Frequently asked questions

Of course! See below for 81 rota management tips & tricks.

1. You can save your changes at any time by pressing CTRL + S.
2. You can undo any unsaved mistakes by pressing CTRL + Z.
3. You can make changes to multiple cells at once by box-selecting them first with your mouse.
4. You can move back and forward through the weeks by pressing CTRL + left/right arrows on your keyboard.
5. For the best experience we recommend using an up to date browser such Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox.
6. You can right click any staff member or facility on your rota to swap their shift with another.
7. To split groups of shifts you can add a separator by entering a dash "-".
8. You can reorder your staff and facilities by dragging them up/down the left hand column of the rota.
9. You can change all references to "Facility" to anything you like via the display settings screen.
10. We will never extend your subscription or charge your credit card unless you request us to.
11. If you top-up for 12 months you'll get an automatic 20% discount.
12. You can save your data offline, so if you make a mistake or lose something, you can easily restore it!
13. For better printer and layout options we recommend you export to PDF first.
14. You can export your employees to a CSV file, make changes in Excel and then re-upload them.
15. Real-time reporting on the staff view will help you track staff costs and hours while you're scheduling.
16. You can use the reports to budget, forecast and track hours worked by staff and their associated costs.
17. You can track staff holiday, sick leave, training and other types of leave with the time off report.
18. You can quickly send a text or email at any time using the "Send a message" link in the menu.
19. You can enter global hourly rates and rate exceptions for all staff from your rota settings.
20. You can enable staff to edit their own schedule from the "Permissions" link on their staff profile.
21. Outbox messages won't be generated for staff that have opted out of receiving rota updates.
22. You can reset your staff passwords at any time from their staff profile.
23. You can add as many employees as you want to your rota at no extra cost.
24. Rotas once set up are continuous so it's best to leave specific dates out of the rota title.
25. You can stop your time off managers from approving their own time off requests from the settings screen.
26. You can use your text credits to automatically send shift reminders to staff the day before their shift.
27. You can change the start date of your holiday year from the settings screen.
28. You can add guests to your rota, giving them read-only access to view any upcoming shifts.
29. You don't have to enter staff email addresses, first names or last names. Just enter their initials!
30. You can change the first day of your reporting month from the settings screen.
31. You can keep your staff's contact details private from each other with options found in your privacy settings.
32. You can give staff the option to request and cancel shifts online. Requests are hidden until approved.
33. You can filter the reports by facility for a closer look at your where your staff hours and costs come from.
34. You can group the results of the budget report by week or month for a more top level view of your costs.
35. If you copy one cell and box-select a range before pasting it will paste into all the selected cells.
36. You can use the arrow keys to change the selected cell. You can hold shift to select a range of cells.
37. You can take a top level view of staff time off throughout the year with the time-off planner.
38. The notice board is public for all staff to share information. You can share files via the "Uploads" area.
39. You can change the default colour of shift times, comments, requests and more on the colours and fonts screen.
40. You can change the start and finish days defining your rota working week from the settings screen.
41. You can change the "reply to" email address of staff alerts to any email address in your communications settings.
42. You can switch the display format for times on the rota from 12 hour to 24 hour in your display settings.
43. You can add time off from the rota by selecting a range, right click menu -> "Add" -> "Time off".
44. You can add a new shift or comment by double clicking in a cell.
45. If you want to copy a cell check you haven't selected an item inside it first (beware of the black arrow).
46. If you type your staff or facility names as a comment the system will automatically match them up for you.
47. You can quickly copy a shift by holding the shift key down while you drag it with the mouse.
48. You can change the currency symbol in the reports from the help section or from your profile (as a manager).
49. You can change the date formats in the system from the help section or from your profile (as a manager).
50. You can customise the site with your own logo and sub-domain free of charge with any 12 month purchase.
51. You can quickly transfer data to and from your templates by copying and pasting.
52. You can close any message box with the ENTER key, or by pressing the first letter of the text on the button.
53. To quickly select a column of cells you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + D.
54. To quickly select a row of cells you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + R.
55. To quickly add a staff holiday you can click a cell and press CTRL + SHIFT + H.
56. You can copy and paste cells (one or more) with the keyboard using CTRL + C to copy and CTRL + V to paste.
57. To scroll straight to the bottom of the rota press END or CTRL + END for the bottom right corner.
58. To scroll straight to the top of the rota press HOME or CTRL + HOME for the top right corner.
59. To scroll left and right along the rota press SHIFT + PAGEDOWN for right or SHIFT + PAGEUP for left.
60. If you ever decide to leave just let your account expire. There's no need to delete yourself or deregister.
61. By holding CTRL whilst selecting with your mouse you can create separate, split selections on the roster.
62. To keep your report history accurate you can set start and end dates on staff pay rates as they change.
63. Staff can request multiple shifts at once by highlighting multiple cells before right clicking to request.
64. If you use multiple rotas you can update all rota contact preferences using the "Contact preferences" link.
65. Administrators can add custom columns to staff and facilities, storing data specific to their business.
66. Data stored in custom columns can be kept private, shared with managers, shared with staff or made public.
67. Data stored in custom columns can be used to filter data across the system, including reports and the rota.
68. You can filter your roster by facility, department, job title or any custom column you add to the system.
69. Using formulas, you can create smart filters. Useful for filtering staff by age, or how much they're paid.
70. You can set up a 2nd set of rates within Findmyshift to help track how much you should charge your clients.
71. Staff can receive free push notifications for shift reminders on their Android and iOS devices.
72. You can avoid duplicate rates for each day of the week by creating "Weekday" or "Weekend" rates.
73. You can sort the staff and facility screens by clicking on the column headings.
74. You can display departments and job titles of staff beneath their names of on the staff view.
75. Administrators can choose to get notifications when their subscription or text credits are running low.
76. Salaried staff can earn overtime by adding a "x1" rate multiplier beneath their overtime shifts.
77. Staff that earn a day rate can earn hourly overtime by adding a rate multiplier to their overtime shift.
78. When salaries, day rates or hourly rates are entered our reports can forecast labour costs in real time.
79. Day rates are only ever paid when staff work a shift however salaries are paid every weekday regardless.
80. Rate exceptions apply to day rates in the same way they do to hourly rates.
81. You can set a shift as unpaid by adding "x0" or "Unpaid" in a comment beneath it.

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..

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.

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.