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Set Availability

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Employees can set their repeating weekly availability and submit time-off requests. Managers see this information before creating or auto-assigning shifts.

Setting Weekly Availability

Your weekly availability is a repeating schedule that tells managers which days and times you can work. It refreshes automatically each week unless you update it.

  1. Go to the Availability tab in the app.
  2. For each day of the week, toggle Available or Unavailable.
  3. For available days, set your start and end time windows (e.g., Monday 8am–6pm).
  4. Tap Save. Your manager can now see your availability in the scheduling view.

Requesting Time Off

For specific dates — vacations, appointments, personal days — use a time-off request instead of changing your weekly availability.

  1. In the Availability tab, tap Request Time Off.
  2. Select the date range and optionally add a note.
  3. Tap Submit. Your manager receives a notification to approve or decline.

You'll be notified when the request is resolved. Approved time-off blocks those dates from any new shift assignments.

How Managers See Availability

In the shift creation flow, managers see a color-coded availability indicator for each team member. Employees with approved time-off or set as unavailable on a given day are flagged before the manager assigns them. The Auto-Scheduling engine also respects availability automatically.

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Availability is advisory for managers

Managers can override availability in exceptional circumstances, but ShiftFlex will display a warning before assigning an employee outside their stated availability window.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do employees set their availability?

Go to the Availability tab, set available/unavailable for each day of the week with time windows, and save. Managers can see this before scheduling.

Can employees request specific days off?

Yes. Tap Request Time Off in the Availability tab, select dates, add an optional note, and submit. Managers approve or decline via notification.

Does auto-scheduling respect availability?

Yes. The auto-scheduling engine never assigns employees during periods they've marked as unavailable or that have approved time-off.