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Rotas & live floor

Shift swaps & cover

Approve or decline the open-shift claims, cover requests and swaps your team raises — with you keeping the final say, so cover stops living in a group chat.

Open in WagePilot Available where the Requests module is enabled

Requests is where shift changes happen without the WhatsApp scramble. A staff member who can’t work a shift offers it up; an eligible colleague claims or covers it; you approve. Everyone sees the result on their rota, and you keep the final say. This page is your inbox for those decisions.

Staff member gives away the shift, a colleague claims it, manager approves — the rota updates and both are notified.

The three kinds of request

Open shift claim
Someone wants to pick up a shift that was broadcast or left open. There’s no colleague step, so it comes straight to you.
Cover request
Someone can’t work a shift and a colleague has agreed to cover it for them.
Shift swap
Two people trade shifts. The card shows both sides — who takes what, and what’s handed back.

The three count cards

Needs approval
Waiting on you — claims, and covers/swaps a colleague has already accepted. Turns amber when there’s anything to decide.
Awaiting cover
Raised by someone but not yet picked up by a teammate — nothing for you to do until it is.
Decided
Everything you’ve ever approved or declined, all time.

How requests are grouped

  • Needs your approval — the ones that need a yes: open-shift claims, and covers/swaps a colleague has accepted. These have Approve and Decline buttons.
  • Awaiting a teammate — cover requests and swaps still looking for someone to accept. You can watch but there’s nothing to action yet.
  • Recently decided — a short list of the last few you settled, with their outcome.

Each card shows the shift (day, time, role and site), who’s involved with an avatar, and how long ago it was raised. A swap also shows the shift being taken back.

Approving and declining

  1. 1

    Approve

    Tap Approve and the rota updates immediately — the shift moves to its new owner and everyone involved is notified.

  2. 2

    Decline

    Tap Decline to open a short form. Add an optional reason (it’s shared with the people involved) and confirm.

How you stay in control

  • Changes only become real when you approve them — nothing reshuffles your rota behind your back.
  • Eligibility (role, site, availability) is respected upstream, so a request you’d never accept rarely reaches you.
  • Every approved change updates the rota and notifies the affected staff automatically.

Common questions

Why do some requests skip the “awaiting a teammate” step?
Open-shift claims have no colleague to wait on — one person is asking to take a shift that’s already free — so they come straight to your “Needs approval” list. Cover requests and swaps wait until a teammate accepts, then move to you.
Does the person I decline find out why?
If you add a reason when declining, it’s shared with the people involved. The reason is optional, but a one-line note (“need the cover at the other site that day”) usually saves a follow-up message.