About us & the website
Findmyshift is web site for creating, managing and sharing staff rotas online with your employees. It has been designed to be as simple, straightforward and user-friendly as possible.
The staff rotas created using Findmyshift are stored online with password protection and can be accessed by both you and your staff at any time, day or night, from anywhere with an internet connection. Changes you make to your staff rota are automatically tracked and the updates are sent to your staff by e-mail or text message. Your staff can access Findmyshift with their own log in details and as well as checking their up-coming shifts, they can use the scheduling system to request additional shifts, notify you of their need to change a shift or even apply for time off.
Purpose built and designed for the quick, easy and effective management of staff rotas, Findmyshift began in 2004 and is being used by a range of companies and businesses. Findmyshift is fast becoming the simplest, most flexible and most affordable online scheduling system available.
A rota is defined as a collection of staff members managed by one or more managers. Rotas combine shifts, time off requests, notices and contact details for all staff listed on the rota. The staff members listed on the rota can be in different departments, however, they will all be managed by the same manager(s). If you have two managers managing two separate teams, you will need to use two separate rotas. Rotas are continuous and can be reused week after week for as long as you choose to top-up your access.
Companies of all sizes, all professions and from all over the world use Findmyshift's online staff rotas software for managing their staff.
Restaurants, shops, hospitals, bars and cafes, schools, department stores, cinemas, transport depots, dentists, corporate security services, call centres and cleaners are some examples of organisations currently benefitting from Findmyshift’s flexible, affordable and easy to use online staff scheduling system.
Yes. We actually offer some customisations free to users who subscribe for 12 months or more. These include the use of your own logo, colour schemes and a unique web address. It is also possible for us to extend the site functionality (e.g. creating additional reports) for your own specific needs so
send us an email with your ideas.
Pricing and payments
Managing your staff rota on Findmyshift costs £15 per month (49p per day). There are no hidden charges and there is no minimum contract. Findmyshift is a pay as you go service, which gives users the freedom to cancel at any time.
Each rota you create comes with unlimited numbers of staff, unlimited e-mail notifications and the ability to manage staff holiday and staff shift requests. Findmyshift also generates real time reports and compiles data for budget tracking at no extra cost. All reports can be exported for other purposes such as payroll or for staff reviews.
We offer discounts for non-profit organisations and for companies managing multiple rotas so please
contact us for further information if you think this applies to you.
All our prices are in British Pounds and include any applicable taxes.
Want to know more? Visit our
pricing page for more information.
Yes we can. We already sponsor a number of different charitable and volunteer organisations and offer site discounts, so do
get in touch for more information.
No, never. We do not store credit card details and we will never charge you for anything you don’t want. When your access is close to expiring a message will be displayed on your rota to remind you to top-up.
If you're getting close to the end of your subscription and would like to extend, click on the "Top-ups" link in the menu on your rota. Here you can choose your extension and make a payment with any debit card, credit card or PayPal account.
If you've have a trial rota and you would like to extend your access, click on the "Top-ups" link in the menu on your rota. Here you can choose your extension and make a payment with any debit card, credit card or PayPal account.
Making payments to extend your access can be done at any time from the "Top-ups" page of your rota. You'll find a link to the "Top-ups" page on the right hand side of the menu at the top of the page. All purchases are securely processed by PayPal, but don't worry if you don't have a PayPal account as you're able to pay with any debit/credit card - just look for the section titled "Pay with a debit or credit card". You do not need to sign up for a PayPal account if you don't want to.
Although our payments are processed by PayPal you're not required to have a PayPal account as PayPal will allow you to pay with any debit/credit card, without becoming a PayPal member. To make a payment without a PayPal account just look for the section titled "Pay with a debit or credit card" on the PayPal login page. You do not need to sign up for a PayPal account if you don't want to.
If you're credit/debit card is being rejected by PayPal with the message "The card you entered cannot be used for this payment. Please enter a different credit or debit card number." it could be due to one of the following reasons:
1. Your card is associated with a specific PayPal account, and you're not logging in with that particular account.
2. Your card was associated with a PayPal account that has been closed.
3. You've exceeded your card limit with the PayPal system.
4. Your email address is raising a red flag in PayPal's system.
5. You have problems with your cookies. It's recommended you clear your cookies and try again.
6. You've linked the card to an account, but have not yet confirmed it.
Each time your text messages are sent we automatically add your staff member's log in details are added to the end so that they can log in to check their rota and shifts. Because of this, and because the amount of characters in their log in details vary, it's not possible to say how many characters are added but it is possible this takes the message length to over 160 characters. However, before the message is sent, you will be informed of how many message credits will be deducted and you are prompted to confirm this. At this point you are able to cancel and shorten your message if wish to.
The credits you buy are for text messages. Each credit you purchase is for one text message which is 160 characters in length. You have unlimited e-mail notifications included in the subscription price you've already paid.
If you've misplaced the email containing your tax invoice you can re-download it at any time from the "Top-ups" area of your rota. At the bottom you'll find a list of your past transactions along with links to download copies of the PDF tax invoices.
No, unfortunately we do not provide phone support to any customers at this stage, however we do provide email support 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
get in touch via email.
Backups and data security
Findmyshift's staff rotas operate from a number of servers located in a highly secured data centre, protected by a perimeter alarm, monitored key card access, 360° recorded passive/active CCTV as well as an electronic multi-gated entry point.
All passwords in the system are encrypted by default, and every 24 hours all customer data is backed up, encrypted and distributed to two secure off-site locations.
If you're on a shared computer or just prefer to access Findmyshift via a secured HTTPS connection, please
visit our secure site.
Yes, Findmyshift is registered with the ICO as a Data Controller, and is fully compliant with the Data Protection Act of 1998.
For more information, please visit the
ICO website, or, you can view our registration details by
searching the ICO for our registration number (Z3140758).
Yes, you’re able to make offline copies of your staff rotas to use with Microsoft Excel or as a read only HTML document.
Findmyshift backs up all staff rotas daily to two secure offsite locations to ensure your data is safe and secure.
Yes, if you accidentally lose or delete some data, you're able to roll-back your rota to a particular point in time, although to do this you must be logged in as an administrator of your rota. Once logged in visit the "Backups" page under the "Settings" menu. From here you can restore a backup of your rota, including staff data, facilities, settings, shifts, shift requests, time off requests, outbox messages, notice board messages, budgets and pay rates.
If you're a paying customer you can rest assured we'll never delete your data, even after your rota expires. If you've tried the site but never paid for access then your data will be cleared three months after the date that your trial rota expires.
We do and there's two options for accessing your rota data. The first involves us pushing data to your own web-servers as the data changes. The second involves you downloading the data periodically directly from our servers. The data is transferred as a series of CSV files which can be bulk imported in to your own relational database. The API is only available to customers with active subscriptions of 12 months. For more information please
contact support.
Creating and editing your staff rota
When you add your staff members to your rota, welcome messages are automatically generated and queued in the outbox for each staff member. When sent these messages will include the staff log in and passwords for accessing their rota on Findmyshift.
If you have lost or deleted these messages your staff will need to use the "Forgot password" link on the login page. The "Forgot password" link will reset and email them their new password.
You can't copy and paste staff accounts however you can export and then re-import them to your other rotas.
Of course! See below for 81 rota management tips & tricks.
- You can save your changes at any time by pressing CTRL + S.
- You can undo any unsaved mistakes by pressing CTRL + Z.
- You can make changes to multiple cells at once by box-selecting them first with your mouse.
- You can move back and forward through the weeks by pressing CTRL + left/right arrows on your keyboard.
- For the best experience we recommend using an up to date browser such Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox.
- You can right click any staff member or facility on your rota to swap their shift with another.
- To split groups of shifts you can add a separator by entering a dash "-".
- You can reorder your staff and facilities by dragging them up/down the left hand column of the rota.
- You can change all references to "Facility" to anything you like via the display settings screen.
- We will never extend your subscription or charge your credit card unless you request us to.
- If you top-up for 12 months you'll get an automatic 20% discount.
- You can save your data offline, so if you make a mistake or lose something, you can easily restore it!
- For better printer and layout options we recommend you export to PDF first.
- You can export your employees to a CSV file, make changes in Excel and then re-upload them.
- Real-time reporting on the staff view will help you track staff costs and hours while you're scheduling.
- You can use the reports to budget, forecast and track hours worked by staff and their associated costs.
- You can track staff holiday, sick leave, training and other types of leave with the time off report.
- You can quickly send a text or email at any time using the "Send a message" link in the menu.
- You can enter global hourly rates and rate exceptions for all staff from your rota settings.
- You can enable staff to edit their own schedule from the "Permissions" link on their staff profile.
- Outbox messages won't be generated for staff that have opted out of receiving rota updates.
- You can reset your staff passwords at any time from their staff profile.
- You can add as many employees as you want to your rota at no extra cost.
- Rotas once set up are continuous so it's best to leave specific dates out of the rota title.
- You can stop your time off managers from approving their own time off requests from the settings screen.
- You can use your text credits to automatically send shift reminders to staff the day before their shift.
- You can change the start date of your holiday year from the settings screen.
- You can add guests to your rota, giving them read-only access to view any upcoming shifts.
- You don't have to enter staff email addresses, first names or last names. Just enter their initials!
- You can change the first day of your reporting month from the settings screen.
- You can keep your staff's contact details private from each other with options found in your privacy settings.
- You can give staff the option to request and cancel shifts online. Requests are hidden until approved.
- You can filter the reports by facility for a closer look at your where your staff hours and costs come from.
- You can group the results of the budget report by week or month for a more top level view of your costs.
- If you copy one cell and box-select a range before pasting it will paste into all the selected cells.
- You can use the arrow keys to change the selected cell. You can hold shift to select a range of cells.
- You can take a top level view of staff time off throughout the year with the time-off planner.
- The notice board is public for all staff to share information. You can share files via the "Uploads" area.
- You can change the default colour of shift times, comments, requests and more on the colours and fonts screen.
- You can change the start and finish days defining your rota working week from the settings screen.
- You can change the "reply to" email address of staff alerts to any email address in your communications settings.
- You can switch the display format for times on the rota from 12 hour to 24 hour in your display settings.
- You can add time off from the rota by selecting a range, right click menu -> "Add" -> "Time off".
- You can add a new shift or comment by double clicking in a cell.
- If you want to copy a cell check you haven't selected an item inside it first (beware of the black arrow).
- If you type your staff or facility names as a comment the system will automatically match them up for you.
- You can quickly copy a shift by holding the shift key down while you drag it with the mouse.
- You can change the currency symbol in the reports from the help section or from your profile (as a manager).
- You can change the date formats in the system from the help section or from your profile (as a manager).
- You can customise the site with your own logo and sub-domain free of charge with any 12 month purchase.
- You can quickly transfer data to and from your templates by copying and pasting.
- You can close any message box with the ENTER key, or by pressing the first letter of the text on the button.
- To quickly select a column of cells you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + D.
- To quickly select a row of cells you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + R.
- To quickly add a staff holiday you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + H.
- You can copy and paste cells (one or more) with the keyboard using CTRL + C to copy and CTRL + V to paste.
- To scroll straight to the bottom of the rota press END or CTRL + END for the bottom right corner.
- To scroll straight to the top of the rota press HOME or CTRL + HOME for the top right corner.
- To scroll left and right along the rota press SHIFT + PAGEDOWN for right or SHIFT + PAGEUP for left.
- If you ever decide to leave just let your account expire. There's no need to delete yourself or deregister.
- By holding CTRL whilst selecting with your mouse you can create separate, split selections on the roster.
- To keep your report history accurate you can set start and end dates on staff pay rates as they change.
- Staff can request multiple shifts at once by highlighting multiple cells before right clicking to request.
- If you use multiple rotas you can update all rota contact preferences using the "Contact preferences" link.
- Administrators can add custom columns to staff and facilities, storing data specific to their business.
- Data stored in custom columns can be kept private, shared with managers, shared with staff or made public.
- Data stored in custom columns can be used to filter data across the system, including reports and the rota.
- You can filter your roster by facility, department, job title or any custom column you add to the system.
- Using formulas, you can create smart filters. Useful for filtering staff by age, or how much they're paid.
- You can set up a 2nd set of rates within Findmyshift to help track how much you should charge your clients.
- Staff can receive free push notifications for shift reminders on their Android and iOS devices.
- You can avoid duplicate rates for each day of the week by creating "Weekday" or "Weekend" rates.
- You can sort the staff and facility screens by clicking on the column headings.
- You can display departments and job titles of staff beneath their names of on the staff view.
- Administrators can choose to get notifications when their subscription or text credits are running low.
- Salaried staff can earn overtime by adding a "x1" rate multiplier beneath their overtime shifts.
- Staff that earn a day rate can earn hourly overtime by adding a rate multiplier to their overtime shift.
- When salaries, day rates or hourly rates are entered our reports can forecast labour costs in real time.
- Day rates are only ever paid when staff work a shift however salaries are paid every weekday regardless.
- Rate exceptions apply to day rates in the same way they do to hourly rates.
- You can set a shift as unpaid by adding "x0" or "Unpaid" in a comment beneath it.
Yes, there's a range of shortcut keys you and your employees can use while viewing and editing your staff rotas:
| Save your changes on the rota | CTRL + S |
| Show next date range on the rota and reports | CTRL + → |
| Show previous date range on the rota and reports | CTRL + ← |
| Undo the last unsaved change on the rota | CTRL + Z |
| Select a cell on the rota | ←, →, ↑, ↓ |
| Add or edit shift or comment on the rota | Enter |
| Delete the current selection on the rota | Delete |
| Copy the current selection on the rota | CTRL + C |
| Cut the current selection on the rota | CTRL + X |
| Paste the copied selection to the current selection on the rota | CTRL + V |
| Add a time off entry to the rota | CTRL + SHIFT + H |
| Select a column of cells (a date) on the rota | CTRL + SHIFT + D |
| Select a row of cells (staff or facility) on the rota | CTRL + SHIFT + R |
| Scroll to the bottom left corner of the rota | END |
| Scroll to the top left corner of the rota | HOME |
| Scroll to the bottom right corner of the rota | CTRL + END |
| Scroll to the top right corner of the rota | CTRL + HOME |
| Scroll to the right of the rota | Shift + PAGE DOWN |
| Scroll to the left of the rota | Shift + PAGE UP |
Sometimes you might find coloured dots appear in the cells of your rota. The yellow dots are used to show unsaved changes. Once you save the changes the dot may turn red, depending on the settings of your staff rota. If you have switched “automatic publishing” off the dot will turn red indicating that there is an unpublished item in the cell. Your staff won’t be able to see any unpublished items, so you can use this as a draft function, if required. When you choose to publish these items the red dot will disappear from the cell and your staff will then be able to view the changes you have made.
Staff can be removed from your rota by entering a finish date in their profile. Staff profiles can be accessed and edited from the "Staff" page and clicking on the employee’s name.
You can also use the delete button on the a staff member's profile (under advanced options), which automatically sets their finish date to the day of the last shift they are scheduled to work on your staff rota. After doing this, if the employee still appears on the staff rota, it’s because there are shifts, schedules or time off in the future, past their finish date, that need to be cleared first.
Once the finish date on their profile has passed they will no longer be able to log in to your rota.
To copy and paste a week of schedules you just need to follow the below quick and easy steps:
1. Select a cell on your rota by left clicking it with your mouse then extend the selection through the week by dragging your mouse over the other cells.
2. Right click on the rota and select "Copy".
3. Select the dates of the week you want to copy over.
4. Right click the rota and select "Paste".
Yes, you’re able to make offline copies of your staff rotas to use with Microsoft Excel or as a read only HTML document.
Findmyshift backs up all staff rotas daily to two secure offsite locations to ensure your data is safe and secure.
Yes, if you accidentally lose or delete some data, you're able to roll-back your rota to a particular point in time, although to do this you must be logged in as an administrator of your rota. Once logged in visit the "Backups" page under the "Settings" menu. From here you can restore a backup of your rota, including staff data, facilities, settings, shifts, shift requests, time off requests, outbox messages, notice board messages, budgets and pay rates.
If you're a paying customer you can rest assured we'll never delete your data, even after your rota expires. If you've tried the site but never paid for access then your data will be cleared three months after the date that your trial rota expires.
New user-defined columns can be added to both the "Staff" and "Facilities" screens. To add a new column:
1. Log in as an administrator.
2. Visit the staff or facilities screen.
3. Click the small plus (+) symbol on the right hand side of the column headings.
4. Type the name of your new column in the small box that appears.
5. Press enter to save.
Once you've added your new columns you can fill them with data via the staff and facility profiles.
Staff can be re-ordered on the rota by holding the left mouse button down on their name and then dragging them up and down. The new spot for your employee will be highlighted yellow as you drag. Once you’re happy with where the new position is, release the left mouse button.
Administrators have unrestricted access to view and edit staff, to view and edit pay-rates, to run reports and approve holiday requests made by staff.
Managers are not allowed to view or edit staff profiles but are able to schedule shifts for staff members on the rota.
Report managers can access all rota and report information. Read-only access prevents them from changing shifts, settings and profile information, however they are able to view all staff pay rates along with other sensitive information. This permission should not be assigned to normal staff members.
Time off managers are allowed to book and approve holidays on behalf of other staff members.
Self schedulers have the lowest permissions assignable which enable staff to add and edit their own shifts.
If you see a shift or shifts highlighted in blue on your rota this indicates entries which haven’t yet been accepted by your staff. This function can be very useful to identify staff who haven’t yet checked their schedule. The feature is optional and can be switched off from the Settings page by un-checking "Staff must accept changes" .
An item highlighted in red on your staff rota notifies you when a staff member has requested a cancellation of a shift. By hovering your mouse over that entry you’ll see additional information about the cancellation, including the date cancelled and any reason provided by your employee.
To accept the cancellation you can right click on the entry and click "Accept". In the same way, to decline the request, click "Decline".
On your staff rota when a staff member requests a shift, this entry is highlighted in orange. If you then hover the mouse over the shift entry you’ll see the date and time the request was made by your staff member.
To accept the request you can right click on the entry and click "Accept", or to decline the request, click "Decline".
Making payments to extend your access can be done at any time from the "Top-ups" page of your rota. You'll find a link to the "Top-ups" page on the right hand side of the menu at the top of the page. All purchases are securely processed by PayPal, but don't worry if you don't have a PayPal account as you're able to pay with any debit/credit card - just look for the section titled "Pay with a debit or credit card". You do not need to sign up for a PayPal account if you don't want to.
Although our payments are processed by PayPal you're not required to have a PayPal account as PayPal will allow you to pay with any debit/credit card, without becoming a PayPal member. To make a payment without a PayPal account just look for the section titled "Pay with a debit or credit card" on the PayPal login page. You do not need to sign up for a PayPal account if you don't want to.
When you first visit Findmyshift we run a quick test to check the speed and capabilities of your computer/browser. Based on those results we're able to disable certain "nice to have" visual styles, such as animations, rounded borders, shadows and anything else that may slow down your computer.
Your browser is currently recognised as
If you think our rating is wrong, you can re-run the speed test at any time. Alternatively, you can override our results by declaring your browser as faster than average, average or slower than average.
Mis-aligned columns on the rota are usually the result of zooming in or zooming out using your browsers built in zoom function. For best results we recommend you do not zoom in or out when viewing your staff rota. Alternatively, you can disable the floating columns by right clicking the rota, selecting "Preferences" and unticking "Float date heading".
A template is a way of storing shift patterns that repeat every now and then so you can re-use them. You are given 12 rota template weeks which you can apply to your rota by right clicking in the rota and selecting the templates menu.
If you’ve cancelled the demo or would just like to run through it again, you can restart it by
clicking here.
Unfortunately the latest version of Skype installs a plug-in to some browsers which interferes with web pages by inserting phone number links wherever it sees a series of numbers, including on the rota. Skype have issued a statement saying they are working on the problem, but until then it is advised that you disable the Skype plug-in if you want to remove these links from Findmyshift.
To disable the plug-in follow these quick steps: If you're using Internet Explorer, from the menu select "Tools" then "Skype Add-in for Internet Explorer". From here you can then switch off "Turn on number highlighting" and "Turn on name highlighting". If you then press OK and reload the page they should no longer be there..
To publish multiple cells at once you must first select them, either with your mouse or with the right click "Select" menu. Once you have made a selection you can then right click and select "Publish". With this method by selecting all cells on screen the system will publish the entire date range. To select all cells on screen, press CTRL + A, or right click and select "Select" -> "All".
To delete multiple cells at once you must first select them, either with your mouse or with the right click "Select" menu. Once you have made a selection you can then right click and select "Delete". With this method by selecting all cells on screen the system will delete the entire date range. To select all cells on screen, press CTRL + A, or right click and select "Select" -> "All".
As a security measure, once staff have logged in and change their password their mobile number and email address are locked and can only be edited by themselves. This is to prevent rota managers from obtaining staff passwords.
Without this restriction, a manager could alter their staff member's contact details to their own, send themselves an email or text and retrieve the staff member's password.
Each rota is billed seperately so if you'd like to add a second rota, you'll need to purchase a second subscription.
Staff can only see shifts that you've published. By default, the system is set to automatically publish shifts, however if you've switched this off you'll need to right click your rota and find the "Publish" menu and select the time period to publish.
To delete a facility you need to set its finish date, found on the facility profile. If you set this date to before the start date the facility will never appear on the rota. If you find the facility is still showing on the rota you may need to remove any shifts still assigned to it.
On the communications settings screen of your rota you'll find an option titled "Reply-to email address for messages". This allows you to override the sender address for emails sent by Findmyshift.
Once you've logged in to your account, find your staff profile and click on "Show advanced options" and then click "Contact preferences". From here you can specify your email and text message preferences.
If you've misplaced the email containing your tax invoice you can re-download it at any time from the "Top-ups" area of your rota. At the bottom you'll find a list of your past transactions along with links to download copies of the PDF tax invoices.
No, unfortunately we do not provide phone support to any customers at this stage, however we do provide email support 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
get in touch via email.
Unfortunately not. Our rotas are only designed to be displayed with the dates along the top.
Staff are bound by our terms and conditions in the same way rota managers are, for a number of reasons. Primarily, in most circumstances staff have access to privileged information about your company and it's staff. Staff are also able to upload content visible to you and other staff members which may or may not be acceptable. Our terms and conditions outline what is and what is not appropriate behaviour on the site, ensuring that all users are responsible for their actions. Our terms and conditions are in no way intended to lure your staff into a "hidden" contract with Out Crowd Ltd and we will never ask your staff to pay money to access your rota. Accepting the agreement is only accepting the rules we have outlined for Findmyshift, it is not a commitment to purchase any our services.
Swaps take place automatically when a request matches a cancellation between two staff members. For the system to swap shifts between two staff members, a rota must have the following settings enabled; "Staff can swap shifts times without approval", "Staff can request shift times & comments" and "Staff can request cancellations of shifts times & comments". Swaps are also only possible when there are no facilities or comments allocated to either of the staff members on the day. If a swap is not processed automatically a manager can still approve the shift request and cancellation manually.
Time off entries and requests can be changed, cancelled, approved or declined from the rota by double clicking on the entry. Time off entries can also be managed from the "Time off" screen.
If you have different managers in charge of different departments you will need separate rotas, otherwise you can mix them together on the same rota.
The easiest way to display your rota on a shared PC is to take your HTML feed URL (available at the bottom of the rota) and open it in a full screen browser window on your shared computer. For this to refresh automatically when changes are made you'll need to add "?refresh-interval-minutes=1" to the end of the URL. You can change the minute interval to whatever you like, including a decimal value such as 0.5 for refreshing every 30 seconds.
To transfer ownership of your rota to someone else, you'll need to log-in to your rota and navigate to the "Settings" page. At the bottom of the "Settings" page you'll find a link titled "Transfer Ownership" which will guide you through the transfer process. This link is only visible and available to the current owner of the rota.
Accessing your shift information
When you add your staff members to your rota, welcome messages are automatically generated and queued in the outbox for each staff member. When sent these messages will include the staff log in and passwords for accessing their rota on Findmyshift.
If you have lost or deleted these messages your staff will need to use the "Forgot password" link on the login page. The "Forgot password" link will reset and email them their new password.
Once added to a staff rota, you can log in to check, request and cancel shifts. As a staff member, your account details will be the rota name and the password we sent to you in your welcome email.
As an example, staff at the Bay Cafe might log in with:
Login: Bay Cafe
Password: K2A3
Please note that passwords are case sensitive.
Individual staff member's log-in details are attached to their welcome email when they are added to the rota. The welcome email sits in the Outbox until it is sent by a manager. If your staff do not get their welcome email they can use the "Forgot password" feature to send themselves a new password.
Alternatively, if a staff member has not yet logged in and changed their password, administrators can see their default password on their staff profile and are able to pass this on to them directly. If they have logged in and changed their password administrators are able to reset their password.
Yes. If you have a staff member on multiple rotas and their passwords match, they're then able to log in and view all rotas at once.
If you've forgotten your password,
click here, enter your email address and we’ll send you a new one.
Yes. By right clicking around the edge of the cell (where there is some white space) your staff member should be given the option to "Accept all". If they click this then it automatically accepts all the shifts on that day of their rota.
By right clicking over the shift you wish to accept you can choose to accept the shift individually, rather than accepting all shifts in that cell.
Staff can only see shifts that you've published. By default, the system is set to automatically publish shifts, however if you've switched this off you'll need to right click your rota and find the "Publish" menu and select the time period to publish.
They can up until their finish date has passed. Once their finish date has passed they'll no longer have access to the staff rota.
To give your payroll department read-only reports access to Findmyshift you first need to give them a staff account. Once you've created their staff account you can take them off the rota by unselecting "Display on rota". Then click on "Permissions" and select "Reporting". This will give this account read-only access to the rota and the reports.
Yes, you can view your shifts on your iPhone, Mac or Android device by by clicking the iCal button at the bottom of your rota.
Yes, you can view your shifts on your Android device by clicking the iCal button at the bottom of your rota. The easiest method for Android devices is by adding your Findmyshift feed in to your Google Calendar.
Yes, you can view your shifts in any calendar application that supports iCal. This can be done by clicking the iCal button at the bottom of your rota.
Feeds such as iCalendar (iCal) are a standardised format for exchanging calendar data. Findmyshift's iCal feeds enable external calendar applications (like Google Calendar) to display information published by Findmyshift. Subscribing to feeds can be done from the "Feeds" link at the bottom of your rota.
If you're having trouble logging in then please ensure that both JavaScript and Cookies are enabled on your device. Aside from these two requirements, some older devices/browsers will still not be able compatible with Findmyshift due to complexity of the JavaScript that runs on the site.
Accounts and passwords
If you've created a trial account and decide not to continue, your account and data will be automatically deleted after 60 days. There's no need to delete yourself or deregister.
When you add your staff members to your rota, welcome messages are automatically generated and queued in the outbox for each staff member. When sent these messages will include the staff log in and passwords for accessing their rota on Findmyshift.
If you have lost or deleted these messages your staff will need to use the "Forgot password" link on the login page. The "Forgot password" link will reset and email them their new password.
You can change your password at any time from your staff profile. You can access your staff profile by clicking on your name in the left hand column of the rota, or by clicking on your name from the staff listing screen. If you forget your password you can have another one sent to your registered email address by using the "Forgot password" function on the log-in screen.
You can't copy and paste staff accounts however you can export and then re-import them to your other rotas.
Individual staff member's log-in details are attached to their welcome email when they are added to the rota. The welcome email sits in the Outbox until it is sent by a manager. If your staff do not get their welcome email they can use the "Forgot password" feature to send themselves a new password.
Alternatively, if a staff member has not yet logged in and changed their password, administrators can see their default password on their staff profile and are able to pass this on to them directly. If they have logged in and changed their password administrators are able to reset their password.
Yes. If you have a staff member on multiple rotas and their passwords match, they're then able to log in and view all rotas at once.
Staff can be removed from your rota by entering a finish date in their profile. Staff profiles can be accessed and edited from the "Staff" page and clicking on the employee’s name.
You can also use the delete button on the a staff member's profile (under advanced options), which automatically sets their finish date to the day of the last shift they are scheduled to work on your staff rota. After doing this, if the employee still appears on the staff rota, it’s because there are shifts, schedules or time off in the future, past their finish date, that need to be cleared first.
Once the finish date on their profile has passed they will no longer be able to log in to your rota.
Administrators have unrestricted access to view and edit staff, to view and edit pay-rates, to run reports and approve holiday requests made by staff.
Managers are not allowed to view or edit staff profiles but are able to schedule shifts for staff members on the rota.
Report managers can access all rota and report information. Read-only access prevents them from changing shifts, settings and profile information, however they are able to view all staff pay rates along with other sensitive information. This permission should not be assigned to normal staff members.
Time off managers are allowed to book and approve holidays on behalf of other staff members.
Self schedulers have the lowest permissions assignable which enable staff to add and edit their own shifts.
If you've forgotten your password,
click here, enter your email address and we’ll send you a new one.
As a security measure, once staff have logged in and change their password their mobile number and email address are locked and can only be edited by themselves. This is to prevent rota managers from obtaining staff passwords.
Without this restriction, a manager could alter their staff member's contact details to their own, send themselves an email or text and retrieve the staff member's password.
They can up until their finish date has passed. Once their finish date has passed they'll no longer have access to the staff rota.
To transfer ownership of your rota to someone else, you'll need to log-in to your rota and navigate to the "Settings" page. At the bottom of the "Settings" page you'll find a link titled "Transfer Ownership" which will guide you through the transfer process. This link is only visible and available to the current owner of the rota.
Text and email alerts
One text message is 160 characters in length so if the message you're sending is longer than 160 characters, we need to split it up and charge you for each single message sent, though they appear to your staff as just one message. Each 160 characters sent requires 1 message credit.
Each time your text messages are sent we automatically add your staff member's log in details are added to the end so that they can log in to check their rota and shifts. Because of this, and because the amount of characters in their log in details vary, it's not possible to say how many characters are added but it is possible this takes the message length to over 160 characters. However, before the message is sent, you will be informed of how many message credits will be deducted and you are prompted to confirm this. At this point you are able to cancel and shorten your message if wish to.
The credits you buy are for text messages. Each credit you purchase is for one text message which is 160 characters in length. You have unlimited e-mail notifications included in the subscription price you've already paid.
Once you've logged in to your account, find your staff profile and click on "Show advanced options" and then click "Contact preferences". From here you can view and change your all email and text message notification preferences.
Our SMS gateway covers 819 networks in 220 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the USA. If you have trouble sending or recieving text messages please check the phone number is entered with the full international area code.
On the communications settings screen of your rota you'll find an option titled "Reply-to email address for messages". This allows you to override the sender address for emails sent by Findmyshift.
Once you've logged in to your account, find your staff profile and click on "Show advanced options" and then click "Contact preferences". From here you can specify your email and text message preferences.
Reports, budgets and forecasts
If you're tracking staff costs or generating payroll reports you may find the need to deduct unpaid breaks from staff shifts. Rather than splitting the shift into two parts, you an simply add an unpaid break beneath the shift. An unpaid break is just a comment in the format "1 hour break" or "30 minutes break". It can be any amount of time you like, eg. "1.5 hours break" or "90 minutes break".
Unpaid breaks can also be used in combination with overtime rates. So if you've already added an overtime rate beneath your shift, you're free to place the unpaid break above or below the overtime rate.
Sometimes certain days, duties or shifts can attract different pay rates. All these pay rate exceptions can now be calculated automatically by Findmyshift once entered in to the system. These entries are called rate exceptions and can be added individually to specific staff members or added to all staff (globally). Global rate exceptions become particularly useful when it's required to pay all staff double time on Sundays, or time and a half on after 7pm. Specific staff entries can be configured in the same way, but only apply to the one staff member.
Both types of rates exceptions are added in a similar fashion however the global rate exceptions are from beneath the rota settings, whilst the staff specific rate exceptions are added on a staff's profile.
Once you've clicked on "Exception" from either screen, you can then begin by clicking on "Add a new exception". You will then be prompted to enter in details about this exception, including a description, the rate amount, when and where it should apply. When it comes to entering in the new rate this can be done in a number of ways. You can use a multiplier for situations like double time, or you can enter a fixed monetary value, for example to double your staff's standard rate, you would enter "x2" as the rate. To enter a fixed rate of £12.90, simply enter 12.90. Once you've entered your exceptions click save to continue.
Occasionally you may need to pay your staff "time and a half" or double pay on specific occasions and now it's easier than ever. To multiply the rate of a shift, click on a cell and begin typing "x" followed by the number multiplier (e.g. "x1.5" or "x2") and the rota will apply this to the hourly rate for that specific shift. It's important to put the multiplier beneath the shift time to instruct the system which shift to apply the overtime rate to. For example, to pay your staff double-time you would enter the comment "x2" beneath that shift.
Overtime rates can also be used in combination with unpaid breaks, so if there's already an unpaid break beneath your overtime shift, you're free to place the overtime multiplier above or below the unpaid break.
Day rates allow you to pay your staff a fixed amount for any shifts they work starting on any one day. Day rates can be configured to only be paid after a certain amount of hours are worked. Day rates will override any hourly rates paid and will appear in the reports as "Day rate" and can be used in conjunction with rate exceptions, as hourly rates can be.
Salaries can be entered on each staff member's profile, under the advanced options. When a salary is entered the reports will automatically calculate the amount payable for the staff member for each working day of the week, regardless of whether they have shifts on the rota.
By entering staff salaries you will benefit from a more complete picture of your labour costs. You will also find the budget and forecasting tools built into the reports more relevant.
Yes, you can pay staff by the hour even if they have day rates set. To pay staff by the hour you need to enter a
pay rate multiplier beneath the shift you want to pay by the hour.
Yes, when setting up your day rates you can set the minimum hours required for the day rate to be payable. If this minimum hours is not met then your staff will be paid their hourly rate instead of a day rate. Alternatively, for one of occassions where you won't pay a shift you can enter a "x0"
pay rate multiplier below the unpaid shift.
Yes, you can enter both salaries and day rates for staff. Day rates will only be used on weekends or if you apply a
rate multiplier to the shift.
Yes, if you have entered an hourly rate for the staff member you can pay staff overtime by entering a
pay rate multiplier beneath the shift hours that you want to pay in addition to their salary. If you only want to pay their normal hourly (in addition to their salary) rate then your pay rate multiplier with be "x1".
Salaries can be calculated in one of two ways, depending on whether "Paid monthly" is selected.
When "Paid monthly" is selected it is assumed that staff will be paid the same amount each month (regardless of the amount of days) and that salaries should only be associated with working days (weekdays) of the month. Based on this we take the yearly salary and divide it by 12 to get the fixed monthly salary. Then for each month of the year we establish a day rate by dividing the fixed monthly salary by the amount of working days (weekdays) in that particular month. This method of calculation means that the day rate will change month to month, but will always add up to their yearly salary over 12 months.
When "Paid monthly" is not selected it is assumed that staff will be paid the same amount each working day of the year (weekdays). Based on this we take the yearly salary and divide it by the amount of working days (weekdays) in the year to get the day rate. This method of calculation means that the monthly total will change month to month, but will always add up to their yearly salary over 12 months.
If your staff are normally paid by the day but have worked some extra payable hours, you can pay both a day rate and an hourly rate on the same day by using a
pay rate multiplier on the extra hours.
Hourly rates, day rates and salaries are only ever visible to administrators and report viewers. Managers and staff members will never see these rates but can see
pay rate multipliers that are entered on the rota.
Yes, rate exceptions will affect day rates in the same way they affect hourly rates. Time-off pay rate multipliers will also affect day rates.
Sick days can be tracked easily by adding them as time off with a type of "Sick leave". When sick leave is added this way, the time off report can tally the amount of sick days taken per staff member. Each employee's sick day allowances can be set on their staff profile.
If your staff's holiday allowances reset at different times of the year you will need to run the time off report multiple times, once for each staff member.
When calculating holiday, Findmyshift does not automatically reset the allowances on any specific date of the year. Instead, each time you run a report your staff allowances begin at zero, and for each day of the report the allowance will increase. As an example, if you run a report for a six month period and your staff have a 20 day allowance over the year, the report will show an allowance of 10 days, regardless of the date range.
Please note that the holiday start date option on the settings screen does not impact the time off report in any way, other than acting as a short-cut by selecting the default date range when you first open the report. Staff allowances are not reset on this date.
If you need your staff allowances to roll-over from one year to the next, you would need to start the time off report when their first holiday allowance began. If your report spans multiple years the holiday allowances will accumulate as there is no automatic allowance reset.
You can, however because time off entries are stored as a date range and don't store the start/finish time, you can't specify that it's a morning or afternoon. You can however add "Morning off" or "Afternoon off" in the notes of the time off entry so it is shown on the rota.
You can also set the allowance deduction to 0.5 days if you're tracking time off in the reports.
If you want to be able to schedule people on the same day as one of their half days off, you'll need to make sure that under the settings of your rota you have "Allow staff shifts to overlap their time off", otherwise the system won't let you save your changes.
Open "My Computer" and select "Folder Options" under the "View" menu. Select the "File Types" tab and find the icon that says Microsoft Excel Worksheet in the Registered File types. Check the box in the new window that says "Confirm open after download". Click OK.
Depending on your time zone you may have shifts that overlap the start of daylight savings time. If a shift overlaps the start of daylight savings time you may notice an hour is missing from the total hours.
Printing and exporting
Internet Explorer by default only prints black and white and will need to be configured to enable colour printing. You can do this by following the below steps:
To enable colour printing, open the "Tools" menu, click "Internet Options" and select the "Advanced" tab. Under "Printing", find and switch on "Print background colors and images".
Alternatively, using Microsoft Excel provides another excellent printing option as it allows you additional options such as "Fit to page", which will prevent your staff rotas from being split over multiple pages when printing.
Open "My Computer" and select "Folder Options" under the "View" menu. Select the "File Types" tab and find the icon that says Microsoft Excel Worksheet in the Registered File types. Check the box in the new window that says "Confirm open after download". Click OK.
Time off management
Sick days can be tracked easily by adding them as time off with a type of "Sick leave". When sick leave is added this way, the time off report can tally the amount of sick days taken per staff member. Each employee's sick day allowances can be set on their staff profile.
If your staff's holiday allowances reset at different times of the year you will need to run the time off report multiple times, once for each staff member.
When calculating holiday, Findmyshift does not automatically reset the allowances on any specific date of the year. Instead, each time you run a report your staff allowances begin at zero, and for each day of the report the allowance will increase. As an example, if you run a report for a six month period and your staff have a 20 day allowance over the year, the report will show an allowance of 10 days, regardless of the date range.
Please note that the holiday start date option on the settings screen does not impact the time off report in any way, other than acting as a short-cut by selecting the default date range when you first open the report. Staff allowances are not reset on this date.
If you need your staff allowances to roll-over from one year to the next, you would need to start the time off report when their first holiday allowance began. If your report spans multiple years the holiday allowances will accumulate as there is no automatic allowance reset.
You can, however because time off entries are stored as a date range and don't store the start/finish time, you can't specify that it's a morning or afternoon. You can however add "Morning off" or "Afternoon off" in the notes of the time off entry so it is shown on the rota.
You can also set the allowance deduction to 0.5 days if you're tracking time off in the reports.
If you want to be able to schedule people on the same day as one of their half days off, you'll need to make sure that under the settings of your rota you have "Allow staff shifts to overlap their time off", otherwise the system won't let you save your changes.
Once you've logged in to your account, find your staff profile and click on "Show advanced options" and then click "Contact preferences". From here you can specify your email and text message preferences.
Can't find the answer you're looking for? Get in touch with the support team.