With Snap Schedule Premium Employee Scheduling Software, you can create open shifts, allow your employees to bid for the assignments they want, and then choose which bids to accept.

First, go to the Manage tab, click on “Employee Access,” and check “allow employees to bid on open shifts.” You can also choose how far ahead your employees can bid. I’ll say, “2” pay periods. Just click OK to save.

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Now, go to the Schedule tab, and click on Shift view. Choose the column for the appropriate shift, and right-click on an empty cell. Select “Create Open Shift,” and choose what position you need to fill—for instance, a supervisor. You can also click on “Positions” in the sidebar, choose a position, and drag it onto your schedule. Notice that open shifts have a dotted outline. I’m planning to have someone work this shift, but I have not yet assigned any particular employee.

Double-click for more details about your new open shift. You can require more than one employee for this shift. You can click “Adjust” and change the start time, end time, and length of the shift. And you can make it an on-call assignment.

You’ve already chosen what kind of position this shift requires. But you can check “Skill” and limit the shift to employees with a particular certification. Or, check “Reason,” and only accept bids from employees authorized for a certain type of shiftshift assignment reason. The “Potential Bids” will be updated automatically, to show you how many of your employees match your criteria. You can also add a comment if you like. And then, click OK at the bottom.

Employees can use a web browser, or our mobile app, to request the shifts they want. They’ll choose “Shift Bidding” on the main menu, for a list of available shifts. The open lock icon marks shifts that are “open” for bidding. They can choose a shift to see more details… and then, click Bid. They’ll review the details, and “Submit” their request. The hourglass icon means their request is “pending”; they’re waiting for you to approve it. If they change their mind, they can also reopen the shift, and Cancel their bid.

Once your employees have had time to submit their bids, come back to the Schedule view, and hover over your open shift, and you’ll see how many employees you originally required, how many bids you’ve approved or rejected, how many are still pending, and how many spots you still need to fill. Double-click for more details, including a list of the bids for this shift.

You can also go to the Schedule Outlook view, and click on “pending open shift bids” underneath the graph, for a list of all of the pending bids on all of your open shifts. Double-click on a bid, to reach the same details page.

The list of bids includes the name of each employee, the date and time when they placed their bid, any custom notes they entered, any Validation errors (for instance, if this shift would give the employee too many hours for the pay period) and the current status of their bid—in this case, “pending.” You can select a bid, and Approve it or Reject It. Notice the color-coded icons: orange for pending, green for approved, red for rejected. And you can also highlight a bid, and Edit or Delete it.

To record a bid manually—for instance, if an employee spoke to you in person—just click “Add.” Then, open the dropdown, and choose the appropriate employee. Or click Select, and pick the employee from the grid. You can even assign the shift to a New employee. When you’re done, just click OK.

Once you approve an employee’s bid, that employee appears on your schedule as a regular, color-coded shift assignment. And once you’ve approved bids for as many employees as you required, the open shift is Closed.

Employees can go back to the “Shift Bidding” page on the website or mobile app, and see whether their bids have been approved or rejected. If they’re approved, the new shift also appears on their calendar.

Finally, you can go to the Manage tab, click on “Reports,” and then click on “Shift Assignments,” to generate reports on your open shifts. Choose “Open Shift Details” for a complete report on each open shift, including every employee who bid on it. You can also generate a summary of all of your open shifts.

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