What is an available shift?

An available shift is a working period added to the schedule that has not yet been assigned to anyone — like an empty slot waiting to be filled. Instead of a manager assigning the shift directly to a specific employee, the shift is left "available" so that an eligible employee can take it themselves.

As soon as someone takes an available shift, it disappears from the list of available shifts and appears as a regular working period in their own schedule.

Information for Employees

How to take an available shift

Open your Dashboard
The "Available Shifts" panel shows all available shifts that you are allowed to take.
If the Dashboard view is not available, go to Arvesta > Working hours > Available Shifts.
Find a suitable shift
The list shows the date, location, and the shift's start and end times, or the name of a specific shift template together with its start and end times.
Click "Assign to me" on the panel
The system will ask you to confirm that you are sure. On the Available Shifts page, the "Assign to me" option can be found under the three-dot menu at the end of the row.
The shift is now in your schedule
It is no longer available, and no one else can take it.

Dashboard panel view:

Available Shifts page view:

Information for Working Hours Editors

How to add an available shift

If you have permission to edit available shifts, you can add a new available shift to the schedule.

Go to Working hours → Available Shifts
Click "Add"
Enter the shift details
Enter the date, location, and shift template. If you do not select a shift template, you must enter the shift's start and end times instead.
Save the shift
The shift will appear in the list of available shifts, and employees with the appropriate permissions will be able to take it.

Who can see and use available shifts?

Whether an employee can see the "Available Shifts" menu item and add shifts there depends on the permissions assigned to them. There are two ways to grant these permissions, and they can be combined:

Information for Administrators/Managers

General role (permission level)

For each role (e.g. "Manager", "Regular User"), the company settings determine what permissions the role has regarding available shifts: "Can view" (can see and take available shifts) or "Can edit" (can see and take available shifts and also create new available shifts).

This applies to all locations where working hours can be added.

Location role (location-based permission)

In addition, a person can be given permissions for one specific location only — for example, someone may be responsible for a single store even though they are not a general manager in the company. This extends their permissions only for available shifts at that particular location, not for all locations.

Permission level	Can view available shifts	Can take a shift	Can add/edit shifts
Can view	Yes	Yes	No
Can edit	Yes	Yes	Yes
No permissions	No	No	No

A location role cannot restrict someone's existing permissions — it can only grant additional permissions for a location where the general role does not already provide them.

Notification to the person who added the shift

When a shift is taken, the person who added it can automatically receive a notification showing who took the shift and which shift they took. Whether this notification appears on screen, is sent by email, or is disabled is determined by the company's notification settings.

Configurable — a corresponding notification template must be created.

! For Administrators: How to configure Available Shifts

For "Available Shifts" to work correctly and reach the right people, there are three areas worth checking:

Configure → Settings → Features

The feature must be enabled

"Available Shifts" must be activated at the company level. Without this, the menu item will not be visible to anyone.

Configure → Permissions

Set the appropriate permissions for location roles

For each role, define the location-role permission level:

No permissions — cannot see available shifts;
Can view — can see and take available shifts;
Can edit — can see, take, add, and edit available shifts.

Configure → Permissions → Object roles

Grant object-specific permission

Assign a location role to a specific employee or employee group for a particular object if the permission should apply only there.

Remember: If someone should be able to see the "Available Shifts" menu but cannot, first check whether the feature is enabled for the company. Then check their role permissions, and finally check whether they need a object role for the specific location.