Unavailability is used to indicate that you prefer not to work on specific dates.
What is unavailability?
Unavailability can be used to block your calendar when you are unable to work. When your manager is creating the schedule they will see you are unavailable and know when you are unavailable to work. It can be set up in a recurring scenario such as a regular class that you attend once a week or as a one-off event such as a concert at your child's school.
Unavailability does not require manager approval so even though your schedule is blocked your manager can override your unavailability and add a shift. If that happens they will get a warning that you have marked yourself as unavailable and you will get a notification that a shift was added.
You should always talk with your manager about adding unavailability and ensure you follow company guidelines or policies. That may include not using unavailability for any type of time off request that requires manager approval such as paid time off, vacation or leave.
Adding unavailability for yourself
You can add unavailability in the Deputy app on your mobile device, on the web or your manager can add unavailability on your behalf.
Adding your unavailability in the Deputy mobile app
In the Home tab tap on Unavailability. If you have no unavailability you will see the empty unavailability screen. Tap + or Add Unavailability to add new unavailability.
You can now select dates and repeat options. Choose from the following options to create unavailability for the time period and frequency that suits your schedule:
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A single day
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A time range on a single day
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A date range
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Recurring every
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Week
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2 Weeks
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4 Weeks
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Monthly on a day of the week
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Monthly on a date
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When you have finished selecting options, add a comment to indicate why you are unavailable and tap Add unavailability. You will be returned to the screen that will now include your new unavailability.
Adding your unavailability on the Deputy web application
Select your name in the top right corner of the page and then click on Profile.
Select unavailability and click Add New.
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A single day
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A time range on a single day
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A date range
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Recurring every
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Week
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2 Weeks
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4 Weeks
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Monthly on a day of the week
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Monthly on a date
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Adding unavailability on the Deputy Kiosk for iPad
While in the Schedule tab on the Deputy Kiosk for iPad you can also add unavailability or request leave.
Changing or deleting unavailability
Unavailability is not editable. To update your unavailability you need to delete any entry that is no longer relevant and create a new unavailability.
To delete unavailability on the iOS mobile app
Select the Unavailability you wish to delete and swipe left to delete OR tap on the unavailability and then click delete.
To delete unavailability on the Android mobile app
Long press the unavailability entry then click ‘YES’ to confirm the deletion.
To delete unavailability on the web app
Select your name in the top right of the page and then click on Profile. Click the delete 'bin' icon to delete the unavailability.
Note: If you don’t see the unavailability you want to delete, click the View All button to see your full list of availability and delete from there.
FAQs
What historical unavailability can I see?
Only future unavailability is shown in the list views. Unavailability in the past is removed from the list automatically but will still display on the day in past schedules.
Why can't I add unavailability?
Unavailability cannot be added if a shift already exists at the same time as the unavailability, including an unpublished shift.
It's also possible for managers to put a block on specific dates to stop team members from requesting leave or setting unavailability on those dates. In this case, you will get a warning message when you try to set unavailability.
Your business's System Administrator may have also disabled the ability for Team members to submit unavailability. If this is the case, please reach out to your manager to add or edit unavailability.
I put in unavailability but I was still scheduled to work!
Unavailability is just letting your manager know that you would prefer not to work that date. They can still override the unavailability to schedule team members. If you need to request approved time off you should request leave instead.