# Shifty: shift cover without the group chat

> Shifty is a free website that lets fast-food crew give away a shift they can't work and lets someone else pick it up, with a manager approving every cover. It replaces the store group chat for shift swaps. It works in any phone or computer browser, with no app to install.

- Demo (no sign-in, made-up crew, nothing saved): https://tryshifty.pages.dev/
- Crew site (sign in with the login a manager gives you): https://shiftycrew.pages.dev/
- Short summary: https://shiftycrew.pages.dev/llms.txt

## Who it's for

Fast-food, restaurant, cafe and retail teams that swap shifts in a group chat. In a group chat, asks get buried, two people say yes to the same shift, managers miss things, and nobody can see what's been sorted. Shifty keeps every shift, ask and answer in one place, and a manager OKs each change before it counts.

It was made by fast-food crew, for crew, and follows Australia's Fast Food Industry Award 2020.

## How it works for crew

1. **Can't make a shift?** Post it: the day, start and finish time, the area (front or back), and the reason. A manager OKs it before it goes up for grabs, or says no and you stay on it (you see why).
2. **Want extra hours?** "Up for grabs" shows the shifts you can pick up. Tap one, tick that you're not working that day, and send the ask to a manager.
3. **Someone already asked?** Join the queue. If the manager says no to them, you move up and the manager sees your ask next.
4. **Get the answer.** You're told straight away when a manager says yes or no. Approved covers show a green tick; declined ones a red cross; ones still waiting a clock.
5. **Check the roster.** After a yes, you're reminded to check the store's roster app, and to ring the store if your new shift isn't on it.

"All shifts" shows every shift coming up, including queues, and says why you can't take a greyed-out one (for example, it's in the other area or it clashes with a shift you're already covering).

## How it works for managers

- One screen with everything waiting: shifts people want to give away, and asks to cover.
- **Checks on every ask:** whether the person works that area, the breaks they'd get, whether they already have a clashing shift, and whether covering costs the store more (junior pay rates go up with age, so an older crew member covering a younger one costs more).
- **Approve or decline** with a reason crew understand. "Seen it, need a bit longer" lets crew know you're on it.
- **Undo** a yes or no made by mistake.
- **Shifts tab:** post a shift for someone who rang in, put someone on a shift, take a shift down, or put it back up when a cover falls through.
- **Crew tab:** add crew and give them their first password, reset a password, set their area and what they're trained on, or pause someone from picking up shifts.
- A chime for each new ask while Shifty is open, notifications on phones, and pinned announcements for the whole crew.
- After every yes, a reminder to update the store's roster app too.

## The rules it follows

- **Breaks** follow clause 14.1 of the Fast Food Industry Award 2020: under 4 hours, no break; 4 hours or more but under 5, one paid 10-minute break; 5 hours or more but under 9, a paid 10 plus an unpaid meal break of 30 to 60 minutes; 9 hours or more, two paid 10s plus a meal break. Exactly 5 hours gets the meal break.
- Shifts are 3 hours minimum and 11 hours maximum.
- Asks close 2 hours before a shift starts.
- One person can't hold two shifts that clash.
- Every date and time runs on the store's clock, so phones in other time zones agree.
- Crew never see the reason a manager gave for saying no to someone else.

## Privacy

- The demo keeps its made-up data in your own browser. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is saved for anyone else.
- On the crew site, only signed-in crew and managers of that store can see anything. Visitors who aren't signed in get nothing.
- Shifty has no ads and no tracking scripts.

## Common questions

**Is Shifty free?** Yes. It's an early version and free to try.

**Do crew need to install an app?** No. It's a website that works on any phone. On an iPhone, adding it to the Home Screen lets it send notifications.

**Does it replace our roster app?** No. It sits next to it: crew sort out covers in Shifty, a manager approves them, and the manager updates the roster app.

**Can I try it without signing up?** Yes. The demo has made-up crew and switches between crew and manager views: https://tryshifty.pages.dev/

**What's wrong with a group chat?** Asks get buried, two people say yes to the same shift, managers miss messages, and there's no record of who agreed to what. Shifty gives every cover one clear answer from a manager.