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Managing and Recording Worker Availability

Successful rota planning is built on data, not guesswork. 

While the Leave Module handles long-term paid and unpaid absences, life can happen. Workers may need last-minute time off for appointments or family commitments that don't necessarily count as "leave" but still affect their eligibility for a shift.

The Worker Availability feature introduces a lightweight mechanism that lets workers self-manage their availability via their mobile app. 

This feature replaces traditional 'availability check' phone calls with a live, 7-day rolling view of your workforce’s status, ensuring that unavailable workers are clearly excluded from matching and rota visibility.


    Instructions for Agency Admins

    As an Admin, you have full oversight of worker availability. While workers can manage their own status, you have the authority to record or edit unavailability on their behalf, which is useful if a worker informs the office verbally or misses an app update.

    Viewing Worker Status

    Within the Leave Module, you can see a worker's status for the coming 7 days. Each day will show one of two indicators:

    • Available: The default status when no leave or unavailability is recorded.
    • Unavailability: Recorded by the worker via their app or by an Admin.

    Recording Unavailability on Behalf of a Worker

    If you need to mark a worker as busy manually:

    1. Navigate to the Add Leave module within the Leaves section. 
    2. Search for and select the specific Worker. 
    3. Choose Unavailability from the Unavailability Type dropdown menu.
    4. Add any relevant notes or supporting documentation if required.
    5. Select the required Date for the unavailability.
    6. Toggle Full Day Unavailable to ON to block out the entire day.
    7. Alternatively, keep the toggle OFF to specify a custom time range.
    8. Click Add Unavailability to save the record.

    Editing and Traceability

    Admins can create, edit, or remove unavailability entries for any worker. To maintain data integrity, every record captures:

    • The creator (Worker or Admin user).
    • Created and last-updated timestamps.
    • The user who last updated the record.

     

    How the System Protects Your Rota

    To ensure your scheduling remains compliant and clean, the system follows these strict validation rules:

    • Leave Always Wins: If a worker has an approved "Leave" entry, it will always override any "Unavailability" records.
    • Automatic Exclusion: Any worker marked as unavailable is automatically removed from "Eligible Worker" lists for shifts that overlap with their busy period.
    • Conflict Prevention: If you attempt to mark a worker as unavailable during a shift they have already confirmed, the system will issue a warning.
    • No Balance Impact: Unlike formal leave, recording unavailability does not deduct from a worker’s holiday or leave balance. It is strictly an operational flag for rota planning.
    • Visual Warnings: Rota views will display the worker as 'Unavailable' for the impacted period.

    Note: This feature is designed for short-term, near-term scheduling. Recurring availability patterns and external calendar sync (such as Google or Apple Calendar) are currently out of scope for this version.

    Key Concepts: Availability vs. Leave

    It is important to distinguish between Unavailability and Leave within the system:

    • Unavailability: A non-balance operational flag. It indicates a worker cannot work but does not deduct from their holiday or leave balance.
    • Leave: A balance-affecting absence managed via the Leave module. Leave always overrides unavailability.

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