How do open (TBA) shifts work and who can see them?
What open (TBA) shifts are, how shifts get there, which staff can see them, how to fill and advertise them, and how to change their colour.
Key Points
An open shift (often called a TBA shift) is a shift with no staff member assigned yet. It sits in the open shift row on the Roster Schedule until a manager assigns someone.
Staff can't request, claim or pick up open shifts themselves. A manager assigns them.
Staff only see an open shift if it's published, open shift visibility is turned on for your organisation, and they can see the client the shift is for.
Administrators can change the open shift colour in the Palette Manager. To change the open shift notification, contact our Support team.
Cancelled shifts in the open shift row stay visible until they're deleted or unpublished. The Roster Schedule Report always includes open shifts.
What is an open shift and how does a shift end up there?
An open shift is a shift that still needs a staff member. Instead of a person, the shift is assigned to your organisation's open shift resource. It's usually called Open Shift or TBA, and it's listed at the top of the staff list when you add staff to a shift.
A shift becomes an open shift when:
You create it and choose the open shift resource instead of a staff member.
A staff member rejects it, if your organisation uses accept and reject. See How do staff accept or reject shifts?
You approve leave and fix the conflicting shifts. The shifts move to open shifts and a copy of each original shift stays with the staff member. See How do I manage shifts that conflict with approved leave?
You apply a roster template over a staff member's approved leave. Their shifts in the leave period go to open shifts.
How do I fill an open shift?
Click the shift in the open shift row to open it.
Replace the open shift resource with the staff member you want. The staff list shows who is available, who has an overlapping shift and who is on leave.
Save the shift. If it isn't published yet, publish it so the staff member can see it.
If you get a warning when you save, for example because the staff member would have overlapping shifts, see What roster rules and warnings can we set up?
Which staff can see open shifts?
Three things decide whether a staff member sees an open shift:
Open shift visibility is turned on. Staff who can only see their own roster don't see open shifts unless this is turned on for your organisation. If none of your staff can see open shifts, contact our Support team.
They can see the client. Staff only see open shifts for clients whose profile they can see. If they can't see a client's profile, they won't see that client's open shifts.
The shift is published. Staff never see unpublished shifts, including open shifts. See How do I publish shifts so staff can see them?
Staff can see open shifts from other regions or sites
Because visibility follows the client, use Areas to control it. Make sure each client is in the right Area, and that each staff member is only assigned the Areas they work in. Staff then only see open shifts for clients in their own Areas. See How do I control access with Areas?
A staff member can't see any open shifts
Check the shift is published.
Check the staff member can open the client's profile. If they can't, check the client's Area and the staff member's Areas.
If they can see the client and the shift is published, contact our Support team to check open shift visibility.
Can staff pick up or claim an open shift?
No. Staff can't request, claim or pick up an open shift themselves, on the web or in the Workforce app. A manager assigns open shifts.
Accept and reject only applies to shifts already assigned to the staff member. If a staff member wants an open shift, ask them to contact your rostering team, who can then assign it to them.
How do I let staff know about open shifts?
Open shift notifications: your roster notification settings can notify eligible staff by SMS or email when a new open shift is available. To turn the notification on or off, or change the message staff receive, contact our Support team.
SMS from the roster: send a message about a shift straight from the Roster Schedule. See How do I send an SMS from FlowLogic?
Roster automations: set up an automation to tell a Group about open shifts. See How do I create a roster automation?
How do I change the colour of open shifts?
An administrator can set the open shift colour in the Palette Manager.
Go to the Roster Schedule.
Open the Admin menu and select Palette Manager.
Find the open shift colour and change it.
Click Save.
For more about colours, see How do I change shift colours on the Roster Schedule?
Why can staff see cancelled shifts in the open shift row?
Cancelled shifts stay visible on the roster, including in the open shift row. There's no setting to hide them from staff. The only ways to take a cancelled shift out of staff view are to:
Unpublish it. Staff no longer see it, but it stays on your roster.
Delete it. It's removed from the roster. Don't delete a cancelled shift you still need to charge for.
Why does the Roster Schedule Report show open shifts differently?
The Roster Schedule Report always includes open shifts. If a shift went to open shifts because of approved leave, the report also shows the copy of the original shift, still assigned to the staff member and cancelled. So you may see the same shift twice: once as an open shift and once as the staff member's cancelled shift.
For more about roster reports, see How do I find and export roster reports?