Shift swaps

A swap is a three-step handshake: propose → colleague accepts → manager approves. Nothing changes on the rota until all three have happened. Shift swaps are enabled per organisation as part of the shift-swap module.

1. Propose (staff)

On your Rota page, the Propose a swap form lets you pick one of your own upcoming shifts and the colleague’s shift you want in exchange. (On the web this takes the colleague’s user ID and shift ID — the mobile app has the richer picker.) Rotaleave sanity-checks the proposal immediately and refuses anything that would double-book someone or clash with approved leave.

You can Withdraw a proposal at any point before the manager decides.

2. Accept or decline (colleague)

The colleague sees the incoming request in their My swaps section, written out in full: “Alex wants to swap Early shift (Mon 14 Jul, 06:00–14:00) for your Late shift (Wed 16 Jul, 14:00–22:00).” They hit Accept — “Swap accepted — awaiting manager approval.” — or Decline, and that’s the end of their part.

3. Approve (manager)

Accepted swaps appear on the Approvals page as a card showing both people and both shifts. If the swap would leave a skill gap, advisory ⚠ warnings appear — they inform, they don’t block. Approve performs the swap on the rota immediately; Decline (optional reason) sends it back.

Both colleagues can follow the state the whole way: pending colleague → pending manager → approved or declined.