Once your draft roster is built, the next step is to publish it for your team. This guide also covers managing employee availability to prevent roster conflicts.
Publishing and Un-publishing Shifts
Publishing makes shifts visible to employees and sends them a notification.
To Publish All Draft Shifts (Bulk Publish):
1. Review your draft roster for the week.
2. At the top of the screen, click the blue Publish X shifts button.
3. A pop-up will ask you to confirm. Click Publish.
4. All draft shifts will be published, and employees will be notified.
To Publish an Individual Shift:
1. Click on a draft shift to open the panel. (Selected shift was on Monday 1st December 2025 for My Employee One)
2. Check the Publish box.
3. Click Save.
To Un-publish Shifts:
If you need to make changes to a published shift, you must first un-publish it.
1. Click the orange X shifts to un-publish button at the top.
2. A pop-up will appear. Click Un-publish.
3. All published shifts in the current view will revert to "Draft" status. Employees are notified that these shifts are no longer assigned to them.
How Staff are Notified (Accept/Decline)
When you publish shifts, employees are notified via email and/or SMS (if they are opted into SMS notifications).
Key Concept: Accept vs. Decline Your account can be set up in two ways:
- Employees Must Accept Shifts: Employees are required to manually "Accept" the shift to confirm they have seen it and will work it. If they don't accept by the cut-off time, the shift may become unassigned.
- Employees Can Decline Shifts: Shifts are considered "accepted" by default. Employees only need to take action if they cannot work the shift, in which case they "Decline" it. If a shift is declined, it becomes unassigned on the roster for you to fill.
Managing Employee Unavailability
You can record an employee's unavailability to prevent them from being rostered on at times they cannot work.
1. From the Roster, click Roster actions -> Employees.
2. Find and click on the employee's name.
3. In the panel that opens, click the Availability tab.
4. Under the "Unavailability" section, click Add.
5. Fill in the details:
- Is it for a specific date range or ongoing (e.g., "Every Monday")?
- Is it "All day" or for a specific time (e.g., "9:00am to 1:00pm")?
- Enter a reason.
6. Click Save.
This unavailability will now appear as a red block on the roster, preventing you from accidentally rostering that employee. This is particularly useful for casual employees or those with pre-existing external commitments e.g. tertiary study.
Using the Employee Context Panel
This panel is a quick way to see an employee's details without leaving the roster.
1. On the Roster, click on any employee's name (not on a shift). (e.g My Employee One)
2. A panel will open with three tabs:
- Work Summary: Shows a list of their shifts for the current period.
- Availability: Shows any upcoming Leave or Unavailability. This is very useful for checking conflicts.
- Details: Shows their contact info, pay rate, default location, etc.