Question 1

What is Findmyshift?

Accepted Answer

Findmyshift is a platform for creating staff rotas, sending rotas to staff, tracking the hours they work and generating payroll data. It began in 2004 to help manage staff and to give those staff better visibility of their their upcoming shifts.

Question 2

How do I sign up?

Accepted Answer

All accounts begin with a trial account, so if you haven't already started your trial, click on Get started in the top menu. Once you've uploaded your staff you can then save your account by clicking on "Save account" in the top menu.

Question 3

What will it cost me?

Accepted Answer

For most customers, Findmyshift costs $25 per month for all of their staff. For charities and volunteer organisations it's discounted to just $18.75 per month, and for teams of 5 (or less) it's free. Importantly, Findmyshift is priced per team, so you may need to purchase additional teams if you want to keep some of your staff and their managers separate. To find out more, take a look at our pricing page.

Question 4

How do I pay?

Accepted Answer

Payments can be made at any time from the subscription page. You can purchase an extension using any debit card or credit card. Any payment you make is a one-off, so we won't store your card details and will not automatically charge you for anything in the future. Finally, if you're unhappy with the service for any reason, you're always entitled to a refund, no questions asked.

Question 5

How do I pay via invoice?

Accepted Answer

Before you can pay via invoice your account will first need to be provisioned for self-invoicing by our support team. Once provisioned for self-invoicing, you can follow the same steps as though you are paying via a credit or debit card. If you have selected 12 months or more, you should see the "Download an invoice" option after entering your company details. If you do not see this option then your account may not be provisioned for self-invoicing, or you may not have selected an extension of 12 months or more.

Question 6

Is there an app for my staff?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Our Android and iOS apps are available to your staff and their managers. Google Play App Store

Question 7

Do you have an API?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We do have an API. To get started, visit our developer portal.

Question 8

How do I add a new team?

Accepted Answer

If the new team is related in some way to any existing team (within your organisation), you'll probably want to add it to the same account. This allows you to run reports on all teams together instead of running the reports separately. To add the new team, log in to your account, click Teams in the top menu and then click "add a new team". If the new team is for a team that is not related to your existing organisation, you might want to create an entirely new account. To do this you'll need to log out of your existing account and then click Get started in the top menu.

Question 9

Can I have different departments in the same team?

Accepted Answer

If you have different managers in charge of different departments you will need separate teams, otherwise you can mix the departments together on the same team.

Question 10

How do I schedule staff at different locations?

Accepted Answer

If you have managers at each location who need full control of their own teams then your best option would be to create separate teams for each location. Even when separated it is still possible to generate reports combining data from all of your teams.

Alternatively, if your rota managers are centralised and look after all of the locations together you can rename "facilities" to "locations" and then assign locations to your staff on the rota below each of their shifts.

Question 11

Can I change the days that are shown on my rota?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can change the days that are shown on your rota via "Settings" > "General" > "Days of the week", however this setting will affect all staff views.

Alternatively, you can use "Days to display" option under "Options" (at the top of your rota) and this will only change your own view of the rota.

Question 12

My rota runs from Wednesday to Wednesday. How do I show this on my rota?

Accepted Answer

You can change the days shown on your rota via "Settings" > "General" > "Days of the week".

Question 13

Why are some dates not shown on my rota?

Accepted Answer

If dates are missing from your rota, it could be due to one of the following:

1. You may have changed the "Days to display" option under the "Options" menu above the rota.
2. You may have incorrectly set the "Days of the week" under "Settings" > "General".
3. You may have selected "Hide weekends" under "Settings" > "General".

Question 14

How can I change the date, currency and number formats in the rota and reports?

Accepted Answer

Findmyshift uses your browser's language settings to determine how to display dates, currencies and numbers, however you can override these settings here. You can also override the currency for all managers via "Settings" > "General".

Question 15

How do I add new columns of data to my staff and facilities?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 16

What is a custom column and what is it used for?

Accepted Answer

Besides allowing you to add more information to your staff and facilities, custom columns also appear in the different filters found on the site. This gives you the ability to search and filter your data on anything you have entered into the custom columns.

To add a new custom 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.

Question 17

How can I lock the rota to prevent managers from making changes?

Accepted Answer

To prevent managers, staff and administrators (optional) from changing past rotas, owners can apply a data lock. This can be set from a specific date backward, or from a relative date such as the current date or one week prior to the current date.

To apply a data lock you will first need to be logged in as the owner. Once logged in, visit "Settings" > "Data locks".

Question 18

If one of my staff leaves, how can I remove them from the rota?

Accepted Answer

When a staff member leaves they can be removed from your rota by entering a finish date on their profile. Staff profiles can be accessed and edited from the "Staff" page by clicking on the staff member’s name. Once the finish date on their profile has passed they will no longer be able to log in to view the rota.

Question 19

If we remove a staff member can they still log in and view their rota?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 20

How do I restore a staff member that was previously deleted?

Accepted Answer

If a staff member returns after having been removed from your rota, you can remove their finish date from their staff profile to restore them on the rota.

To access a finished staff member's profile, visit the "Staff" page and tick "Options" > "Show finished staff". If you have a large number of staff you may also want to filter the staff list.

Once you've gained access to their profile, if you do not see their finish date you will need to select the "Display" tab.

Question 21

Why can't I change some of my staff's contact details?

Accepted Answer

As a security measure, once staff have logged in and changed their password, their mobile number and email address are locked and can only be edited by themselves.

Question 22

How do I remove a facility?

Accepted Answer

To remove a facility you will 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.

Question 23

I'm leaving the company. How can I transfer the ownership of my teams to someone else?

Accepted Answer

To transfer the ownership of your account to another person, you'll need to first log-in to one of your teams. Once logged in, click "Settings" > "Ownership" and you will be guided through the transfer process. Please note that this option will only be visible to the current owner.

Question 24

How can I take ownership if the previous owner has left our organisation?

Accepted Answer

If the owner of your account has left your organisation, you (or your IT department) will first need to reactivate (or recreate) the original owner's email account. Once the account is reactivated (or recreated): 1. Request a new password from the Forgot password function on the log-in page using the original owner's email address. 2. With the new password you receive, log in to Findmyshift (remember to use the original owner's email address). 3. Once logged in, click "Settings" > "Ownership" and follow the instructions to transfer ownership to yourself. 4. Log out, log in as yourself and (optionally) delete the original owner.

Question 25

I am trying to add a new rota for a new team of staff, but I can't enter any shifts.

Accepted Answer

Each team is billed separately, so if you're no longer in your trial period then you may need to purchase an extension for your new team before you can enter any shifts.

Question 26

I have staff spread over multiple teams, can I copy and paste their details?

Accepted Answer

You can't copy and paste staff however you can export and then re-import them between your teams.

Question 27

Can I change the layout so that dates are down the side?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately not. Our rotas are only designed to be displayed with the dates along the top.

Question 28

Can Findmyshift be customised for my company?

Accepted Answer

Yes! If you'd like to customise the look of Findmyshift for your business just visit our customisations page - here you can upload your logo and adjust the colours of the site. In addition to customising your logo and colours, all users with administrator permissions have the ability to add new columns to their staff and facility profiles. These columns can store anything you like and can be used for searching and filtering. All data entered into these additional columns is encrypted to the same level as all other personal data entered in to Findmyshift. If you're interested in adding extra reports or extra functionality, you'll need to get in touch so we can put together a quote for the cost of the development.

Question 29

How do I add a new staff member to the rota?

Accepted Answer

To add a new staff member you'll need to be logged in as an administrator. Managers do not have permission to add new staff members unless they have administrator permissions set on their profile.

To add a new staff member as an administrator, click "Staff" > "Add staff" and enter the new staff members's details in the fields provided.

Once added, a welcome message with a log in link will be queued in the Outbox. Messages queued in the Outbox are not sent until they are approved by a manager, unless set to automatically email staff ("Settings" > "Notifications"), in which case the email will be sent automatically after the amount of time specified (in minutes).

Question 30

How do my staff find out their passwords to check their shift rota?

Accepted Answer

When staff are added to a rota a welcome message will be generated and queued in the Outbox which includes a link to log in and set their own password. If your staff do not get their welcome message they can also use the Forgot password page 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.

Question 31

How do I add an extra manager or administrator to help with my rotas?

Accepted Answer

Managers and administrators are added in the same way staff members are added - via "Staff" > "Add staff".

Once added as staff members, you'll need to upgrade the permissions on their profile to give them the ability to add and edit your rotas. To update their permissions, click on the profile and click "Permissions" at the bottom.

Aside from upgrading their permissions, you may also want to remove this manager from the rota by unticking "Display on rota". You can also hide them from other staff by unticking "Show to other staff".

Question 32

How do I re-order the staff on my rota?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 33

What are the red and yellow dots on my staff rota?

Accepted Answer

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 your settings. 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.

Question 34

Why are items on my staff rota highlighted blue after I save?

Accepted Answer

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 via "Settings" > "General" > "Staff must accept shifts" .

Question 35

Why are items on my staff rota occasionally highlighted in orange?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 36

How can I work on a rota without my staff seeing the unfinished version?

Accepted Answer

If you would like to work on a draft version of your rota, you'll first need to switch "Automatic publishing" off. The "Automatically publish changes" setting can be found under "Settings" > "General".

When "Automatic publishing" is switched off, any shift changes on the rota are hidden from staff - until they are published by a manager.

To publish a group of changes, select the area of cells with your mouse, right click and select "Publish".

If you've published a section of your rota and would like to unpublish, select the area of cells with your mouse, right click and select "Unpublish".

Question 37

Why are items on my staff rota highlighted red?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 38

What is publishing?

Accepted Answer

Publishing your rota makes it visible to staff, as while it's in its draft format it is only visible to managers and administrators.

If you've never published your rota before, you might have "Automatic publishing" enabled in settings, however if you are seeing red dots on your rota then "Automatic publishing" is disabled.

To enable "Automatic publishing", visit "Settings" > "General" and tick "Automatic publishing". To disable it, simply untick the setting.

If you have disabled "Automatic publishing", you'll need to publish your changes manually by right clicking on the cells you'd like to publish and selecting "Publish".

Once changes are published (either manually or automatically), your staff will immediately be able to see the changes. Notifications will also be generated and queued in the Outbox to be sent to staff.

Question 39

How do I publish multiple cells at once?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 40

How do I copy and paste an entire week of staff rotas?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 41

How do I delete multiple cells at once?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 42

Why have some of my staff disappeared from my rota?

Accepted Answer

If one or more staff are not appearing on your rota, it may be that:

1. You have set a filter which is removing the staff members from your view. To resolve, click "Filters" and select "Clear".
2. You have selected "Hide staff with no shifts". To resolve, click "Options" and untick this option.
3. Your staff member has a finish date or an incorrect start date which is hiding them from the rota before/after these dates. To resolve, open their profile and select the "Display" tab, then check the start and finish dates are correct.

Question 43

Why can't my staff see all facilities?

Accepted Answer

Under "Setttings" > "Privacy", you will find a option titled "Hide facilities from staff until they are scheduled with them".

When this option is ticked, staff will not be able to see any facilities until they have been scheduled together.

The system looks at both past and future shifts to identify which facilities have been scheduled together with staff.

Question 44

What are templates and why would I use one?

Accepted Answer

A template is a shift pattern stored separately from your rota. Templates are typically used for repeating shift patterns, as they can be applied much faster than re-entering the shift pattern manually.

To apply a template to your rota, select the cells you'd like to apply the template to, then click "Templates" then the week (or weeks) you'd like to apply.

Question 45

Do you have any tips & tricks for rota managers and their staff?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we have a whole page dedicated to tips & tricks.

Question 46

Are there any shortcuts or special keys to help speed up scheduling?

Accepted Answer

Yes, visit our keyboard shortcuts page to get started.

Question 47

How do I send log in details to my staff?

Accepted Answer

When you add your staff members to your rota, welcome messages are automatically generated and queued in the Outbox. When sent, each of these messages will include a link for your staff to log in and set their own password. If you have lost or deleted these messages you can compose your own welcome messages via "Send a message". When sent, the system will include the same link as above for your staff to set their password. Alternatively, staff can use the Forgot password link on the "Log in" page.

Question 48

How do I send the rota to my staff?

Accepted Answer

While it is possible to send a copy of your rota to your staff, we do recommend that you invite your staff to log in and view their rota online. By viewing their rota online they are guaranteed to be viewing the most up-to-date copy, and can also make requests and cancellations through the site.

Prefer to send your staff a copy of their rota via email? That's also possible via the "Send a message" link in the menu. From the "Send a message" page, tick "Attach the rota" at the bottom of the page.

Alternatively, you can download a copy of your rota to PDF and forward it through your own email software.

Question 49

How do I change the email address that Findmyshift uses when emailing my staff?

Accepted Answer

The email address used when emailing your staff can be changed via "Settings" > "Notifications" > "Reply-to email address for messages".

Question 50

What are push notifications?

Accepted Answer

Push notifications are messages and alerts that are sent using your phone's data connection. You can receive push notifications for rota updates, upcoming shift reminders, new comments on the notice board as well as other notifications from Findmyshift. To begin using push notifications, click "Notifications" and "Find out more" down the bottom. For more information, see how to receive push notifications on your phone.

Question 51

How can I receive push notifications on my phone?

Accepted Answer

Push notifications can be received using our Android or iOS apps. If you you have an Android device running Chrome but are unable to install the app, you can still receive push notifications by visiting our mobile site and selecting "Push notifications" via the top-right menu.

Question 52

Why do some text messages require more credits than others?

Accepted Answer

One text message is 160 characters long. If the message you're sending is longer than 160 characters then we need to split it up and charge you for each single message sent, though they appear to your staff as just one message. Every 160 characters that you send requires 1 text credit.

Question 53

My text message is less than 160 characters, but it still says it requires 2 credits.

Accepted Answer

Each time a text message is sent, your staff member's log in details are appended to the end of the message.

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 that these log in details can take the message length over the 160 character limit.

Before messages are sent, you will be shown how many message credits will be deducted and you will be asked to confirm this. At this point you are able to cancel and shorten your message if wish to.

Question 54

How can I switch off my email and text message notifications?

Accepted Answer

Once logged in, click on the "Notifications" link, found in the footer menu of any page. From here you can view and change your all email, text message and push notification preferences.

Question 55

How can I stop emails being sent to me about approvals and cancellations?

Accepted Answer

Once logged in, click on the "Notifications" link, found in the footer menu of any page. From here you can view and change your all email, text message and push notification preferences.

Question 56

How can I change a time off entry?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 57

How do I add to a staff member's holiday allowance?

Accepted Answer

If your staff are given a fixed holiday allowance but have accrued extra hours, you can increase their allowance but adding a time off entry with a negative "allowance used".

For example, if you wanted to add 8 hours to a staff member's allowance, you would enter "-8" as the "allowance used".

The system treats the negative "allowance used" no differently to other time off entries, subtracting it from the remaining allowance, resulting in an increase in the overall allowance remaining.

Question 58

How do I track sick days taken by my staff?

Accepted Answer

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 by each staff member. Each staff member's sick day allowances can be set on their staff profile.

Question 59

Can I change the list of time off types?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can change the types of time off at any time via "Settings" > "Time off" > "Types of time off".

Question 60

How do I pay staff for days off?

Accepted Answer

To pay your staff for days off you'll first need to add a "Time off" entry. Then on the "Time off" entry you can set the payable hours to the amount of hours that they should be paid. You can also multiply their hourly pay rate if they are being paid more (or less) than their normal hourly rate.

Question 61

How do I pay staff extra for bank holidays?

Accepted Answer

To pay your staff extra for days off or bank holidays you'll first need to create a "Time off" entry. Then on the "Time off" entry you have created you can change the payable hours and pay rate according to how much you need to pay them.

Question 62

Can I enter holidays or time off as half days?

Accepted Answer

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 "Settings" > "General" > "Shifts can overlap time off" is ticked, otherwise the system won't let you save your changes.

Question 63

Holidays are now appearing as vacation. Can I change this back?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this can be changed by changing your default language. Any languages other than US English and Canadian English will use the word "Holiday" instead of "Vacation".

Question 64

Can I change the word holiday to vacation?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this can be changed by changing your default language. If you choose US English or Canadian English, you will see "Vacation" instead of "Holiday".

Help and support

Frequently asked questions

Setup and configuration

Managing a staff rota

Text and email notifications

Holidays, sick leave and other time off

Timesheets and time clocking

Reports, pay rates and payroll

Staff and their rotas

Security, privacy and backups

Pricing and payments

Troubleshooting

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