Shift Swap To Success: How To Manage the Process With Your Team

Almost every small business owner is  more than familiar with a shift swap. Shift swapping, or when one employee trades shifts with another, can have many benefits for your business.

Team members appreciate the autonomy and flexibility, and it can save you from handling every aspect of scheduling on your own. After all, you’ve got enough on your plate already, right?

Of course, coworkers trading shifts can come with drawbacks. Without approval or oversight, shift swaps can cost you overtime or lead to a gap in skills or experience during peak business hours. To manage shift swaps without the stress, you should have a clear policy in place and make sure everyone on your team understands the rules.

What is a shift swap?

A shift swap is when one employee swaps their current shift date or time for another employee’s scheduled shift date or time. Employees request shift swaps for many reasons, including scheduling conflicts, emergencies, or because something came up in their personal life.

Generally, shift swaps should only occur between team members with the same level of pay and seniority, when their shifts are an equal number of hours, and when the swap won’t result in overtime pay.

For instance, here’s how a shift swap can play out:

• The team manager scheduled shifts for the next week, and everyone’s signed off on them.
• Team member A is scheduled to work 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, but a last-minute personal issue comes up.
• They call team member B who’s scheduled to work Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offer to switch shifts.
• The manager is notified, and because the shifts being traded are the same amount of hours, they approve.
• Team member A ends up working the Wednesday shift, while team member B steps in for Tuesday morning.

Shift swaps can affect important things like overtime hours and labor costs, so it’s important for managers to have some oversight. A quick review of proposed trades will save you time, money, and frustration when it comes to scheduling. It’s also important to have a shift swap policy for teammates to follow and refer to.

The benefits of shift swapping.

Scheduling can be messy and time-consuming, and the thought of allowing shift swapping might feel like an extra layer of complication. However, giving your employees more control over their hours can have a lot of benefits. Here are some of the ways shift swapping can make employees happier.

More flexibility and better job satisfaction.

Allowing shift swapping gives your employees more control over their work schedule and more flexibility in their personal lives. We hear from team members and business owners everywhere that freedom, autonomy, and flexibility are good for employee morale, productivity, and retention.

In a recent McKinsey survey of over 1,000 frontline retail employees in the US, workers said that the number one reason they’d stay at a job was flexibility. When it’s tougher than ever to attract and retain employees, a shift swapping policy might be something to consider.

Time off without losing money.

Trading shifts allows employees much-needed flexibility and time off without financial consequences. Workers aren’t just giving a shift away, they’re trading for another. This means they don’t have to stress about their personal lives or their monthly earnings. At a time when most employees would choose flexibility over better pay, it’s nice to be able to offer them both.

Plus, shift swapping ensures that your business hours are always covered. By allowing your team to switch shift times, you’re making it easier for employees to work a schedule that’s best for them instead of hiring someone new to cover those hours. This ultimately saves you time and money that comes with hiring and training a new employee.  

Build team camaraderie and engagement.

Shift swapping builds a culture of trust and teamwork among coworkers. When employees feel supported in the event of family emergencies, last-minute concert tickets, or mental health days, they’re less stressed, more productive, and more likely to stay.

Something as simple as allowing shift trades can help employees feel like part of a team. Plus, your Gen Z employees can enjoy the gamification aspect of adjusting schedules in just a few quick clicks.

An increased sense of teamwork and trust can also result in greater engagement. A study by Gallup found that when employees were more engaged at work, they were less likely to look for new job opportunities.

The challenges of shift swapping.

There’s no denying that shift swapping has its benefits for your employees, but let’s look at some of the drawbacks. Here are some of the challenges you might face when you allow coworkers the chance to make a shift exchange.

It can potentially cost more.

If employees start switching shifts of different lengths, it could cost you overtime. A shift swap should generally be an even trade. This means the total number of hours each employee works stays the same, despite the change to the schedule.

For example, if two team members trade one 6-hour shift for another, it’s the same amount of hours, just on a different day. If staff members start swapping shifts of different lengths, it could potentially lead to unwanted overtime.

Both employees should also earn the same hourly rate and have the same level of experience. If a team member earning $15 an hour trades with someone who earns $18 an hour, that will impact your budget. And if a junior employee is trading with a more senior teammate, they may not have the experience required for the shift.

If you don’t set any shift swapping policies, or you’re not approving trades, it’s easy for employees to pick up some extra hours without you even knowing.

Some team members may even intentionally trade shifts to earn some overtime pay—and without a policy in place, who can blame them? Unwanted overtime can have a serious impact on your labor costs, so it’s important to make sure shift swaps are an even trade. Create a clear shift swapping policy to include in your employee handbook to avoid this happening.

Employee disagreements.

Even with a manager’s approval, shift swapping can still go wrong if you don’t have a policy or accountability system in place.

Say two employees agree to swap shifts, and the employee who requested the swap lets you know. You approve the shift and make the necessary changes to your schedule.

But when the shift finally rolls around, you find yourself short one employee. What happened? Maybe one employee pressured the other into trading, or perhaps an employee agreed to the swap but had their own personal issue come up. Maybe someone simply forgot about the shift change.

Without a proper employee scheduling app that provides the team with visibility into shift changes and holds everyone accountable, shift swapping could be more hindrance than help.

A gap in skills or experience.

Sometimes you create a shift schedule that places certain employees at a specific time for a reason. For example, you may need someone with lots of experience to handle your busiest hours. Or maybe you have a new team member and want someone more senior to show them the ropes.

When employees swap schedule times, it could lead to a gap in skills, seniority, or experience during business hours. It’s important to ensure that shift swaps are an even trade, not only so employees have the skills they need to navigate their shifts but also to ensure your operations run smoothly for each shift.

How to create a swift swapping policy + examples.

A shift swapping policy outlines your rules and expectations around shift swapping and gives employees a fixed structure for how swaps can take place. It’s important your team knows the rules before they ask for approval, saving everyone time, energy, and disappointment.

A shift swapping policy should include the following:

• The acceptable timeframe in which employees can make shift swap requests
• The procedure for requesting a swap
• The procedure for accepting or rejecting a shift swap request
• The manager’s role in the entire process—do you need to intervene at any point? Do swaps require a manager’s approval?
• What happens if team members don’t follow the rules

On top of the basics, there are a few things you can do to ensure your policy is effective.

Clearly communicate the process.

When everyone on the team is crystal clear about the proper process for switching shifts, it can make scheduling easier for everyone. Once you’ve determined the rules and outlined your policy, it’s important to get everyone on board.

Make sure every employee has a copy of your shift swapping policy and that you have an opportunity to go through it with them in person. It’s also good practice to post the policy somewhere visible, like the break room, so team members can refer to it as needed.

Shift swapping tip: Put your shift swapping process into your onboarding materials so your employees know the rules from day one.

Have strict rules for approval.

Without clear rules for approval, you may end up fielding unqualified requests and saying no a lot. To avoid everyone’s frustration, employees need to know exactly what’s required for changing shifts to be approved. Best practices include the following:

• Shift swaps always require manager approval
• Shift swaps must be submitted for approval at least X days in advance
• Employees must have the same job position
• Employees must have the same skill levels or seniority
• Shift swaps won’t be approved if they result in overtime

Remember to uphold your own shift swap policy. If you make exceptions, your team might be confused or feel that favoritism is at play, leading to decreased trust and productivity. If a rule no longer serves your business, you can always amend the policy.

Share schedules as early as possible.

Last-minute scheduling makes it difficult for employees to properly arrange work transportation, set up childcare or social arrangements, and pursue other opportunities. It also hurts their ability to properly budget or save money since they’re not guaranteed a set income.

When you give your employees enough time to plan their lives outside of work, they’re less stressed, and they’re also more likely to stick to their work schedule.

There are perks for you, too. Advance notice means you’ll typically see fewer swaps—especially last-minute requests. If someone needs to make a change, there’s enough time to adjust.

Shift swap policy example.

Let’s pretend you’re the manager at a retail shoe store, and one of your floor members (employee A) suddenly has to fly out of town to visit a sick relative. They have a shift in three days but need to head to the airport right away. Instead of leaving you to find a replacement, your team member can request a shift swap with one of their coworkers.

Here’s how the swap happens when you have a shift swap policy in place:

• Step 1: Employee A asks Employee B to trade for a shift later in the week.
• Step 2: Employee B can either agree or not agree to take the shift. In this example, Employee B agrees to the trade.
• Step 3: Employee A notifies you of the shift trade to get approval.
• Step 4: Since the two teammates do the same job and make the same hourly rate, you approve the trade and notify both employees of the change.
• Step 5: You update your schedule for the week and know that both shifts are covered. When it comes to payroll time, there’s no trying to remember who worked when.

Manager approval is one of the most important steps in the shift swap process. After an employee agrees to cover a shift, a manager should always review to ensure the right expertise and the right mix of team members. It’s also your job to double-check that an employee won’t get unnecessary overtime.

Approval also allows you to intervene before trades become complicated for your team. There may be instances where employees feel pressured to say yes to a swap, where requests are always last minute, or where an employee is trying to trade too frequently.

All of these things can contribute to a toxic workplace environment for your team. That’s why you need to stay accountable to your shift swap policy, so that your team knows you’ve got their back.

Shift change requests: tips for managing them.

While shift swapping has a lot of benefits for your business, it can become a headache without proper planning or management. Here are a few things you can do to handle shift swap requests with less stress.

Create an open dialogue.

Before you set your schedule for the month, it’s smart to chat with your employees about their needs and what’s going on in their lives. By having open, honest conversations with your team, you’re more likely to create a schedule that matches everyone’s availability and preferences and have fewer requests to swap shift times.

While you won’t always be able to accommodate shift changes, it’s critical that your team feels comfortable asking.

Build a culture of collaboration.

Encouraging collaboration is good for all aspects of your business, but it has some particularly great benefits for scheduling. When every team member feels like they’re working toward a common goal, they don’t want to let the team down. Employees are more likely to stick with their original shifts and more likely to offer help when something comes up.

In fact, the very practice of shift swapping is good for team building. Instead of handling every aspect of scheduling yourself, you’re creating a self-sufficient team that looks out for each other and helps run things smoothly.

Leverage technology.

Shift planning software is a smart way to keep shift swapping from getting messy. A shift trade app makes the process simple and quick, and offers greater visibility for the entire time. When you use a platform that offers real-time notifications and communication features, team members can easily plan a shift trade and managers can get real-time notifications about the changes.

If your shift swapping process requires major, continuous effort and takes time away from more pressing tasks, you’re doing it wrong. Shift swapping can be more trouble than it’s worth when you don’t have clearly defined rules, or you’re not providing any oversight.

As a manager, you need to make sure shift trades won’t hurt your business or be a constant struggle. How do you do it? By building a strong shift swapping policy that’s easy for everyone to understand and follow.

Streamline shift swapping with shift trade software.

Shift swapping may sound simple, but it’s a lot to track on a daily basis—especially when managing a team. When you’re balancing labor costs and accommodating time-off requests, a shift swap can throw off your entire schedule. That is, if you don’t have a solid way of tracking and planning changes.

Modern shift swapping software and apps, like Homebase, can help streamline the process, making it smarter and more efficient for everyone involved.

Homebase offers loads of features that empower your employees to manage their own schedules. Our team communication tool allows team members to send a message to one of their colleagues, a group, or the entire team to see who’s available to swap shifts. Gone are the days of unread emails or exchanging personal contact info unnecessarily.  

Because it’s all online, the shift swapping process happens in real time. When an employee sends a swap request, everyone involved—from other employees to the manager approving the swap—can see what’s happening on the app. Your employees can easily change their schedules when conflicts, emergencies, or last-minute events come up.

You can also handle schedule changes with ease. Employee scheduling apps like Homebase allow you to make changes to the weekly calendar remotely whenever a team member needs to take time off work so it’s quick and simple. You can then send out an email of the updated weekly schedule to your team so they can get the latest version promptly.

Are shift swaps tripping up your business? Homebase can help. Our modern tools make it easy to manage scheduling, time clocks, payroll, team communication, hiring, onboarding, compliance, and more. Get started for free.

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Shift swap FAQS

What does a shift exchange mean?

A shift exchange is another term for a shift swap. It refers to when two employees swap their scheduled work shifts with each other. A shift exchange or shift change can take place when one team member has a scheduling conflict or a personal emergency come up and they need to find another team member to take their place.

What does it mean to release a shift?

A team member can release a shift if they’re unable to work at their scheduled time or day and they need another team member to pick up the shift. A shift release can turn into a shift swap or shift change if the team member releasing it finds another team member to trade shifts with. If they don’t swap schedules with someone, the shift that’s been released will need to be reassigned by the manager.

What is a good reason to change a work schedule?

There can be many good reasons to change work schedule timings. Changing schedules or shifts can be helpful for team members who have a last-minute personal issue or emergency, a scheduling conflict, or who prefer a specific time slot. It’s also helpful for managers and business owners to allow changing shifts to ensure every shift is covered and operations run smoothly during business hours. Plus, team members will appreciate the flexibility and autonomy, which can create a greater sense of teamwork and engagement.

Is it okay to swap shifts?

Yes! It is totally okay, and even common, for team members to swap schedules when a specific shift doesn’t fit their personal schedule, or something has come up at the last minute. As a manager or business owner, you should have a shift swap policy in place to ensure shift changes are approved and managed properly.