What is find replacement?
This feature in the Schedule is for managers (Supervisors, Location Managers and System Administrators) who have to find a replacement for team members who call in sick or simply don't turn up for a shift.
Rather than making multiple phone calls, sending emails or using social media groups, Deputy can easily find a replacement for the shift.
When using Find replacement, the manager is effectively taking a published shift for one team member and offering it to other team members as an Open shift with offers. This means that the first invited team member who claims the shift will be the team member assigned as the replacement.
If managers would prefer to manage who can claim shifts, use the Open Shifts with Approval.
You can also find a replacement from the Deputy mobile apps.
How do I use find replacement in Deputy?
On the Schedule
1. On the Schedule page, click on the shift that needs a team member replacing.
2. Click the three dots icon and select Find replacement.
In the Team members drop-down menu, Deputy will display all recommended team members and you can:
- click to select the individual team members you would like to invite to work the shift
- click on 'Select all' to select all recommended team members simultaneously
- type the name of the team member you wish to add even if they are not recommended.
Click on Add team members.
Customise the message you wish to send to your team members if required. Note: this message will appear only in the email notification sent to your team members and is not included in the SMS notification sent out (if enabled in your account).
Click Send invite when you are done.
The team members you have selected to receive the offer to work the shift will receive a push notification (if they are logged into the Deputy mobile app or an email if they are not).
When the team member taps on the Available shifts they can see there is a pending offer to claim Andrew's shift.
If the team member taps on Claim shift then the shift will be now assigned to them.
Once the shift has been claimed by the first team member it will disappear from other offered team member's available shifts list. If team members who were offered the shift in an email (but did not claim it before the first team member did) later click on the link in the email, they will receive a message to say this shift has already been claimed.
A shift in the schedule that is awaiting replacement will have the original team member's name displayed with the OPEN label in the corner.
If a manager wishes to cancel the replacement (before any offered team member claims the shift) they can open the shift details and click on Cancel offers. The shift will remain the responsibility of the original team member in this case.
If a manager wants to see who has responded to an offer for shift replacement, they can open the shift and click on View in the shift details.
Any team member who has declined the offer will be listed with a declined status. Managers can individually cancel offers for team members by clicking on the red cross next to their name. Alternatively, managers can Invite more team members to take the shift if required.
As soon as one of the team members accepts the shift offer, the shift will become their responsibility to work, and managers will no longer see this shift offers page.
Using the Teams list on the Locations page
Alternatively, you can find a replacement by clicking on the employee's shift in the Teams panel which appears on the right-hand side of each of the Locations page.
Team members who are running late are listed at the top but you might also need to find a replacement for a scheduled team member too if you know they can no longer work.
On the Teams panel click the team member's name who requires replacement.
2. From their employee profile you can see their upcoming or current scheduled shift and if you know they are not coming to work you can click on Find Replacement. Note that if you click on Shifts you can see all of their upcoming shifts as well, not just the next one and can click Replace on any of these shifts too.
3. Deputy will automatically select those who are recommended for this shift (there is a purple and white tick icon next to their name to show they are selected). Non-recommended team members will be listed further down and you can tick to select these team members too if you like.
Click Invite x people to work this shift.
Deputy will now send a notification to invite the selected team members to work this shift and managers may manage the shift in the same way as described for finding a replacement through the Schedule.
Communicating shift replacement with your Team members
Mobile app push notifications
If invited team members are logged into the Deputy mobile app they will receive a push notification informing them about an open shift and advising them to check their email or open the Deputy app (by touching on the notification) where they can view and accept or decline the available shifts.
Deputy sends the invited members an email that includes shift information and a link to accept. When an employee clicks on the link, the shift will be allocated to them.
Whoever clicks on the push notification invitation or email link first will receive the shift.
Deputy will also notify the original team whom the shift replacement is being arranged for, that they are no longer required to come to work.
The manager will also be notified that a shift change has happened.
SMS
If the team member being offered the shift is not currently logged into the Deputy mobile app when the shift offer is sent and, that team member has their mobile phone number recorded in Deputy, then Deputy will send an SMS and email instead of a push notification and email.
In this SMS, there will be a unique shift number. They can reply to the SMS with the shift number to accept that shift. Once again, whoever replies to the SMS or clicks on the email link first will be assigned the shift in Deputy.
SMS notifications will have extra costs associated with them. If you wish to completely block SMS being sent from your account to reduce costs, System Administrators can toggle off this setting.
Note: If your staff member does not have an email address OR a mobile number registered with Deputy, we have no way of communicating with them. These people will not be recommended or communicated to about this shift.