# Unassigned Shifts Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/unassigned-shift > Find and allocate shifts that aren't yet assigned to a Support Worker. Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable Scheduling. ## Overview Use **Unassigned Shifts** to find roster gaps and assign a worker after checking availability, clashes, preferences, skills, and qualifications. > **Broadcast an unassigned shift** > > If you use the [Shift Board](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow), you can broadcast a future Direct Support or Group Support from its viewer on the Schedule. You can broadcast a future internal shift from its row in **Unassigned Shifts**, one occurrence at a time. See [Shift Board Workflow](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow) for the eligibility checks and worker selection steps. ## Accessing Unassigned Shifts 1. Open [**Scheduling**](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/schedule) from the left-hand menu. 2. Select [**Unassigned Shifts**](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/unassigned-shifts). 3. Choose a date range. The number beside the menu option starts with the current Monday-to-Sunday week, then follows the page's date range and filters while the page is open. ![The Unassigned Shifts page with Unassigned Shifts highlighted in the Scheduling menu, showing a count of 19, and an arrow pointing to the Date filter above the list.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image5-1757975801.png) ### Viewing Unassigned Shifts - The list displays unassigned shifts for the selected date range. - Use the date picker to filter and select presets for quick date range changes. - Shifts are shown with headings for Date, Shift Type, Duration, Start Time, End Time, and Details. The day of the week sits under each date. - Search the list, or filter by **Shift Type**, **State**, **Region**, or **Site**. If your organisation uses the Shift Board, **Broadcast Status** lets you separate **Broadcasted** shifts from those **Not Broadcasted**. ![The Unassigned Shifts page with a search bar, a Filter button and a Date filter above a list of shifts, with columns for Date, Shift Type, Duration, Start Time, End Time and Details.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image6-1757975837.png) ### Shift Details Select a shift to view its Participant details, tags, and information items. A frequency indicator under the date shows whether the support repeats. ![An unassigned shift's Details tab, with the Repeats weekly on Friday indicator under the date highlighted, along with the Participant Details and Information Items tabs.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/shift-details-1.png) Scroll down to view a list of available Support Workers. ![The Support Workers list on an unassigned shift, showing each worker's phone number under their name, Preferences such as Not preferred gender, Qualifications, Skills, Regions, Availability for the current and future shifts, and an Assign button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image1-1757975869.png) Astalty displays potential Support Workers with the following details: #### Name Name of the Support Worker. When the shift is at a Site, a chip under the name shows **First site visit**, **1 site visit**, or the worker's number of earlier visits to that Site. The count covers their earlier Supports and internal shifts at the Site, even when they worked with a different Participant. Cancelled shifts and unpaid breaks do not count. No site-visit chip appears when the shift has no Site. #### Phone The worker's **Mobile** number. Astalty uses their **Phone** number when **Mobile** is blank. #### Preferences Any preferences that may impact on shift. #### Skills How many of the Participant's desired skills this worker holds, shown as a chip such as **2/3 skills** (or **2 of 3 Participants** on a group support). Hover over it to see which skills matched and which are missing. This column only appears if your account has the [Skills](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/setup/workers/skills) feature enabled, and the chip is left blank where the Participant has no desired skills recorded. A skill match never prevents a worker being assigned. #### Last visited The worker's most recent visit to that Participant. #### Past Shifts The worker's past shifts with that Participant. #### Availability Availability for the selected shift and its future occurrences. Hover over **Unavailability** (or **Leave**) for the conflict details: - **Shift Clashes** ![The Support Workers list with the pointer on a highlighted Unavailability badge, showing a tooltip that the worker has another shift at this time, with its date and time.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/shift-availability-hover.png) - **Unavailability** ![The Support Workers list with a highlighted Unavailability badge showing a tooltip that the worker has unavailability at this time, with its Time and Reason.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/shift-availability-hover-3.png) - **Unavailability, but may have availability on request.** ![The Support Workers list with a highlighted Unavailability badge carrying a phone icon, showing a tooltip that the worker has unavailability at this time but may be available upon request, with its Time and Reason.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/shift-availability-hover-2.png) ### Filtering the Support Worker List When the list is long, you can narrow the suggested Support Workers using the filters above the list. These filters combine with each other and with the search box: - **Availability** - show only workers who are **Available** or **Unavailable** for the current shift. - **State** - filter by the worker's state (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, or WA). You can select more than one. - **Team** - filter by the team a worker belongs to, including **Unassigned** for workers not in a team. This filter is only available if you use Teams. ### Assigning a Shift To assign a Support Worker, open the Support and scroll to **Support Workers**. Select a worker's name to compare their schedule with the shift. - Blue - the shift being assigned. - Light grey - existing shifts. - Pink - times the worker is not available. This view also shows a **Support Worker Hours** panel comparing the worker's contracted and scheduled hours for your organisation's pay period (Weekly or Fortnightly) rather than always a calendar week - see [Support Worker Hours](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow#support-worker-hours) for what each field means. Review the schedule comparison for travel, meal breaks, broken shifts, and other conflicts. When the worker is suitable, select **Assign**. ![The Assign Shifts drawer for a Support Worker on a recurring unassigned shift, showing the Support Worker Hours panel with Contracted Hours (per week) and Scheduled Hours (per week) highlighted, and a Shift Preview timeline of the shift to be assigned with later occurrences that can be ticked.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/unscheduled-shifts-1.png) ### Confirming the Assignment On a recurring support, the **Shift Preview** lists the later occurrences with a checkbox beside each. Tick the ones the worker should also take, or use the **Select** dropdown, then click **Assign \[number] Shifts** (**Assign** on a shift that doesn't repeat). The confirmation states whether only the selected shift, the selected shift and the ones you ticked, or the selected shift and all future shifts will be assigned. You can add an optional **Reason for assigning** before clicking **Confirm**. ![The Confirm dialog stating that the selected shift and all future shifts will be assigned, with a Reason for assigning box and Cancel and Confirm buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image3-1757975936.png) ### Notifications Once assigned, the Support Worker receives a notification in the Support Worker app informing them of the new shift. ## Unassigned Shifts Functionality Overview This video introduces unassigned shifts. Video walkthrough: unassigned supports overview. ## Reassigning a Support Worker When a worker can no longer do a shift and you already know who is covering it, you don't need to unassign them first. **Reassign Support Worker** swaps the worker in a single step, so the shift never passes through the Unassigned Shifts list. - Open the support you want to change from the [Schedule](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/schedule). - On the right-hand side, open the **three-dot menu** beside the assigned Support Worker and select **Reassign Support Worker**. ![The three-dot menu beside the assigned Support Worker on a shift, open with Reassign Support Worker highlighted, above Unassign Support Worker, Publish Shift and other options.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/reassign-support-worker-action-menu-guide.png) **Reassign Support Worker** only appears once a shift already has a Support Worker on it. On an empty shift you'll see **Assign Support Worker** instead. ### Choosing the Replacement Reassigning opens the same Support Worker list you get when assigning an unassigned shift, so you have the full picture before committing - **Availability** for this and future shifts, **Preferences**, **Phone**, **Last visited** and **Past Shifts**, plus **Qualifications**, **Skills** and **Award Alerts** where your account uses those features. The filters and search described in [Filtering the Support Worker List](#filtering-the-support-worker-list) work here too. Some workers can't be selected at all. Their row is greyed out with a chip explaining why - for example **Shift Clash - Selection Blocked**, **Award Alert - Selection Blocked**, **Qualification - Selection Blocked** or **Incompatible - Selection Blocked**. > **The worker you're replacing appears in the list** > > The current worker is listed like anyone else, and because they're already rostered on this shift they show as clashing with it. Nothing in the list marks them as the person being replaced, so check the name on the shift card before you start. Click the worker you want and Astalty opens a **Reassign Shifts** preview - the same schedule comparison as a normal assignment, showing the shifts to be reassigned against their existing shifts, unavailability, and any time or travel conflicts, alongside their agreed hours for the week. ### Confirming the Reassignment Click **Reassign** and you'll get a confirmation step summarising exactly what's about to change, along with an optional **Reason for reassigning** box. The reason isn't required, but anything you enter is recorded against the shift in the [Support Audit Log](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-audit-log) alongside the change of worker, so it's worth noting why the swap happened. > **Clashes may block the reassignment** > > If a selected shift clashes with an existing shift, Astalty either warns you (*This will create clashes. Are you sure you want to proceed?*) or prevents you continuing until you deselect the clashing shifts. Which one you get depends on your provider's conflicting shift setting. > > **Unavailable** is a warning. It does not prevent reassignment. ### Reassigning Across a Recurring Series If the shift is part of a recurring series, the preview lists every later occurrence with a checkbox beside it, and Astalty works out the scope from what you tick: - **Tick nothing else** - only the shift you opened is reassigned. - **Tick every occurrence** - that shift and all future shifts are reassigned. - **Tick some occurrences** - that shift and just the ones you selected are reassigned. The confirmation message spells out which of the three you're about to do before you commit. The occurrences offered are the ones still held by the worker you're replacing, and only those starting at or after the shift you opened. Use the **Select** dropdown for shortcuts such as **All without clashes** or **Every \[Weekday]** - see [Recurring Shifts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/recurring-shifts#choosing-which-shifts-to-assign-a-worker-to). If some occurrences in your selection can't be changed, Astalty highlights those rows rather than failing silently, so you can open each one and deal with it separately. ### Notifications For a **published** shift, both workers are notified in the Support Worker app automatically - the incoming worker gets a new shift notification, and the outgoing worker is told the shift has been unassigned from them. The outgoing worker's notification doesn't name their replacement or include the reason you entered, so let them know yourself if the context matters. On an **unpublished** shift nobody is notified, because the shift isn't visible to workers yet. > **No need to unpublish first** > > Reassigning doesn't change whether a shift is published, so you don't have to unpublish and republish it to swap the worker. > > Unpublishing first won't spare the outgoing worker a notification, either - unpublishing an assigned shift tells them straight away that it has been removed from their schedule. All it changes is that the incoming worker isn't notified until you republish. See [Published and Unpublished Shifts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/published-and-unpublished-shifts). ### When Reassign Isn't Available The option is greyed out, without explanation, when the shift can no longer change hands: - The Support Worker has **clocked in or out** of the shift. - The shift is in a **timesheet batch**. - The support has been **cancelled**. - The shift is an **unpaid break**. Past shifts can still be reassigned, as long as none of the above apply. ## Unassigning a shift > **Already know who's covering it?** > > Use [Reassign Support Worker](#reassigning-a-support-worker) instead. It swaps the worker in one step, so you don't need to unassign and then assign the replacement. - Open the support from the [Schedule](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/schedule). - On the right-hand side, open the **three-dot menu** beside the assigned Support Worker and select **Unassign Support Worker**. - Enter a **Reason for unassign**. - For a recurring support, tick any later shifts that should also be unassigned in the **Unassign Recurring Shift** drawer, then select **Unassign \[number] Shifts**. ![The Unassign Recurring Shift drawer with the Reason for unassign box and the list of occurrences highlighted, the current shift and one later shift ticked, and an arrow to the Unassign 2 Shifts button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/unassign-shift-4.png) - The shift is now unassigned and appears in **Unassigned Shifts**. ![A Group Support's details with the three-dot menu open on one Support Worker's shift, and an arrow pointing to Unassign Support Worker in a list that also includes Reassign Support Worker and Delete Shift.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image2-1757976059.png) > **View Unassigned Reason in Audit Log** > > The reason for unassigning a Support Worker will be accessible via the Audit Log alongside any other changes made. ## How to Unassign a Shift This video demonstrates how to unassign a shift. Video walkthrough: how to unassign shifts.