Manage rota requests
About schedule requests
With Square Shifts, you can create, manage, and publish schedules based on the availability of your team. You can also approve shift requests and approve or decline time-off requests from team members.
You can also set up Square Team App alerts for schedules. Alerts are issues flagged in your Square Dashboard, and notifications are proactive messages received by email and in your Square Dashboard Notification Centre. Alerts include, but aren’t limited to break violations, shift violations, and overtime alerts. You can opt in to receive certain scheduling changes or requests from your team in the Square Team App.
Before you begin
Before you approve schedule requests, make sure you already created and published a team schedule, set up time cards for your team members, and set up your work period and overtime rules. Learn how to Set up team rotas , Set up time tracking, and Set your work period and overtime rules.
Alerts and notifications associated with specific actions related to schedules are only available with Square Shifts Plus.
Review shift cover requests
If team members request shift covers, you can approve or decline shift requests from Square Dashboard or the Square Team App.
- Sign into your Square Dashboard and select Staff > Shifts > Staff Scheduling > Rota.
- Select … > Requests to review open requests.
- Select an open request and select Decline or Approve.
Team members will receive push notifications in the Square Team App confirming if their request was approved or denied.
Review time-off requests
Once a team member requests time off, you’ll receive an email notification, as well as a notification in your Square Dashboard and Square Team App.
- Sign into your Square Dashboard and select Staff > Shifts > Staff Scheduling > Rota.
- Select … > Requests to review open requests.
- Select an open request and select Decline or Approve. You can also leave an optional note.
Once you accept or decline the request, the team member will receive an alert letting them know your decision. You’ll also receive a notification if another team member already has approved time off within the same time frame as someone else.
If plans change, you can easily cancel a time-off request you already approved. To cancel an approved time-off request:
Sign in to your Square Dashboard and select Staff > Shifts > Scheduling > Rota.
Select the shift block with the approved time off and select Cancel.
Enable alerts and notifications
You can manage the alerts and notifications you receive from scheduling and timecard activity by updating settings in Square Dashboard and the Square Team app. Once you save your settings, you will only receive alerts and email notifications for the alert types you selected. Get access more alert types for better timecard management with Square Shifts Plus.
- Sign into your Square Dashboard, then click Staff > Settings > Notifications & Alerts.
- Select alerts that you want to be notified about by clicking on the box located next to the alert type.
- Once you are done with your selection, click Save.