An open shift is a scheduled slot with no one assigned to it. Maybe someone called out. Maybe you picked up an extra event. Either way, you need it covered — and the clock is ticking.
The default approach is a group chat blast: "Anyone available Saturday 5–10?" Then you wait. Responses trickle in out of order. Two people say yes. You pick one and forget to tell the other. The other shows up anyway.
There's a better way.
Post open shifts, don't blast them
Instead of firing a message to everyone, post the open shift to your scheduling system and let employees claim it. The first qualified person who picks it up gets it — manager approves, done.
This matters for a few reasons:
- No back-and-forth DMs
- A clear paper trail of who picked up what
- Employees who want more hours can grab them without waiting to be asked
Set rules before the chaos hits
Open shift free-for-alls reward whoever's fastest at responding, not necessarily whoever you want. Set rules in advance:
- Seniority first — senior employees get first right of refusal before it opens to everyone
- Role-matched — only bartenders can pick up bartender shifts, not servers
- Hours cap — employees can't pick up a shift that would push them into overtime without approval
These rules should live in your scheduling system, not your head. When the rules are automatic, you don't have to referee every pick-up.
Keep a short list of people who want hours
Every team has a few employees who will always say yes to more hours. Keep that list current. When you need coverage fast and your open shift isn't filling, that list is your first call — not the full team.
Check in with this group monthly. People's situations change. The server who wanted 40 hours last quarter might be back in school now.
Build a minimum notice policy
Decide how little notice is acceptable for posting an open shift. If something goes uncovered with less than two hours of notice, that's a different problem — you need an on-call protocol, not an open shift process.
For standard open shifts, a 24-hour minimum notice gives people a real chance to plan. Anything shorter and you're creating stress for employees who might have wanted the shift but couldn't rearrange their day.
Track who picks up and who doesn't
Over time, patterns emerge. Some employees reliably grab extra shifts. Others never do. That's useful data when you're evaluating who to schedule more or less of going forward.
It's also useful for catching employees who game the system — taking open shifts and then calling out from their regular ones.
ShiftsLine lets you post open shifts, set pick-up rules by role and seniority, and get coverage confirmations without the group chat. Join the waitlist.