Creating and Filling Open Shifts

Purpose

An open shift is a shift with no assigned employee. It is posted to one or more work locations, and any employee at those locations who is in time tracking can claim it from the UZIO Mobile App. You approve one claimer, and the shift becomes theirs. From then on it behaves like any other shift: it appears on their schedule, they clock in against it, and the usual edit and delete rules apply.

When to use this: you have a slot to fill and would rather let the team volunteer than assign someone. An open shift shows the slot to every eligible employee at the location, and you pick the winner from the claims. You can also assign it yourself at any time.

Who can do this: creating, assigning, and approving claims require Full Access to Employee Schedule (typically the Employer Admin, or any role granted that access). Claiming is done by employees in the mobile app.

Create an open shift

1. On the scheduler grid, double-click any cell, or click the + icon that appears on hover, to open the Add Shift window.
2. Under Assignee, select Open Shift.
3. Under Work Locations, choose one or more locations where the shift should be available. Selecting several locations creates one open shift per location.
4. Set Time in, Time out, and optionally a Project/Job, Color Code, Repeat Shift, and Notes, as for any shift.
5. Click Save (draft) or Save and Publish.

[Screenshot: Add Shift window with Assignee set to Open Shift and two Work Locations selected. Use demo data.]

Fill an open shift yourself

You do not have to wait for claims. Click the open shift, open Details, change Assignee from Open Shift to an employee, and save. The employee must belong to the shift's work location. If not, the window refuses with "{name} is not assigned to {location}. Please choose an employee who belongs to {location} before assigning the shift". Once assigned, the shift is a normal shift and the location posting disappears. Any pending claims on it are cancelled.

How employees claim an open shift

Claiming is available in the UZIO Mobile App only. The web schedule shows open shifts but has no claim action.

1. The employee opens Schedule in the app and goes to Open Shifts. They see the published open shifts for their work location.
2. They tap Claim on the shift they want.
3. The claim is sent for approval. You receive an "Open shift claim request" notification with the location, shift time, date, requester, and any comments.

The employee can cancel a claim while it is still pending. Cancelling frees their claim; the shift stays open for others. The employee steps are in Swapping, Offering, and Claiming Shifts.

Several employees can claim the same shift. Until you approve one, the shift stays unassigned and visible to everyone at the location.

Accept or reject claims

1. On the grid, click the open shift and choose Claims. The icon appears only on published open shifts.
2. The window lists every employee who has claimed the shift.
3. Click Accept for the employee you want, or Reject to turn a claim down.

The same overlap check that ran when the employee claimed runs again when you accept. If the employee has picked up another shift in that window since claiming, the acceptance is refused and the window tells you.

Approving requires Full Access to the claiming employee's schedule.

[Screenshot: Claims window listing two claimers with Accept and Reject buttons. Use demo data.]

Working with open shifts on the grid

• Open shifts appear in their own row when the grid is in Employee scope, and under their location in Work Location scope.
• Copy Schedule copies open shifts in the source range along with assigned shifts, as drafts.
• Download Schedule PDF includes open shifts on screen.
• Deleting an open shift cancels any pending claims on it. No notification is sent.

Common problems

Why is nobody claiming the open shift?

Check, in order:

1. The shift is published. Unpublished open shifts are invisible to employees.
2. It is posted to the right work location. Only employees at those locations see it.
3. The team knows it is there. No notification is sent when an open shift is published.
4. The team knows claiming happens in the mobile app only.

An employee says their claim was blocked

The app refuses a claim with "Shift overlaps with existing shift" when the employee already has a shift in that window. The same check runs again when you accept, so a claim that was fine when submitted can still be refused at approval if the employee picked up an overlapping shift in the meantime.

An employee claimed a shift but didn't get it

Two normal outcomes, not errors:

• Someone else won. Accepting one claim rejects all the others. The losing claimers are notified. A late claim on an already-assigned shift is refused with "Shift already assigned to employee."
• The claim was never approved. A claim waits until you act on it from the shift's Claims icon. If it is still pending, the shift is still open. Accept or reject it.

I can see the claims but can't accept one

Your role does not have Full Access to the claiming employee's schedule. Ask a user who manages roles to check the Employee Schedule grant and your employee scope.

Related articles

• Managing Shifts: Creating, Publishing, Editing, and Deleting
• Shift Offers and How to Approve Them
• Getting Started with Scheduling
• Employee: Swapping, Offering, and Claiming Shifts