How to manage shift swaps

In Smartplan, users have the option to swap shifts with each other. This feature is very useful, for example, if someone can no longer work an assigned shift due to a conflict with another appointment.

If you want to know exactly how the actual shift swap can be performed by your employees, please have a look at this article.

In this article we will explain the following topics in more detail:

• General settings regarding shift swaps
• Approve shift swap in the browser version
• Approve shift swap in the app
• Performing a shift swap as an admin - in the browser & in the app
• Overview of shift swaps

General setting regarding shift swaps

As an administrator, you have the possibility to define in the settings how much control you want to have over shift swaps. In your Smartplan menu, simply go to "Settings" > "Smartplan Settings" > "Shift Swap" and check the option "Shift swaps need admin approval":

From now on, all administrators are informed about each new shift swap an employee wants to perform. An administrator can then either approve or reject it.

After checking the option "Shift swaps need admin approval", you can now also set whether taking over a free shift in the rota requires an admin approval or not. Check or uncheck the box "Available shifts don't need admin approval" according to the desired procedure:

If you select the option of admin approval, your employees cannot directly take over a shift, but must first apply for it. If several people are interested in the same shift and apply for it, you as admin can decide who gets it.

Don't forget to click on "Save Settings" at the bottom after adjusting the settings.

In addition, you as an admin can specify in your notification settings what type of shift swaps you want to be notified about. For example, do you want to be notified of all shift swaps that occur, or are you only responsible for individual job positions or work areas? Then you can choose to only be notified for swaps within these.

You can find out how exactly you can adjust the notification settings here.

Approve a shift swap in the browser version

If your account has been set to require an admin's approval before a shift swap between employees can take place, you will be notified of new shift swap activity in the upper right corner (the bell sign) and can see which people are involved in the shift swap and what shift and rota are affected:

You can also "Confirm" or "Reject" the shift swap directly in the shown notification.

If you approve the shift swap, it will be registered directly and you will see from now on that the swap has been approved by both Anne (here the swap partner) and you as admin:

In addition, you have the possibility to be forwarded directly to the shift swap history. You will find out more about this later in this article.

Of course, you also have the option of taking care of the submitted shift swaps apart from the activity notification - both in the respective user profile and in the rota itself.

Managing a swap in the user profile

If you are in the "Employees" category, you can simply select the desired user profile and you will then be shown whether there are any open shift swaps for this user that still need to be approved by you:

Smartplan distinguishes between "Incoming shifts" and " Outgoing shifts" in the display. In my case, I can approve or reject the incoming shift exchange between Anne and Chris directly here in Anne's user profile. When an employee offer to take an available shift, this can be approved through the profile as well.

Management of a swap in the rota

If you select a shift in a published rota and access the day view, you will also receive an overview here in case a shift swap is still awaiting the approval of an administrator:

If you now click on "Swap waiting for admin approval", the edit bar opens and you have the option to either "approve" or "reject" the swap:

Approve shift swap in the app

In addition to managing shift swaps in the browser version, you also have the option of approving or rejecting a shift swap easily and conveniently in the Smartplan app.

As an admin, you will first be notified of existing requests in the menu bar in the category "Employees". If you now select the category "Employees", you will see that one (or more) actions require your approval:

If you click on "1 request needs your approval", as in my example, you will see who wants to swap shifts for which period of time - and you can either approve or reject it.

Performing a shift swap as an admin

Of course, not only can your employees swap shifts with each other, but you as an admin can also initiate a shift swap, either involving yourself or between two of your employees.

Performing a shift swap in the browser version

To swap shifts, all you need to do is select the day in your rota on which you want to swap a shift.

In my example, I know that I cannot work the shift assigned to me on October 13th and Johanna has already agreed that she can take over the shift. So I now switch to the day overview by clicking on the desired period:

In the day overview, I now click on the shift assigned to me and select the option "Transfer shift". In the overview that now opens, I select Johanna as the shift receiver and confirm the process by clicking on "Hand over shift":

If I were to remove the checkmark, Johanna would first have to approve the swap in the system before it would be transferred to the duty roster.

This procedure is recommended, for example, if you have not had the opportunity to agree on the shift swap in advance - thus triggering the actual swap request - or if you want to make sure that the shift swap really suits the swap partner(s).

How you as an admin want to proceed with a swap performed by you, however, is ultimately entirely up to you.

Performing a shift swap in the app

The logic for performing a shift swap in the app is almost identical to the procedure in the browser version - only the look has been adapted to the app.

If I have selected the corresponding shift in the rota view for which I want to perform a swap, I automatically get to the shift overview. Here I have the option in the category "Hand over" - similar to the procedure in the browser version - to specify to whom I want to hand over the shift and whether the exchange should be carried out with or without the approval of my exchange partner:

Overview of shift swaps

If you are logged in to your Smartplan account as an admin via the browser version, you have the option of accessing a shift swap overview.

If you were not redirected directly via the link displayed in the shift swap notification (this option is only displayed in the browser version), you can also access the overview via the settings.

To do this, simply go to "Settings" > "Smartplan settings" > "Shift swap":

If you then scroll to the bottom of the page, you will get to the following shift swap overview:

Here you first have the option of specifying which shift swaps you would like to have displayed. For example, if you are looking for shift swaps that only took place in a certain period of time or concern a certain person, you can define this in the filters.

In the overview itself, you can then see when which shift swap took place, who gave the shift to whom, which shift it is and who confirmed the swap.

In principle, you can distinguish between two scenarios in the shift swap overview, which are also illustrated in my example above:

1. In the column „Approved by", only 'You' is displayed, as I myself as admin have carried out the shift swap and automatically confirmed it. Further confirmation by another admin or staff member is therefore not necessary. If another account admin had carried out and confirmed the shift swap, only his or her name would be shown.
2. In scenario 2, both Anne and I are shown as Admin in the "Approved by" column. This means that we have both agreed to the shift swap requested by Anne. As this was a shift swap between two employees without admin rights, both the swap partner and an admin must agree to the swap.

The shift swap overview allows you and other account admins to access the history of performed swaps at any time and to track the swap process.

Contact us if you have any questions

If you have any questions about managing shift swaps, please do not hesitate to contact us.

You can contact us directly via chat or send an email to support@trysmartplan.com