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Common questions about using helloswap

Pick your role — each one only covers what you’d actually use.

For employees

Your shifts, swaps, time off and account.

Your schedule

Where do I see my shifts?Your home page shows this week's shifts as soon as you log in. Only published shifts show up there — a draft week is still being built and isn't visible to you yet.
What's the difference between a draft and a published week?A manager or admin builds the week as a draft first, then publishes it when it's ready. Nothing on a draft week is visible to you, and nothing on it is final until it's published.
What does "Open shift" mean?A shift with nobody assigned yet. Anyone eligible in that department can claim it — see "How do I claim an open shift?" below.
Why can't I be assigned to a shift I should be able to work?The schedule blocks an assignment that would break a hard rule — most commonly less than 11 hours' rest since your last shift (the EU rest-hours rule), approved leave that day, or a shift outside a department you work in. The error message names the specific rule.
How do unpaid breaks work?If your company deducts an unpaid break, it's one length set for the whole company — not something that varies by shift pattern. Every shift over the size your admin set gets the same deduction, and your hours everywhere in the app already reflect it.

Shift swaps

How do I offer my shift to someone else?Open the shift and offer it — either to one named colleague, or open to your whole team. Only the person currently assigned to a published shift can offer it.
How do I claim an open shift or a shift offered to the team?It shows up on the open shift board, or as a highlighted shift on Team schedule. Claiming it is a request, not automatic — a manager or admin still has to approve it before it's yours.
Can I request a swap for a shift nobody's offered?Yes. On Team schedule, click any colleague's shift to request a trade for it — even one they haven't put up for swap themselves. Pick one of your own upcoming shifts, any day, to offer in exchange.
Does the other person have to agree before my manager sees it?Yes. A named offer or a trade proposal sits as "needs their answer" until they accept or decline it from their own Swap board — your manager never even sees it until then. You can still withdraw your own request any time before they answer.
What does the colored border on a shift mean?A swap is in flight on it — open and unclaimed, awaiting the other person's answer, or already accepted and waiting on your manager's decision. On your own Team schedule, a bold gradient chip labeled "Claim shift" or "Request swap" is one you can act on directly. Either way it clears once the swap is decided.
Why was my swap blocked instead of just warned about?Some rules are hard blocks and can't be overridden by anyone — mainly the 11-hour rest rule. Others (like going over your contracted hours) are warnings a manager can still accept. The message tells you which one it is.
Who has to approve a swap?Your manager or company admin, once the other person involved has accepted it. You'll get a notification either way once it's decided.

Time off

How do I request time off?From the time off page, pick a type (holiday, sick, unpaid or parental), a date range, and optionally a reason. It goes to your manager or admin as a pending request.
Is sick leave ever approved automatically?In Denmark, yes — sick leave of 4 days or fewer is approved the moment you send it, no manager decision needed, matching the self-certification period before an employer can ask for a doctor's note. Longer sick leave, and every other leave type, still goes to your manager as usual. The form tells you upfront when your dates qualify.
Who approves time off?Whoever manages your department — your manager, or the company admin — unless it auto-approved (see above). You're notified as soon as it's decided.
Can I cancel a request I already sent?There's no self-service cancel button. While it's still pending, ask whoever approves your leave to deny it. Once it's approved, they can withdraw it instead — either way it's their call, not a button on your own page.
Once my leave is approved, can someone still schedule me over it?No — approved leave blocks that day outright. It isn't a warning a manager can override; the assignment is refused.
Is there a limit to how much time off I can request?helloswap doesn't track a leave balance or allowance for you. Whether a request makes sense given what you're actually entitled to is a judgment call for whoever approves it.

Your account & notifications

What triggers a notification, and can I choose which ones I get?A shift being published, a swap being offered to you or decided, a leave request being decided, and a reminder the day before your shift. From your profile's notification settings, turn any of those on or off just for yourself — unless your company's turned one off for everyone, which overrides your own choice for it.
How do I change my name, photo, password or language?From your profile, in the menu under your name — update your details, password, language and theme, and see (or sign out) any other device you're logged into.
I forgot my password — can I reset it myself?Yes — use "Forgot password?" on the login page. We'll email you a reset link that's valid for one hour.
Can I set my date of birth or an emergency contact?Both live on your profile. An emergency contact can be changed any time. Date of birth can only be set once — it's used to apply the right working-time rules for anyone under 18, so it locks as soon as it's saved, by you or by whoever manages you.
Can I see my shifts in my phone or desktop calendar?Yes, on the Growth plan and above — copy the calendar link from your profile and subscribe to it in any calendar app. It updates itself as your published shifts change.
Can I get a copy of my own data, or delete my profile?Both live on your profile. "Download my data" gives you a JSON file with your profile, shifts, leave, swaps, availability and notifications. Deleting suspends your profile immediately, with a 30-day window before it's erased for good — unless you're the company's only admin.

For managers

Building the schedule, deciding swaps and leave, and running your department.

Building the schedule

What's the draft → published workflow?Build the week as a draft — assign shifts, leave gaps as open — then publish when it's ready. Nothing on a draft is visible to your team, or final, until you publish it.
Can I reuse last week's schedule instead of building from scratch?Yes — "Copy previous week" duplicates the prior week's assignments into the one you're viewing, and "Repeat forward" pushes the current week's pattern ahead. Both stay drafts until you publish.
Where do I set unpaid breaks and the unpredictable-hours rule?Unpaid breaks are one company-wide length, set in Settings by an owner or manager — not per shift pattern. The unpredictable-hours contract is set per-person from their profile in People: it turns their stated availability into a hard block instead of a soft warning, and flags a short-notice assignment once your company's country requires it.
What does the colored border on a shift mean?A swap is still in flight on it — open, awaiting the other person's answer, or accepted and waiting on your decision. It's a heads-up, not something you act on directly from the grid; decide it from Approvals once it reaches you.

Deciding swaps & time off

Why don't I see a swap request the moment someone offers or proposes it?The other named person has to accept it first — a named offer or a two-way trade proposal sits as "awaiting their answer" until they do, or they can decline it outright, in which case it never reaches you at all. You'll only ever see one once both sides have agreed.
Can I decide swaps and time off for any employee?Only for your own department, plus any additional department you're a member of (set from their profile in People). An owner can decide for the whole company.
Can I undo an approval?Yes — from Approvals' History tab, "Withdraw" reverses an approved swap or leave request and puts things back exactly where they were. A denial can be reconsidered from the same tab.
Is sick leave ever approved without me deciding?In Denmark, yes — sick leave of 4 days or fewer is approved automatically the moment it's requested, on the self-certification logic that an employer can only ask for a doctor's note beyond that point. It still shows up on the schedule and in Approvals' History tab so you can see it happened; longer sick leave, and every other leave type, still comes to you as usual.
Can I offer or claim shifts myself, the way an employee can?Yes — Swap board works the same way for you as it does for an employee: offer one of your own shifts, claim an open one, or answer a trade someone's proposed to you.

Your team

What can I do that an employee can't, and what can't I do that an owner can?You build your department's schedule, decide its swaps and leave, and manage its people — invite, edit and remove employees, though not other managers or the company admin. Billing, company-wide settings and every other department stay owner-only.
Can someone work in more than one department under me?Yes. Someone has one primary department (which decides who manages them by default), plus any number of additional departments they can also be scheduled into — set from their profile in People. Add yourself to another department the same way to reach it too.
How do I invite someone, or add a lot of people at once?From People, invite them by email and pick their department — they get a link to set their own password, nobody else ever sees it. For several at once, import a CSV with name, email, department and hours columns; you get a preview of who's new and who's merging into an existing profile first.

Today & notifications

What does the Today page show?An at-a-glance view of the day — who's on shift right now, who's scheduled later, any uncovered shift, who's away on approved leave, and anything still waiting on your decision. It's the day, not the whole week.
Can I turn a notification off for the whole team, not just myself?Yes, from Settings — a company-wide switch per event type (schedule published, swap decided, leave decided, shift reminder), separate from each person's own on/off choice for themselves. Turning one off there overrides everyone's personal setting for it.

For company admins

Billing, company-wide settings, and everything an owner can see.

People, departments & billing

What's the difference between a manager and a company admin?You (the owner) can do anything in the account — billing, settings, every department. A manager runs their own department: building its schedule, approving its swaps and leave, and managing its people.
How is helloswap priced, and who can see billing?Per active person on the account, per month — removing someone lowers your seat count automatically. Only you can see or change billing; managers and employees don't have access.
What's different between the plans, and can I change?Starter covers a single team. Growth adds multiple departments, time tracking, an audit log, labor-cost reports and calendar sync. Enterprise adds the public API, payroll export and the compliance rule pack. You can change any time from Billing — upgrades apply immediately, downgrades take effect at your next renewal.
How do I add a lot of people at once?Import a CSV from People with name, email, department and hours columns. You get a preview of who's new and who's being merged into an existing profile before anything's actually created.
How do I remove someone?From People, remove them. This deletes their account for good — it can't be undone. Any shifts they were on stay on the schedule as open shifts rather than disappearing.

Company-wide settings

Where do I set unpaid breaks and the unpredictable-hours rule?Both live in Settings. Unpaid breaks are a single company-wide length, applied to every shift over the size you set — not something that varies by shift pattern. The unpredictable-hours contract is set per-person from their profile in People, and turns their stated availability into a hard scheduling block instead of a soft warning.
What does setting the company's country actually change?It applies the matching working-time rule pack automatically — rest hours, night-work limits, youth-employment rules, and, for Denmark specifically, auto-approving sick leave of 4 days or fewer instead of sending it to a manager. Every figure it sets is still editable afterward on the Enterprise plan.
Can I turn a notification off for the whole company?Yes — a switch per event type (schedule published, swap decided, leave decided, shift reminder) in Settings, separate from each person's own choice for themselves. Turning one off here overrides everyone's personal setting for it. Whether email is used at all is a separate, company-wide channel toggle; SMS and push aren't available yet.

Reports & compliance

What's in Reports?Labor cost for the week and a flag on anyone running over their contracted hours. It's available on the Growth plan and above.
Where's the audit log?Audit log (Growth plan and above) records every change — who made it, and from where — across people, shifts, swaps, leave and settings.

Your account & security

How do I change my name, photo, password or language?From your profile, in the menu under your name — update your details, password, language and theme, and see (or sign out) any other device you're logged into.
I forgot my password — can I reset it myself?Yes — use "Forgot password?" on the login page. We'll email you a reset link that's valid for one hour.
Can I get a copy of my own data, or delete my profile?Both live on your profile. "Download my data" gives you a JSON file with your profile, shifts, leave, swaps, availability and notifications. You can't delete your own profile while you're the company's only admin — make someone else admin first.
Still stuck?

For anything about your own account or company — a schedule, a swap, a person — ask your manager or company admin, since they can see and change it directly. For anything about helloswap itself, reach us at support@helloswap.com.

helloswap

Workforce scheduling for shift-based teams — build the week, let people trade shifts under your rules.

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