Employee App: how your staff use it day to day

The ShiftTracker Employee App lets security officers, cleaners and facilities staff book on and off, log check calls, see their shifts and request leave from a phone or the web portal. Workers book on from the Check Calls screen, and the system records the exact time of every action. Shift notifications reach each person through the channels they choose: in the app, by email or by push. Leave requests go to an Admin or Manager, and approval takes the worker off the shifts it covers. Managers see the same records on the roster and the check-call board, so a missed check call or an unbooked shift shows up without a phone call. This guide takes each step a worker makes in turn, what a manager sees on screen, and the settings that change how the app behaves. Each section answers one question a manager or worker is likely to ask.

How do staff book on and off a shift?

Staff book on, make check calls and book off from the Check Calls screen. On the default settings, Book On opens an hour before the shift starts, and Book Off opens 15 minutes before it ends. The Check Call button appears only after a worker has booked on.

A four-digit PIN is required by default. The system sets the PIN rather than the worker, and it appears under My Profile, where the line under the worker's name reads PIN followed by the digits. If it shows an employee number instead, no PIN has been set, so the worker should ask a manager for one.

Location is checked only where the site is geofenced or the shift pattern asks for GPS. At a geofenced site set to block, a book-on outside the boundary is refused and the message gives the distance. At a site set to warn, the action goes through and the distance is recorded. Book off before you leave, because Require Previous Shift Booked Off is on by default. An open shift from the last 36 hours stops the next book-on, and older ones are left to an administrator.

What does a check call involve for the worker?

A check call is a short confirmation that a lone worker is safe during a shift. The worker logs it inside a window. On the default settings, the window opens 15 minutes before the call is due and stays open for 30 minutes after. A Check call due notification arrives while the call is still missing.

If a worker cannot use the app, an Admin or Manager can log the call by phone from the Check Calls board. The same board lets an Admin or Manager escalate a missed call. For how windows and escalation fit together, see the check-call windows and escalation guide.

What does a manager see when a check call is missed?

Missed check calls appear on the Check Calls board, which refreshes every 30 seconds. Events on shifts still running sit under the Unconfirmed tab, which opens by default whenever there are any. Missed calls on shifts that have already booked off move to the Closed tab, as a record rather than an alarm.

From the board, an Admin or Manager can log a call taken by phone, escalate a missed one and open any shift's timeline. The monitor check calls guide covers each tab.

How do employees see their shifts and receive changes?

Staff see their upcoming shifts without calling the office. Each person chooses, under Settings and then Notifications, whether ShiftTracker contacts them in the app, by email or by push to the mobile app. Each channel can send instantly, in hourly or daily batches, or as a daily or weekly digest, with optional quiet hours.

Instant delivery is the default, so a change reaches the worker as it happens. A worker who would rather receive fewer alerts can choose a batch or digest. The notifications guide lists which alerts each role receives.

Notification settings: each person chooses the channels and the timing.

How do staff request time off?

Staff request leave from Holidays and Leave in the employee portal. They choose one of seven leave types and a start and end date. ShiftTracker counts only the days in that range on which the worker was rostered to work, and each request stays Pending until an Admin or Manager approves or rejects it.

A range with no scheduled shift is refused, because leave applies only to days on the roster. Approval takes the worker off the shifts the leave covers, and those shifts reopen for cover. The worker's My Schedule then stops showing them. The request leave guide sets out each step.

Leave Management: Admins and Managers review each request here.

How do staff get a copy of their schedule by email?

Staff can email their own schedule from My Schedule. The Email my schedule panel sends the next two weeks, or the rest of the current month, to the address the worker signs in with. It cannot be sent anywhere else, and it contains only that person's shifts.

The panel can also send it automatically, either every Sunday evening for the next two Monday-to-Sunday weeks, or on the first of each month. Notes and pay are never included. The email my schedule guide explains the options.

How do forms and pay connect to the app?

Managers choose which sites and staff can open each form, and a form can be always available or sent after a shift or on a schedule. Incident reports and cleaning checklists are common examples. A submission carries its site, submitter and timestamp, and a reviewer moves it from Submitted to Under Review, then to Approved or Rejected.

Pay is set and exported by Admins and Managers, not by workers. They arbitrate worked shifts and export hours to Sage 50 or a generic hours file. A worker sees any correction on their own My Schedule.

How we checked this guide

We checked each step against ShiftTracker's employee, notification and organisation documentation, as captured on 30 October 2026. We have not tested the app on a phone for this guide. Before you train staff, run one shift end to end on a live site: book on, make a check call, request leave and book off.