By default, if you double-book a staff member in ShiftCare, the system will automatically flag the conflict by assigning the shift a Pending status. However, there are scenarios where you may want to intentionally double-book a carer without the shift being flagged as an error. By enabling the Overlapping Shifts feature, double-booked shifts will remain in a confirmed Booked status.
To ensure you don't lose track of these conflicts, the system provides clear visual indicators and filters across your schedule and reports.
Enabling Overlapping Shifts
To allow staff to be double-booked without triggering a Pending status, an Admin must enable the setting for the account.
Navigate to Account > Settings from the sidebar menu.
Scroll to the Scheduler section and click 'Edit'.
Toggle 'Allow staff to be scheduled for overlapping shifts' on. Click 'Save'.
Rostering Overlapping Shifts
When creating or editing a shift, the system will alert you if the staff member you are assigning is already booked for that time.
In Advanced Edit: When you select a double-booked carer, a badge stating 'booked for other shifts' will appear next to their name. If you hover over this badge, a tooltip will display the exact times and the name of the client they are conflicting with.
On the Shift Details page: When viewing the details of the saved shift, a green note banner will display at the top stating: "Note: [Staff Name] is booked for other shifts."
Even with these warnings, you can still save the shift successfully.
Visual Indicators on the Scheduler
To help you spot double-bookings at a glance, a specific overlap icon will appear on shifts across all your calendar views.
Weekly/Monthly Timeline View: The overlap icon appears directly on the shift tile.
Tabular View: The overlap icon appears next to the shift date in the list.
Filtering for Overlapping Shifts
You can easily filter your schedule to show only shifts with overlapping carers (or hide them completely).
Click the Filters button at the top of the Scheduler.
Click the 'Others' tab.
Select 'Having' (to show) or 'Not having' (to hide), and tick the 'Overlapping Shifts' checkbox.
Viewing Overlaps on Timesheets and Reports
Overlaps are also clearly marked in your timesheets and billing reports, so your payroll and billing teams are aware of the double-bookings.
Staff Timesheets
When viewing an individual Staff Timesheet, you will see an Overlap Counter showing the total number of overlapping shifts for that period.
An overlap icon will also appear on the individual shift rows that have conflicts.
Client Billing Reports
When viewing the Shifts Breakdown / Billing Report for a client, a dedicated column will display the overlap icon for any shifts where the assigned carer was double-booked.
Report Hub (Shift Details)
When running the Shift Details report in the Report Hub, the overlap icon will appear next to the Shift ID.
You can also use the 'Others' filter here (using the Having/Not having toggle) to quickly isolate all overlapping shifts across your entire organisation.
For further assistance with Allowing and Managing Overlapping Shifts, please contact our Support team using online chat when you're logged into ShiftCare or email our Support team at support@shiftcare.com.