ROSTER MANAGEMENT · DAY-TO-DAY
Managing Shift Swaps
How employees request shift swaps, how admins review and approve them, and how Workwisely preserves the underlying rotation.
FORMAT · How-to guideDURATION · ~5 min readAUDIENCE · Roster admins, employees
What you'll learn
The full swap workflow from request to approval — and how to handle edge cases.
Key principle
Approved swaps are recorded without breaking the base rotation pattern, so future weeks aren't affected.
How an employee requests a swap
- The employee opens My Shifts in the Employee Self Service portal or mobile app.
- They tap Request Swap on the shift they want to exchange.
- They select a colleague to swap with (the system shows employees with compatible shifts on that date).
- They add an optional reason and submit.
Both employees receive a notification. The swap appears in the admin queue as Pending.
Reviewing and approving swaps (admin)
- Go to Roster Management → Swap Requests (or the notification banner in the grid).
- Review each request: you can see who wants to swap, with whom, on which date, and the shifts involved.
- Check for conflicts — if either employee is on leave that day, a warning shows.
- Click Approve or Reject. Add a note for the employee if rejecting.
💡 Pro Tip
Set up auto-approval rules under Setup → Roster → Swap Rules to approve swaps automatically when both employees agree and no conflicts exist. This saves time for low-risk swaps.
What happens after approval
Once approved:
- The roster grid updates immediately to show the swapped shifts.
- Both employees receive push notifications (if mobile is enabled).
- Attendance tracking uses the new shift as the reference — the original shift is no longer the expected schedule.
- The base rotation is preserved — only the specific occurrence is swapped, not the ongoing pattern.
Reversing an approved swap
If a swap needs to be undone after approval (e.g. both employees agree but circumstances change), go to the swap record, click Reverse Swap, and confirm. Both employees are notified of the reversal.
⚠ Important
You cannot reverse a swap after the roster period has ended. If corrections are needed after close-of-period, contact your payroll admin to adjust attendance records manually.
Frequently asked questions
Can an employee swap with someone from a different department?
By default, swaps are within the same department. Admins can enable cross-department swaps under Setup → Roster → Swap Rules.
What if the colleague doesn't agree to the swap?
Both parties must agree. If the colleague declines, the request is rejected automatically and the requester is notified.
Does a swap affect the employee's shift allowance?
Yes — if the swapped-to shift carries a different allowance, payroll reflects the new shift's allowance for that day, not the original.
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