Open shifts explained: fill gaps without the phone calls
What an open shift is, when to post one instead of assigning it, and five simple rules that get gaps filled fairly and fast.
6 min readFor owners and managers
In short
- An open shift is a real shift with a time and place, but no name on it yet.
- Post open shifts for work that is optional or uncertain. Assign the shifts the business cannot run without.
- Decide in advance who may take a shift, how fairness works and when you step in.
- Every open shift needs a deadline. If nobody has taken it by then, you fill it yourself.
On this page7 sections
Every manager knows the routine. The week is nearly planned, but Saturday afternoon has a hole in it. So you send a message to the group chat, wait, call two people who don't pick up, and finally talk someone into it. It works, but it costs you an hour and it usually lands on the same helpful person.
Open shifts replace that routine with something calmer. This guide explains what they are, when they help, when they don't, and the few rules that make them work.
What an open shift is
An open shift is a shift that has everything except a person. It has a day, a start and finish time, a location and often a role. It sits on the schedule where the team can see it, and anyone who is allowed to work it can say "I'll take that".
The important difference from a message in a chat is that the shift is specific and there is only one of it. Nobody has to ask what the hours are, and two people cannot both believe they have it.
When to post a shift and when to assign it
Open shifts are a tool, not a way of running the whole schedule. If every shift is open, people with the fastest thumbs get the best hours and you lose control of who is working. Use this as a rough guide.
| Situation | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The core shifts that open and close the business | Assign | You need to know they are covered |
| Extra help for a busy day | Open shift | People who want more hours can choose |
| Someone's time off leaves a gap next week | Open shift | There is time for a volunteer to appear |
| Someone calls in sick two hours before | Open shift, then call | Post it first, but don't wait long |
| A shift that needs a specific skill or key | Assign | Only a few people can do it anyway |
- Situation
- The core shifts that open and close the business
- Best choice
- Assign
- Why
- You need to know they are covered
- Situation
- Extra help for a busy day
- Best choice
- Open shift
- Why
- People who want more hours can choose
- Situation
- Someone's time off leaves a gap next week
- Best choice
- Open shift
- Why
- There is time for a volunteer to appear
- Situation
- Someone calls in sick two hours before
- Best choice
- Open shift, then call
- Why
- Post it first, but don't wait long
- Situation
- A shift that needs a specific skill or key
- Best choice
- Assign
- Why
- Only a few people can do it anyway
Five rules that make open shifts work
1. Say who may take one
Normally this is anyone who works at that location and is trained for the role. If a new starter should not yet work alone, say so before the first open shift appears, not after they have taken one.
2. Decide how fairness works
First come, first served is the simplest rule and the easiest to explain. Its weakness is that people who are busy at work when you post will always miss out. A small fix: post open shifts at the same time each week, so everyone knows when to look.
3. Watch the totals
A person who takes every open shift may run into overtime, go over their contract hours or lose the rest they need between shifts. Check the week's total hours for anyone who takes more than one. Rules on overtime and rest differ from country to country, so check what applies to you.
4. Give every open shift a deadline
An open shift nobody takes is still your problem. Decide when you stop waiting. For a shift next week, that might be two days before. For a shift tomorrow, it might be one hour.
5. Make taking a shift final
Once someone takes a shift, it is theirs in the same way as any other shift. If they later cannot work it, they follow the normal process for giving up a shift. Without this rule, open shifts become a place where people reserve hours just in case.
A worked example
- Emma Wilson manages a cafe with eight staff. On Tuesday she approves a day off for Ben Carter, who was due to work Saturday 12:00 to 18:00.
- Old way: Emma messages the group, gets two replies saying "maybe", and settles it on Friday night.
- New way: Ben's Saturday shift becomes an open shift on Tuesday. The team is told. Two people who are not working that day can see it.
- One of them takes it on Tuesday evening. The shift moves to her schedule and Emma is told it is covered.
- Emma's deadline was Thursday at midday. She never needed it, but if the shift had still been open she would have asked someone directly with two days to spare.
Common mistakes
- Posting the shifts nobody wants and assigning the good ones. People notice, and they stop looking at open shifts at all.
- No deadline. The shift sits open until the morning it starts and becomes an emergency.
- Using open shifts to avoid a staffing decision. If the same shift is open every week, you need to hire or change someone's hours.
- Forgetting people who work at more than one location. They can only help if they are set up to work at both.
How ClockinBee handles open shifts
In ClockinBee you add an open shift in the week planner the same way as any other shift, choosing Open shift in place of a person. It stays a draft until you publish. When you publish, people get a notification.
Staff see open shifts in My schedule on their phone, under their own shifts, and can take one with a single button. They only see shifts at locations they work at, and only when they have no clashing shift or time off that day. The first person to take it gets it, and anyone who was too late is told.
Two more things create open shifts for you. If you use auto-schedule, anything it cannot fill becomes an open shift, not a silent gap. And if you switch on the cover for time off automation, approving a request turns that person's shifts on those days into open shifts.
What ClockinBee does not do is choose between volunteers or run a bidding round. It is first come, first served, and you can always move the shift to someone else in the planner.
Questions people ask
Is an open shift the same as a shift swap?
No. A swap starts with a person who has a shift and wants to give it up. An open shift starts with no person at all. In practice they meet in the middle: a shift somebody gives up usually becomes an open shift for colleagues to take.
Should I approve every open shift someone takes?
For most small teams, no. Approval adds a delay and makes people less likely to bother. It is simpler to limit who can see the shift in the first place and to check weekly hours afterwards.
What if nobody takes it?
Then your deadline arrives and you fill it the old way: ask someone directly, change the plan for that day, or cover it yourself. The open shift has still helped, because you tried the easy route first and lost nothing.
Do open shifts cause more overtime?
They can, if the same people always take them. Keep an eye on each person's scheduled hours against their contract, and check the overtime rules that apply to you before you rely on a few keen volunteers.
How to do this in ClockinBee
- Plan the team schedule and publish itAdd shifts, drag them between people and days, reuse templates, then publish to the team.
- Take an open shift, or say you can't work onePick up extra shifts, and hand back a shift you cannot work so a colleague can take it.
- Auto-schedule a weekSay what each day needs, preview the plan, then add it as drafts and publish.
- Automations: let ClockinBee do the routine workAuto-approve clean timesheets, remind approvers, lock pay periods, repeat the schedule and more.
Try it with your own team
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This guide is general information, not legal, tax or payroll advice. Working time, pay and time off rules differ by country and contract, so check the rules that apply to you.