How availability gates the coverage candidate pool#
For: Manager You’ll need: Nothing.
Coverage decides “is this person available right now?” in two steps. Approved leave and blocks marked unavailable take anyone out of the candidate pool for those hours, whatever their availability mode. Beyond that, it depends on the person’s mode.
Mode A — always available#
When a person’s ‘Set my availability’ setting is off (Mode A), they don’t have to enter when they can work — they’re considered available unless approved leave or an unavailable block says otherwise. They appear in the candidate pool for every other hour they’re eligible for the position at the location.
Mode B — gated by availability#
When ‘Set my availability’ is on (Mode B), the person is only considered available during the times they (or you) have entered as availability blocks. Outside those windows they’re left out of a cell’s +N count of people still free; the quick-assign ‘Eligible’ list still shows them, with the reason they can’t be assigned.
Example: a Tuesday barista shift#
You’re staffing a Tuesday 14:00 – 22:00 Barista shift:
Ada (Mode A — ‘Set my availability’ off) has marked nothing and is a candidate for every hour.
Ben (Mode B) marked Tuesday 14:00 – 20:00 as available. He’s a candidate, with an amber warning: “Shift extends outside person’s stated availability”.
Cara (Mode B) marked nothing on Tuesday. She’s blocked — “No availability defined for this time period” — and dropped from the assignment dropdown.
Dee has a confirmed vacation block over Tuesday. She’s blocked: “Person is unavailable” — the same in Mode A or Mode B.
Tip
Mode A is good for full-time staff with predictable hours; Mode B is good for casual / part-time / on-call staff who self-report when they can work. Set the mode for someone with the ‘Set availabilities and working hours’ checkbox on their person page. People can also switch it themselves under ‘Set my availability’ in their Personal settings.
Verify it worked#
Open the assignment form for a shift. Anyone in Mode B with nothing marked for that window is absent from the ‘Person’ dropdown — the blocking reason reads “No availability defined for this time period” — while anyone in Mode A is offered unless approved leave or an unavailable block overlaps the shift.