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Overview

By using Shift Trading your employees who cannot work an assigned shift, or prefer not to, can arrange a trade of that specific shift with another eligible employee working in the same unit. The unit supervisor does not need to be involved until both parties have agreed to make the trade, but must give final approval.

 

Configuration

Shift Trading is an Add-On, and must be activated to be used with Employee Scheduling.

General Settings

You can configure Shift Trade settings globally on the Schedule Setup card, or set them up unit by unit.

Shift trading depends on sending and receiving email notifications. Email services must be configured in the database and participating employees must have valid email addresses on their Employee cards.
Note:  the email address where the notification will go to is the one configured on the HR Employee Card in the E-Mail  field.

To enable shift trading on a company basis, configure the following settings in the Web Apps Settings fast tab of the Schedule Setup card.
Note: These settings are defaults for new units. They do not change or override settings on existing units, which will have Shift Trading off by default.

  1. Select the Allow Shift Trades check box to automatically enable shift trading within new units when they are created.
  2. Set the maximum number of days in the future that shift trades can be made by setting the Open Trading Period (Days) field.
    Note: Sparkrock recommends limiting shift trades to a maximum of approximately two pay cycles.
  3. To set or change these values for an individual unit, change the like-named settings on the Schedule Unit card.

Employee Settings

Individual employees can be prevented from initiating shift trade requests, if required. For example, a unit may contain a mix of regular and casual employees, and you may wish to prevent the casual employees from trading. This setting is on the Schedule Unit Employee card.

  1. Select the Prevent Trade Requests check box in the Controls fast tab of the Schedule Unit Employee card to block an employee from participating in shift trades within the unit.
    Note: By default, all employees in a unit can initiate shift trade requests when their unit allows shift trades.

General Restrictions and Limitations

  • It is not possible to trade with an unassigned (Vacant or Do Not Fill) shift.
  • It is not possible to offer to trade a specific shift with more than one employee, or to offer your shift generally for bidding. However, Unit Supervisors can create vacant shifts for bidding, or offer them to multiple employees.
  • It is not possible to trade shifts outside of the unit. Both shifts in a trade transaction must be in the same unit. 
  • It is not possible to trade shifts that occur today or that took place in the past.The maximum future date for a trade request is set by the Open Trading Period (Days) field as described above.
  • Only published shifts can be traded. Open shifts and shifts which have already been Confirmed, Approved, Transferred to Payroll, or Posted cannot be traded. 
  • Shifts with a pending action, such as another trade request or a change request, cannot be traded.

Initiating a Shift Trade

  1. Access the My Schedule page.
  2. From the Shift List, locate the shift that you want to trade. If the shift is eligible to be traded, then a Trade Shift icon appears in the Action column. 
    Note: The same action is available as a button on the Shift Detail page, in case (for example) you navigate directly to this shift from the Calendar page. 
  3. Click Trade Shift. The Shift Selection list page opens and lists the shifts which are eligible as trade targets.
    Note: Trading actions are not available from the Unit Schedule page, except for approval functions specific to Unit Supervisors. Unit Supervisors can initiate a trade request for their own shifts from the My Schedule page, if desired.
  4. Choose a trade target. If the unit is not configured to display employee names, only the position descriptions will display in the shift list. In addition to the general restrictions and limitations described above, the criteria for inclusion in the list are: 
    • You can't trade with yourself, so other shifts assigned to you are not shown.
    • Shifts that occur where you have an overlapping shift, scheduled training, or an approved absence are not shown.
    • Shifts from employees who cannot pick up the shift you wish to offer (for any of the same reasons as above) are not shown.
    • Shifts for non-trained employees are not shown.
  5. Click Compare to view details for the shifts being considered for a trade request. A new page opens which compares key elements of the offered and potential target shifts: employee names, shift dates, start and end times, duration, and position. Further details can be obtained through the drill-down links provided, which opens the corresponding Shift Detail page on a new tab. This drill-down page is read-only.
    Note: If the unit is not configured to display employee names, only your own name displays.
    If either shift is not a regular work date (that is, if the HR Base Calendar for the unit includes that day) this is indicated on the Compare page. If the shift start/end time, duration, or position do not match, they are highlighted to draw attention to the difference(s). 
  6. Do one of the following:
    • Click Go Back To List to return to the target list and choose a different target if desired.
    • Click Send Request to propose the trade. The Send Request dialog box appears.
  7. Enter an optional message (up to 250 characters) that is sent as an email to the other employee, along with the details of the proposed trade, and then click Send. 
    Clicking Send returns you to the My Schedule page. A pop-up message indicates if the trade request was successfully sent or, if an error occurred (for example, being unable to complete the request or unable to send the email message). 

Once a trade is proposed, a shift transaction record is created in the database. The transaction is assigned a unique transaction number, and tracks the unique shift entry numbers of both shifts, as well as the time of the request, and a transaction state. This record tracks the trade until it is completed (canceled, declined, or approved or denied by a Unit Supervisor). The Schedule Administrator can review all active trades from their Role Center.

Reviewing Active Trades

  1. To view all trades in which you are involved, access your My Schedule page. Trades that you propose, and trades which have been proposed to you, display with a Proposed badge. Trades that have been accepted but not yet approved by a Unit Supervisor, display with an Accepted badge. These trades are visible on the My Shifts filter tab, as well as on the Pending filter tab.
    If you initiated the trade, the Cancel Trade Action icon displays. Clicking the icon withdraws the trade proposal and sends an email message informing the other employee of this action.
    You will not see the other shift that is involved in the trade on your My Schedule page until it is approved by a Unit Supervisor. 
  2. To review the trade, click the row to revisit the Compare page and check the details of both shifts.
    If you initiated the trade, the Compare page has two possible actions: Cancel Trade or Remind. Performing either action returns you to the My Schedule page.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Click Remind to send a reminder email (maximum 250 characters) along with the trade details to the other employee involved in the trade. The Remind button is disabled if the shift can no longer be traded (for example, because the shift is for the current day or in the past). In this case you should cancel the trade, unless it has been agreed to outside of the Sparkrock solution. Unit Supervisors can complete these trades.
    • Click Cancel Trade to undo the trade request.
      Note:  the email address where the notification will go to is the one configured on the HR Employee Card in the E-Mail  field.

Accepting or Declining Proposed Trades

  1. If a trade has been proposed to you, but you have not yet accepted it, you will be taken to the Compare page.
  2. You have two options: Decline or Accept.
  3. Choosing either action returns you to the My Schedule page.

Accepting Trades

  1. When you Accept a trade, an email message notifies the trade originator, informing them that the proposed trade has been accepted. 
    Note:  the email address where the notification will go to is the one configured on the HR Employee Card in the E-Mail  field.
  2. Unit Supervisors who have the Receive Trade Notices check box selected on their Schedule Unit Employee card also receive an email notification when a trade has been accepted.
  3. Accept is disabled if the shift can no longer be traded (for example, because it is now for the current day or in the past).
    Note: In this case you should decline the trade, unless it has been agreed to outside of the Sparkrock solution. For such cases a Unit Supervisor can complete the trade.
  4. Once the trade has been accepted, you can still access the Compare page, but you can no longer take action from this page. Only a Unit Supervisor can approve or deny an accepted trade request.
  5. A trade is not completed until it has been approved by a Unit Supervisor. Shifts do not appear in the My Schedule page until the Unit Supervisor approves the trade.
  6. Once approved, both shifts involved in the trade will now show the Accepted badge on the My Schedule page of their respective employees.

Declining Trades

  1. Declining a trade opens a dialog to allowing you to add an optional message (maximum 250 characters).
  2. The message (if any) is sent via email as a reminder to the other employee, along with the details of the proposed trade.
  3. Once a trade proposal has been declined, the transaction ends and both employees remain assigned to their original shift (no change).
  4. If desired, either employee can propose a new trade.

    Note:  the email address where the notification will go to is the one configured on the HR Employee Card in the E-Mail  field.

Unit Supervisor Actions

Unit Supervisors can see both shifts involved in the trade on the Unit Schedule page. The trade transaction number is displayed after the Proposed or Accepted badges to make it easier to match up the two halves of a pending trade. Trades are visible on the ALL and Pending filter tab.
Note: If the trade crosses a Pay Cycle boundary, both shifts will not be visible at the same time.

Non-supervisor employees do not see the Proposed or Accepted badge on the Unit Schedule page. Employees must use the My Schedule pages to propose and respond to trades. Employees cannot see the active trade transactions of another employee. 

  1. Clicking a trade row takes the unit supervisor to the Compare view. This is an augmented version of the Compare page which provides additional information to enable the supervisor to assess the impact of the trade.
  2. Regardless of whether the trade is Proposed or Accepted, the Unit Supervisor can take one of two actions: Deny or Approve.
  3. After taking either action, the Unit Schedule list page appears.

Approving Trades

  1. The Unit Supervisor clicks Approve.
    Note: Approve does NOT open a confirmation dialog. 
  2. Both employees receive an email message to make them aware that the shift trade request was approved.
  3. The transaction ends, and the employees are placed in the opposite shifts.
  4. The Unit Supervisor should check both shifts for validation warnings (for example, insufficient rest hours) since warnings do not prevent a trade from completing.

    Note:  the email address where the notification will go to is the one configured on the HR Employee Card in the E-Mail  field.

Denying Trades

  1. The Unit Supervisor clicks Deny.
  2. Deny opens a dialog to allow a message to be entered. If you wish, you may enter a message (maximum 250 characters) to send as an email to the other employee, along with the details of the proposed trade.
  3. Once a trade proposal has been denied, the transaction ends, and both employees remain assigned to their original shift (no change).
  4. If desired, either employee can propose a new trade.

Schedule Administrator (NAV user) actions 

The Schedule Administrator can see the set of pending trades for all units on the Schedule Card.

  1. Use the Pending filter to focus on trades and any change requests.
  2. Scroll to the right to view the Trade Request Entry No. (transaction number) and Trade Request Status (either Proposed or Accepted).
  3. From the Actions tab on the ribbon a Schedule Administrator can either Approve Trade Request and Deny Trade Request. These correspond to the Unit Supervisor actions in Employee Center, as described above.
  4. The Schedule Administrator can also see the trade details on the Shift card.
  5. Two new actions are available from the Actions tab on the ribbon: Approve Trade Request and Deny Trade Request. These correspond to the Unit Supervisor actions in Employee Center, as described above.
  6. From the NAV Schedule Unit card, Schedule Administrators can configure how many days in the future a shift trade can be registered using the Open Trade Period (Days) setting.
  7. The Training & Scheduling Role Center adds a tile for pending trade requests. You can approve or deny requests from the view that opens when you click this tile.
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