Workflow Guide

Shift Swaps: Covered in Seconds

When someone can't work their shift, Autopilot can put the best qualified person on it in seconds, or a teammate who can work it picks it up and the way you choose to approve it does the rest. Nobody texts you at midnight.

6 min read

3 Ways to Approve

Employee & Manager Workflows

How a Shift Swap Works in XShift AI

Covered in seconds, instead of a group text

The fastest way: Autopilot covers it

• The moment someone drops a shift, Autopilot checks who works at that location, who holds the job, who is free, who has time off and who would go into overtime, and puts the best person on it in seconds
• Close to the shift, it messages everyone qualified, and the first to accept takes it
If each call-out costs you 20 minutes of texting, 10 a week is more than 3 hours back

Or the team swaps it themselves

Dropping: the person who cannot work the shift drops it and says why
Picking up: a teammate who can work it picks it up
• The person who dropped it stays on the shift until someone takes it, so nobody walks away from an empty shift
• Only teammates at that location are shown it, and with Roles on, only those who hold the job the shift needs
Use cases:
- Someone wakes up sick on the morning of the shift
- A family emergency
- A clash with school or a second job
- Someone wants more hours and picks up an open shift
Benefits:
- No group text hunting for cover at midnight
- With Smart Approval on, only people with the shift's job can pick it up
- A record of who dropped what, and why

Employee: How to Drop a Shift

Step by step, for the person who cannot work

Drop it

Step 1: In your left menu, click "Drops & Pickups"
Step 2: On the "My Shifts" tab, find the shift you cannot work and click "Drop Shift"
Step 3: Write the reason in "Reason for dropping shift". It is required, for example "sick" or "family emergency"
Step 4: Click "Drop Shift" to confirm
• Only published shifts from today onward can be dropped

After you drop it

• The shift appears under "Available Shifts" for teammates who can work it
• You stay on the shift until someone picks it up
• Your managers get an email that you dropped it, if that email is turned on
• It shows in your "History" tab as Waiting for Coverage, then Picked Up

Employee: How to Pick Up a Shift

Step by step, for the person who wants the hours

Pick it up

Step 1: In your left menu, click "Drops & Pickups", then the "Available Shifts" tab
Step 2: Read the date, time, location, who dropped it and why
Step 3: Click "Pick Up Shift" and confirm

What happens next

• It depends on how your business clears pickups:
- Auto-Approve: the shift is yours straight away
- Smart Approval: yours straight away if you have no clashing shift, stay at 40 hours or less that week, work at that location and, with Roles on, hold the job the shift needs. If not, you are told which check you did not pass, and the shift stays open for someone else
- Manager Approval: a yellow banner at the top of the page shows your request is waiting, and your History tab shows the answer once your manager decides
• Once it is yours, it is on your schedule and the person who dropped it comes off

Manager: Choose How Pickups Clear

One setting decides what happens the moment someone picks up a shift

Where to set it

Click "Settings", then find "Shift Pickup Approval Policy" under Scheduling Settings
• Only head managers can change it
• Turning on Roles switches it from Auto-Approve to Smart Approval for you

The three choices

• Auto-Approve: the person who picks it up gets the shift straight away. Best when anyone on the team can cover anyone
• Smart Approval: the person gets the shift straight away only if they have no clashing shift, stay at 40 hours or less that week, work at that location and, with Roles on, hold the job title the shift needs. If not, they are told why and the pickup does not go through. Best when shifts need a specific job
Manager Approval: nobody gets the shift until a manager approves it. Best when you want to see every handover

Manager: Approve or Deny a Pickup

Only needed when you chose Manager Approval

Find the requests

• Home shows a "Needs your OK" card: "An employee has asked to swap or give up a shift."
Click "Review request" to open every pickup waiting on you
Each row shows who is handing the shift over, who wants it, the date, time and location, and when it was asked

Decide

• Approve: the shift moves to the new person, the request for cover closes, and they get an email that the shift is theirs, if that email is turned on
• Deny: write the reason, which is required. The person gets your reason by email, if that email is turned on, and the shift stays with the person who dropped it
• You see pickups only for the locations you run, and each one is decided by a manager who is not part of the handover

Drop & Pickup History

Who handed what to whom, and why

For everyone

Employees see their own drops and pickups on the "History" tab
Managers see the people they cover
Each entry shows the date, time, location, the reason given, and whether it was picked up or is still waiting for coverage
• The 50 most recent entries, newest first
• Use it to spot a pattern, like the same Friday shift dropped every week

Emails That Keep Everyone in the Loop

Each one switched on or off by your head manager

Where to set them

• In Settings, press "View email notifications"
• Shift dropped: the employee and their managers are told
• Shift open to pick up: employees are told a dropped shift is open
• Shift covered: everyone involved is told someone picked it up
• Pickup approved and Pickup denied: the person who asked gets the answer

Tips

Small habits that keep shifts covered

For employees

• Drop as early as you can: the earlier it shows up, the more people can take it
• Write a real reason. It helps your manager and the teammate picking it up
• Want more hours? Check "Available Shifts" before the weekend

For managers

• Tired of handling drops at all? Turn on Autopilot call-off cover and every dropped shift is covered in seconds
• Shifts that need a specific job: use Smart Approval
• Look at the History tab once a month for the same shift dropped again and again

Troubleshooting

Quick answers

Employees

Issue: I dropped a shift and nobody has picked it up
Solution: You are still on it. Tell your manager, or ask a teammate who holds that job to check "Available Shifts"
Issue: My pickup did not go through
Solution: Read the reason on screen. It names the check: the job, the location, a clashing shift, or going past 40 hours
Issue: I cannot see a dropped shift a coworker told me about
Solution: Dropped shifts show only to people at that location (and, with Roles on, who hold the job it needs), and only once the schedule is published

Managers

Issue: Too many pickups to review
Solution: Turn on Autopilot call-off cover, or switch to Smart Approval so the ones that pass every check clear on their own
Issue: Someone got a shift they should not have
Solution: Turn on Roles and choose Smart Approval, so only people with that job title can take it

Ready to Stop Brokering Every Shift Swap?

With XShift AI a dropped shift is covered in seconds, and only people who can actually work it ever get it.

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