Introduction
Publishing a shift makes an open shift available to eligible workers so you can fill your staffing needs. Depending on your scheduling workflow, you can publish shifts using either First-Come, First-Serve or the Apply workflow, which allows you to review workers before confirming who will be assigned.
Overview
When publishing a shift, you can choose which workers should receive the opportunity and apply filters to help identify eligible staff.
Nowsta currently supports two primary publishing workflows:
First-Come, First-Serve
With First-Come, First-Serve, workers who receive the published shift can accept it on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once all available positions are filled, the remaining workers can no longer accept the shift.
For example, if you publish three available positions to ten workers, the first three eligible workers to accept the shift will receive the assignments.
Publish → Apply
With the Apply workflow, workers can apply for an open shift instead of automatically receiving the assignment. Managers can then review the applicants and choose which workers to confirm.
This workflow allows you to review applicants and select the workers you feel are the best fit for the shift rather than assigning positions based solely on who responds first.
How to Publish a Shift
1. Open the Shift
Go to the Calendar view in Nowsta.
Select the event you want to staff.
Find the shift you want to publish.
Select Publish or Publish This Shift.
2. Select Eligible Workers
Nowsta allows you to choose which workers should receive the shift opportunity.
You can use available filters to narrow down the worker list, including:
Worker availability
Tags
Assignment conflicts
Client or venue restrictions
Workers who have already responded
Unavailable workers
Partially available workers
These filters can help prevent you from sending a shift to workers who are unavailable, already assigned to a conflicting event, restricted from a client or venue, or otherwise not appropriate for the shift.
Review the worker list carefully and select the workers you want to receive the opportunity.
3. Choose Your Publishing Workflow
Depending on your account and scheduling setup, configure the appropriate publishing option.
First-Come, First-Serve
For a first-come, first-serve shift:
Select the workers who should receive the opportunity.
Turn Publish Shift ON.
If desired, turn Enable Notifications ON.
Publish the shift.
Workers who respond first will receive the available positions. Once all positions are filled, the remaining workers can no longer accept the shift.
Publish → Apply
For an application-based shift:
Select the workers who should receive the opportunity.
Turn Publish Shift ON.
Turn Require Workers to Apply ON.
If desired, enable the option to Notify Workers that the shift has been published.
Select Save Changes.
Workers can then apply for the shift, and you can review their applications before confirming assignments.
How to Review and Confirm Applicants
When using the Publish → Apply workflow:
Open the published shift.
Review the number of applicants displayed for the shift.
Select Applicants to view the workers who applied.
Review the applicant details.
Select the checkmark next to the worker you want to confirm.
Continue until the required number of positions has been filled.
Once a worker is confirmed, their status will change to Confirmed, indicating that they are scheduled for the shift.
What Happens to Workers Who Applied but Were Not Confirmed?
You do not have to immediately remove workers who applied but were not selected.
Applicants can remain available with an Applied status. This can be useful as a backup list if another worker becomes unavailable or additional staffing is needed.
Workers can also withdraw their application if they no longer want to be considered for the shift.
How to Publish Immediately or Later
You can prepare a shift before making it available to workers.
Publish Immediately
Use Publish Shift when you are ready for the selected workers to receive or see the shift opportunity.
If notifications are enabled, workers can also be notified that the shift has been published.
Publish Later
If you are not ready to send the shift to workers, you can prepare the event and shift first and publish it when you are ready.
This can be helpful when you want to:
Review staffing requirements first.
Confirm worker eligibility.
Check availability and scheduling conflicts.
Prepare multiple shifts before making them available.
Coordinate the timing of your staffing outreach.
Who Receives a Published Shift?
A published shift is sent or made available to the workers you select during the publishing process, subject to the applicable filters and scheduling requirements.
Before publishing, review workers for:
Availability
Assignment conflicts
Client or venue restrictions
Previous responses
Partial availability
Position qualifications
Other applicable scheduling requirements
Nowsta provides filters that can hide workers who have assignment conflicts, are restricted from a client or venue, have already responded, are unavailable, or are only partially available.
Notifications
Publishing a shift and notifying workers are related but separate actions.
When available, you can enable the Notifications option during the publishing process to notify workers that the shift has been published.
Workers can receive either push notifications or SMS notifications, but not both.
If a worker does not receive a notification, they may still be able to see the published opportunity in the Nowsta Workers App depending on the publishing workflow and their account status.
Alternative Method
Use First-Come, First-Serve for Urgent Staffing
First-Come, First-Serve can be useful when you need to fill multiple positions quickly or have a large group of eligible workers.
For example, if you need three workers and publish those three openings to ten eligible workers, the first three workers to accept will fill the available positions. Once all three positions are filled, the opportunity is no longer available to the remaining workers.
Use Apply When You Want to Choose Workers
Use the Publish → Apply workflow when you want to review applicants before deciding who should work the shift.
This can be helpful when worker experience, qualifications, reliability, or other considerations are important to your staffing decision.
Troubleshooting
Workers are not receiving the shift
First, check whether the workers were included in the publishing selection.
Then verify that:
The shift was actually published.
The worker is eligible for the shift.
The worker is qualified for the required position.
The worker is available.
The worker does not have a conflicting assignment.
The worker is not restricted from the applicable client or venue.
The worker has not already responded to the event.
The appropriate notification option was enabled if you expected a notification.
A worker does not appear in the list of workers to publish to
Review the filters being applied to the worker list.
For example, a worker may be hidden because they:
Have an assignment conflict.
Are unavailable.
Are partially available.
Are restricted from the client or venue.
Have already responded to the event.
You can adjust the applicable filters to review additional workers.
No one has applied for the shift
If you are using Publish → Apply, remember that publishing the shift does not automatically assign workers.
Workers must first apply for the shift. You can then review the applicants and confirm the workers you want to assign.
The shift was filled before a worker could accept it
If you are using First-Come, First-Serve, this is expected behavior.
Workers who respond first receive the available positions. Once all positions have been filled, the remaining workers can no longer accept the shift.
I want to choose which workers get the shift
Use the Publish → Apply workflow instead of First-Come, First-Serve.
This allows workers to apply and gives you the opportunity to review applicants before confirming their assignments.
Important Notes
Publishing a shift makes it available to the workers selected during the publishing process.
First-Come, First-Serve assigns available positions to workers who respond first.
With First-Come, First-Serve, once all available positions are filled, remaining workers can no longer accept the shift.
Publish → Apply allows workers to apply for an open shift while giving managers the ability to review and select applicants.
In the Apply workflow, workers who have applied can remain listed as Applied and serve as a backup pool until you confirm them.
A worker's status changes to Confirmed after you confirm their assignment.
You can use worker filters to help exclude unavailable workers, workers with assignment conflicts, restricted workers, partially available workers, and workers who have already responded.
Enabling notifications helps alert workers that a shift has been published.
Workers can receive either push notifications or SMS notifications, but not both.
Review worker qualifications, availability, and conflicts before publishing.
If a shift is not fully staffed, continue monitoring responses or applications and consider publishing the remaining openings to additional eligible workers.
Summary
Nowsta provides two primary ways to publish open shifts:
First-Come, First-Serve is useful when you want eligible workers to claim available positions as quickly as possible. The first workers to accept receive the available spots.
Publish → Apply is useful when you want workers to apply first and then review and select the best applicants before confirming them.
Before publishing, review worker eligibility, availability, qualifications, restrictions, and assignment conflicts. After publishing, monitor responses or applications and confirm that all required positions are staffed.
For additional guidance, see the Nowsta Help Center articles on Publishing Shift Application Flow and First-Come, First-Serve Publishing. (Intercom)
Need More Help?
Please contact support@nowsta.com. We're happy to help if you have questions or need assistance publishing shifts or troubleshooting worker offers.