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Shift Transfer

Shift Transfer lets employees who already have an assigned shift request to hand it over to a colleague — without having to chase a manager to make the change. The manager still reviews and approves the transfer, but most of the coordination happens between the two employees in the Employee Hub.

This is a major productivity win in operations with frequent shift swaps (retail, healthcare, hospitality), where the volume of "Can you take my Thursday?" messages otherwise lands entirely on the team lead.

How Shift Transfer works at a glance

  1. Employee A has a shift they can no longer do.
  2. They open the shift in the Hub and request a Shift Transfer, picking the colleague (Employee B) they want to hand the shift over to.
  3. Employee B receives the request in their Hub and can accept or decline.
  4. If Employee B accepts, the manager receives the request for approval.
  5. Once the manager approves, the shift is reassigned from A to B.
  6. If anyone in the chain declines (B or the manager), the shift stays with A.

At every step, both employees and the manager are kept informed of where the transfer stands.

Configuring Shift Transfer

Shift Transfer is configured per-Scheduler, on the Scheduler record. This means one Scheduler can allow transfers while another stays locked down — useful when you have, say, a flexible retail team and a tightly controlled medical rota in the same org.

Two fields on the Scheduler record drive Shift Transfer:

FieldWhat it does
Allow Shift TransferBoolean — turns Shift Transfer on or off for shifts inside this Scheduler. Off by default.
Min Days Before Shift TransferNumeric — the minimum number of days between today and the shift's start time before a transfer can be requested. Prevents last-minute transfers.

To enable Shift Transfer on a Scheduler:

  1. Open the Scheduler record (App Launcher → Schedulers → pick the Scheduler).
  2. Tick Allow Shift Transfer.
  3. Set Min Days Before Shift Transfer to your preferred notice period (e.g. 2 for 48 hours).
  4. Save.

Individual shifts inherit the Scheduler's setting via their own Allow Shift Transfer and Min Days Before Shift Transfer fields, but you can override these on a shift-by-shift basis if needed (for example, a critical Saturday shift that must not be transferred).

Permissions

The transfer flow uses the same Scheduler permissions as regular shifts. Employees only need standard Employee Hub access to request transfers. Managers need the Flair Scheduler Manager or Flair Scheduler Admin permission set to approve them — see Setting Up in Salesforce.

Requesting a transfer (employee side)

The employee experience lives entirely in the Hub.

  1. The employee opens Shifts in the Employee Hub.
  2. They select the shift they want to transfer.
  3. They click Transfer Shift.
  4. They pick a colleague to offer the shift to (only colleagues who are eligible for that shift appear).
  5. They can add a short message (e.g. "Going to a wedding, would owe you one!").
  6. They click Send Request.

The colleague receives a notification in the Hub (and via email/push, depending on notification settings).

Accepting or declining a transfer (colleague side)

The colleague sees the incoming transfer in their Hub:

  1. They open the notification — or the Received Requests tab on the Shifts page.
  2. They see the shift details and the optional message.
  3. They click Accept or Decline.

If they decline, the original employee is notified and the shift remains with the original assignee.

If they accept, the request moves on to manager approval.

Approving a transfer (manager side)

Managers see incoming transfer requests in two places:

  • The Approvals inbox in the Hub (manager view).
  • The Scheduler itself — pending transfer requests are highlighted on the affected shifts.

Approving from the Hub

  1. Open the Approvals page in the Hub.
  2. Find the Shift Transfer request.
  3. Review the details:
    • Who originally had the shift
    • Who is taking it over
    • When the shift is
    • Optional message from the original employee
  4. Click Approve or Decline.

Approving from the Scheduler

In Salesforce, pending transfer requests appear with a small indicator on the affected shift. Click the shift to see the request and approve or decline it without leaving the Scheduler.

What happens after approval

Once the manager approves:

  • The shift's assignee is updated from Employee A to Employee B.
  • Employee A no longer sees the shift in their My Shifts.
  • Employee B now sees the shift in their My Shifts.
  • Both employees receive a confirmation notification.
  • Any downstream integrations (calendar sync, time-tracking, payroll) pick up the new assignment.

If the manager declines, the shift stays with Employee A and both employees are notified.

Cancelling a transfer in flight

The original employee can cancel their transfer request at any time before the manager has approved it. After approval, the shift has actually been reassigned — at that point, a new transfer has to be requested if they want to take it back.

Visibility and audit trail

Every shift transfer is captured as a Shift_Change_Request__c record in Salesforce, so you have a full audit trail:

  • Original assignee
  • New assignee
  • Approver
  • Approval status (Approval_Status__c), colleague approval status (Colleague_Approval_Status__c), and detailed status (Approval_Status_Detailed__c)
  • Timestamps for each step
  • Any messages exchanged

This is useful for compliance, payroll reconciliation, and resolving the occasional "I don't remember agreeing to that shift" conversation.

Best practices

  • Set a clear notice period. A transfer requested 30 minutes before a shift starts is rarely a good idea. A 24 or 48-hour minimum is common.
  • Use Skill restrictions wisely. If a shift requires a specific certification (e.g. Forklift), Shift Transfer will only offer the transfer to colleagues who have that skill — but make sure those skills are kept up to date in employee profiles.
  • Override sparingly. The per-shift Allow Shift Transfer and Min Days Before Shift Transfer overrides on Shift__c are useful for one-off exceptions (a critical shift you don't want transferred), but routinely overriding them defeats the predictability the Scheduler-level setting gives you.

Next steps