- 2.The app shows the effect: Marcus swaps 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 before-and-after hours. You approve.
- 4.Friday close is now Ana's and Tuesday mid is now 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
- Coverage requests
- Free
- Shift swaps
- Starter — $19.99/month per team
Coverage requests are part of 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.
Yes. Coverage requests — posting a shift you can't work so a coworker can take it — are on every plan, including Free (up to 10 people, no expiry).
No. Shift swaps — trading your shift for a coworker's — start on Starter, $19.99 a month per team. Every new team gets 14 days of Pro-level access, which includes swaps.
Yes, for both. Nothing on the schedule changes until a manager approves the coverage offer or the swap. There is no setting that lets employees rearrange the schedule on their own.
Every employee on the team except the person who posted it, on the coverage board in the app. Managers are notified when a request is posted and when someone volunteers.
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. A 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, as push notifications on the iPhone app, and by email for decisions — a swap or coverage request approved or denied, and any schedule change that affects them.
Related
- Pricing
Free, Starter and Pro, priced per team.
- Restaurants
Call-outs on a Friday night, handled as one posted shift.
- Coffee shops
Students, second jobs, and the availability that drives who can cover.
- Time clock
The volunteer clocks in; the timesheet already expects them.
Next call-out, post the shift instead.
Coverage requests are free for up to 10 people. No credit card, and 14 days of Pro on top.