Shifts
What this section is for
Shifts is where the org schedules work slots and where humans sign up for them. The system covers the full arc of an event: Set-up (build), Event, and Strike. Set-up and Strike use all-day shifts you can book as a date range; Event shifts are time-slotted.
Shifts are team-owned. Every shift belongs to a rota (a named container), and every rota belongs to a department or sub-team. That ownership drives visibility and management — department coordinators run shifts for their department, and a rota can be hidden from humans until a coordinator is ready to open it.
The section also captures the data that makes scheduling work: your shift preferences (skills, work style, languages) and per-event profile info.
![TODO: screenshot — /Shifts browse page showing filters and a mix of Event and Build rotas]
Key pages at a glance
| Page | Path | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Browse shifts | /Shifts |
Find and sign up for shifts across all departments |
| My shifts | /Shifts/Mine |
See your upcoming, pending, and past signups; bail if needed |
| Shift preferences wizard | /Profile/Me/ShiftInfo |
Tell coordinators about your skills, work style, and languages |
| Team shift admin | /Teams/{slug}/Shifts |
Coordinators: manage rotas and shifts for a department |
| Event settings | /Shifts/Settings |
Admin: configure event dates, timezone, early-entry capacity, and the global browsing toggle |
Your dashboard also surfaces shift info — upcoming signups, or a guided discovery card with urgent understaffed shifts if you have none.
As a Volunteer
Set your preferences first. At /Profile/Me/ShiftInfo, walk through the three-step wizard: skills (Bartending, Cooking, Sound, First Aid, Driving, etc.), work style (Early Bird / Night Owl / All Day / No Preference, plus toggles like Sober Shift, Work In Shade, No Heights), and languages. Change any of it later. Coordinators use this to match you with shifts that fit.
Browse shifts at /Shifts. Filter by department, date range, and period (Set-up / Event / Strike). Tag filters live above the list — click a tag like "Heavy lifting" or "Meeting new people" to narrow the view. Open the preferences panel to save tag preferences so matching shifts are highlighted with a star. Consecutive all-day Set-up and Strike shifts in the same rota are compressed into date ranges; click to expand individual days.
Sign up. Signing up on the browse page is per-day and instant: click a day's button to sign up, click it again to remove yourself — the row updates in place with no page reload and no confirmation prompt. This works the same for both timed Event shifts and all-day Set-up/Strike days. A click that would overlap one of your existing confirmed signups is refused with a warning toast and the day stays unsigned. If the rota's policy is Public, you're auto-confirmed. If RequireApproval, your signup goes in as Pending and a coordinator approves or refuses it. Approval/refusal updates show up under My Shifts; the coordinators of the rota's department are notified in-app on every signup state change.
See your shifts at /Shifts/Mine. Signups are grouped into upcoming, pending, and past. To cancel, use Bail — on a single shift, or a whole range you booked together (Mine groups range signups by SignupBlockId so the bail covers every day in the block). Once early-entry close passes, non-privileged humans can't sign up for, range-sign-up to, or bail from Set-up (build-period) shifts without a coordinator's help. The page also lets you set general availability (which build/event/strike day offsets you're around for) so coordinators can find you in volunteer search.
Shift block patterns (2026). Set-up and Strike use half-day or full-day blocks; sign up for the weeks you're on site within your department. Event-week 24-hour services use two blocks: Monday–Thursday and Friday–Sunday — you're on one block for the full run. Other Event-week roles vary by department; your coordinator confirms.
Don't sign up across multiple departments on the same day — it creates double-booking and someone gets shorted. Commit to your block. Cherry-picking single shifts and disappearing makes coordination significantly harder.
![TODO: screenshot — /Shifts/Mine showing upcoming, pending, and past sections]
Related sections
- Teams — rotas belong to departments and sub-teams; coordinator status on a team unlocks shift management.
- Profiles — your volunteer event profile (skills, dietary, languages) feeds shift matching; no-show history shows on your profile to coordinators.
- Camps — camp timing and early-entry windows share the event settings configured here.