The Trade Settings feature enables administrators to establish policies and workflows for shift trades within their department. This configuration determines how personnel request shift trades, who approves them, what work types apply, and what restrictions exist. Properly configured trade settings ensure compliance with labor agreements, maintain qualified staffing levels, and streamline the approval process while giving personnel flexibility to manage their schedules.
Shift trading is a common practice in fire and EMS departments that allows personnel to exchange scheduled shifts with qualified colleagues. This feature supports work-life balance while maintaining operational staffing requirements. Trade settings must be carefully configured to align with department policies, collective bargaining agreements, and FLSA compliance requirements.
Key considerations include:
To configure Trade Settings, users must have:
Determine how trade requests will be routed by selecting one of the following approval methods:
Let the user select who should approve the request - Gives the requestor flexibility to choose their approver from authorized personnel.
Allow any admin with approve/deny permission - Routes requests to all administrators who have trade approval permissions; any qualified admin can act on the request.
Notify on duty - Automatically routes the request to personnel currently on duty in a specific assignment or with a specific qualifier. This ensures requests reach actively working supervisors.
Select a specific user to whom all requests will go - Designates a single person (typically a scheduling officer or battalion chief) to receive and process all trade requests.
All Users with the permission can approve any trade- Allows any administrator to approve trades, even if it wasn't sent to them for approval
Configure request routing escalation to define what happens if the initial approver doesn't respond within your department's timeframe.
Configure Trading Options to establish trade limitations:
Limit Trades from a traded shift - When enabled, prevents users from trading away a shift they have already acquired through a trade. This prevents complex trade chains and maintains schedule integrity.
Limit trades to matching qualifiers - When enabled, restricts trades to only personnel who possess the same qualifications for the day they are trying to trade off. This ensures qualified staffing is maintained for specialized positions (e.g., paramedics can only trade with paramedics, engineers with engineers).
Do:
Don't:
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
Q: Personnel aren't receiving trade request notifications. What's wrong?
A: Check the request routing configuration. If "Notify on duty" is selected, ensure the qualifier or assignment has personnel actively scheduled. If a specific user is designated, verify their notification settings and that they have the appropriate approval permissions.
Q: What happens if someone trades a shift but then calls in sick?
A: The person who accepted the trade is responsible for working it. Configure your trade disclaimer to clearly state that accepting a trade creates the same obligations as a regularly scheduled shift. The time off type you've configured will apply if they request sick leave.
Q: Should we reverse trades in reports for payroll purposes?
A: This depends on your department's payroll practices and collective bargaining agreement. Many departments prefer to show actual worked shifts (reverse disabled) for accurate payroll processing, but some prefer to show original assignments (reverse enabled) for budget tracking against scheduled positions.
Q: Can we prevent trades during specific high-risk periods (holidays, special events)?
A: While trade settings don't include date-based restrictions, you can implement administrative controls by temporarily adjusting approval routing to a specific supervisor who can apply discretionary judgment during those periods.
Q: How do we handle trades that affect overtime calculations?
A: Configure work types carefully to accurately represent the nature of the traded shift. Consult with your payroll administrator to ensure the work types and time off types you've selected properly integrate with your overtime calculation rules and FLSA requirements.