Available for the following plans: Plus, Unlimited HR, Engage, Elite, Unlimited HR+Payroll,
Available for the following HR plans: Premium, Platinum
Available for the following User Access levels: Manager, Admin
Managing employee unavailability is critical for maintaining accurate rosters and ensuring your business stays properly staffed. The Unavailability Notifications feature ensures that managers receive immediate updates whenever an employee submits, changes, or cancels an unavailability request. This helps you identify potential staffing gaps as early as possible and keep your shift plans up to date.
This article shows you how to manage the following:
- Understand unavailability notification channels
- Update your individual notification preferences
- Manage organisation-wide notification settings
- Resolve shift conflicts and submission blocks
Understand unavailability notification channels
Notifications are sent across three channels to ensure you never miss a change in employee availability:
- Email: Sent immediately to the manager. It includes a link to the management screen and branding for quick identification.
- In-app Notification Bell: Displays an unread indicator in the platform. Each notification includes a status chip, such as Submitted, Updated, or Cancelled.
- Mobile Push: Alerts you directly on your mobile device via the Work app.
The notifications provide specific details including the employee name, the dates requested, the work site, and any clashes with existing published shifts.
Update your individual notification preferences
As a manager, you can choose which unavailability alerts you receive to help manage your inbox effectively. By default, all notification types are turned on.
- Log in to the Employment Hero platform.
- Navigate to My Notifications.
- Locate the Unavailability section.
- Toggle the switch to On or Off for the following events:
- Unavailability Submitted by Employee
- Unavailability Updated by Employee
- Unavailability Cancelled by Employee
Helpful Hint
Changes made in My Notifications only affect your personal alerts. Other managers will continue to receive notifications unless they also update their individual settings.
Manage organisation-wide notification settings
Organisation admins can control whether unavailability notifications are sent to any managers across the entire company. This is useful for aligning communications with company wide policies.
- Log in as an Admin.
- Navigate to Organisation Emails settings.
- Scroll to the Unavailability section.
- Toggle the desired notification type to Off to disable it for the whole organisation.
- Click the Settings Cog icon on any row to view specific trigger details and a preview of the email template.
Important
If an admin disables a notification type at the organisation level, no managers will receive that alert, even if their individual settings are turned on.
Resolve shift conflicts and submission blocks
The platform prevents employees from submitting unavailability if they already have a published shift during that time. This prevents accidental gaps in the roster.
- Submission Block: The Submit button remains disabled if a conflict exists.
- Error Messages: An inline message will appear on the roster screen or within the mobile app. It will state that the employee has a published shift in the selected period.
- Resolution: The employee must contact their manager to resolve the conflict before the unavailability can be accepted.