Shift swaps allow employees to exchange shifts with each other.

Rotaready's in-built validation always applies, ensuring only eligible employees are able to swap with each other. All the usual rules are validated, such as minimum contractual hours, required skills, availability and more.

❗️ There are several organisation-wide settings which can be adjusted by Rotaready on your behalf:

👀 Find out more in our Spotlight Session 'How to become a shift swap & shift broadcast hero'.

There are two different kinds of exchange:

If an employee is unable to work a shift which has been assigned to them, they can offer it out for another colleague to work. Rotaready will identify the eligible colleagues on their behalf and display the shift to those people, giving them the option to accept.

If an employee unable to work a shift but doesn't want to lose the hours, they can swap shifts with another colleague. Quite simply, they take each other's shifts.

When someone initiates a shift swap, Rotaready will ask them to suggest dates when they'll be available to work instead. The shift will only appear for the eligible colleagues who have a shift of their own that meets the initiator's availability.

With either option, Rotaready makes it clear that they remain responsible for their original shift until the swap has been accepted and approved by management.

To learn more about how employees can swap shifts with each other, read our article on shift swaps for employees.

If your organisation has the management approval setting enabled, you'll need to approve a swap before it's able to conclude. Otherwise, shift swaps will be automatically approved.

✅ If a shift swap has made it to the review stage, this means it has passed Rotaready's in-built validation. You can accept with confidence knowing it won't compromise any aspect of your rota or the employees working it.

Here you can review the pending swaps. Any action you take will trigger a notification to the employees concerned.

You can also opt-in to receiving notifications for when swaps are requested using the Subscribe button.