Careswitch gives you three ways to put a caregiver on a shift. The right one comes down to two questions: how committed are you, and does the caregiver get a say?

Assigns the caregiver and notifies them right away (push and email, per their settings). The shift lands on their schedule as Scheduled. Use this when the assignment is final.

Sends the shift as an offer the caregiver can accept or decline from the mobile app. It shows as Offer Pending until they respond — accept moves it to Scheduled, decline sends it back to unassigned. Use this when you want their buy-in or they might pass. To let several caregivers claim the same shift, post it as an open shift instead (see Filling open shifts and handling caregiver callouts).

Reserves the caregiver without notifying them — they can't see it in their app yet. It shows as Tentative on your end. Use it to hold someone while you finalize details, then confirm it (promote to Scheduled) — that's when they're finally notified.

Open the shift → Configure Assignment → pick the caregiver, then choose Schedule or Tentative. To offer instead, use the Offer flow.

For a recurring series, you'll pick which shifts the assignment applies to: This shift only, This and all following unassigned shifts, or This and all following shifts. (Incomplete shifts can only be changed one at a time.)

Correct — it's private to your office until you confirm it. No notification goes out until then.

An offer targets one caregiver to accept or decline. An open shift is posted for many caregivers to claim.

It won't auto-assign — the shift goes Incomplete, so don't rely on an unconfirmed offer or tentative to cover care.

No — in the family view, Scheduled, Offer Pending, and Tentative all just show as "Scheduled."