How to handle shift swaps
A swap is an agreement that one person will work a shift that was on someone else’s week. Handled in the open, the site stays covered. Handled only in private messages, the published week is wrong and two people turn up, or nobody does.
Agree the rule before anyone asks
Write down what a swap needs while the week is still calm. Useful rules are short:
- The person covering already works that site and can do the job.
- They are free, including the travel between sites, and they are not already on an overlapping shift.
- A manager agrees before the change is treated as done.
- The published week is updated the same day.
A rule that appears only when someone asks will feel arbitrary. Say the rule when you publish the week, not when you refuse.
Check the cover, not just the willingness
Someone can be happy to help and still be the wrong person for that shift. Look at the days around the swap. Leave that is already agreed should stay agreed. A close that needs a key-holder still needs a key-holder after the names move.
If you say no, name the rule it breaks. If you say yes, say it to both people, not only to the one who asked.
Change the week everyone can see
The swap is finished when the published week matches the agreement. Until then it is a conversation. Update the roster and publish it, so both people, and anyone else on that site, see the new week.
Keep a short note: who asked, who is now on the shift, and who agreed. You will want it the next time the same pair asks.
What to do in Shiftbrook
There is no shift-swap request in Shiftbrook. Staff cannot accept a swap inside the product. Have the conversation with your team, then edit the roster and publish it. An open shift is the right place for a gap that has no name on it yet.