What scheduling does in Careswitch
Scheduling lives in the Shifts area. This is where your office team builds and runs the schedule: you can view shifts on a calendar or a timeline, create one-off or recurring shifts, assign a caregiver directly or open a shift up for caregivers to claim, edit shifts (including a whole recurring series), and remove shifts by cancelling, deleting, or archiving them. You can also apply rate modifiers, track how profitable each shift is, and remind caregivers when a shift still needs to be finished.
This guide walks through each of these tasks with the exact buttons and fields you will see in the app, plus a short FAQ at the end for the questions that come up most.
Getting to the Shifts area
In the left sidebar, under Operations, click Shifts.
At the top of the page you will see four tabs: Table, Calendar, Timeline, and Schedules. Table is a list of every shift, Calendar lays shifts out in a grid across the days of the week, Timeline draws them to scale along a continuous seven-day, 24-hour axis, and Schedules lists your recurring schedules. Careswitch remembers which tab you used last and opens it the next time you come to Shifts.
Using the calendar view
On the Shifts page, click the Calendar tab.
Use the Group by menu to choose whether each row represents your Employees or your Clients.
Use the Display menu to switch between People with shifts (only show rows that have shifts that week) and Everyone (show every person, even those without shifts). When you group by Employees, the same menu has an Absences checkbox that shows approved absences on the calendar.
Use the Filter menu to narrow the calendar — for example by Shift Status, Shift Method, Billing, Payer Type, or Employee Role. A number badge on the Filter menu shows how many filters are active, and each filter has a Clear option. (The calendar does not include an EVV filter; that one lives on the Table tab.)
To move between weeks, use the left and right arrow buttons next to the date range, or click the date range itself to jump to a specific week with the pop-up calendar.
To open a shift, click its block on the calendar. To start a brand-new shift for a specific person and day, click an empty cell in that person's row — the create form opens pre-filled with that date and that client (when grouped by Clients) or that caregiver (when grouped by Employees).
Using the Timeline view
The Timeline tab shows the same week as the Calendar, but every shift is drawn to scale on a continuous seven-day, 24-hour axis in your workspace's time zone. That makes overlapping, back-to-back, and overnight shifts much easier to read than in the grid, where an overnight shift sits in a single day's cell.
On the Shifts page, click the Timeline tab. Your Group by, Display, and Filter choices carry over from the Calendar — they're shared between the two views.
Each row is one caregiver (grouped by Employees) or one client (grouped by Clients). The current day's column is tinted, a Today badge marks it in the day header, and a vertical "now" line shows the current time; both update every minute while the tab is open.
When grouped by Employees, dashed Unavailable bands from each caregiver's availability schedule appear behind their shifts, so you can see at a glance whether a shift falls outside the hours they've said they can work. Turn on Absences under Display to show approved absences as well.
Use the Timeline zoom controls in the toolbar (zoom out, slider, zoom in) to change how much space an hour takes — zoomed out, the whole week fits on screen; zoomed in, a 15-minute visit is a readable block. You can also hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) and scroll to zoom.
Click a shift to open it. The Timeline is a read-and-review view: you can't drag shifts around in it, and if you print it, Careswitch prints the Calendar grid instead.
Creating a shift
On the Shifts page (Table or Calendar tab), click the Create Shift button in the top-right corner.
Choose Manual to fill in the details yourself. If you have permission to use the Assistant, you will also see an Assistant option that opens the side-panel Assistant so you can describe the shift in plain language. (If you don't see Assistant, your role doesn't have that permission — use Manual.)
The page is titled Create Schedule (the same form creates both single shifts and recurring schedules). Under Configure Shift Details, choose the Client the care is for.
Choose the Service for this shift. If the client has a service that still needs setup, a Service Setup Required (or Some Services Need Setup) alert appears with a Complete setup → link — click it and finish the service setup before continuing.
If the service has third-party payer policies, a Specify policy? switch appears. Leave it off to let Careswitch pick the applicable policy automatically, or turn it on and choose one under Select Policy to lock this shift to a specific policy (this affects which bill rate applies).
Set the bill rate. Under Private Pay Bill Rate, pick one of the service's configured rates, or choose Custom to enter a one-off Bill Rate Name and Bill Rate Amount. If the service has no bill rate for the chosen shift method, a Bill Rate Setup Required alert appears with a Configure bill rates → link — you must set up a rate there before the shift can be saved. If the service is 3rd party, then you don't need to do anything, careswitch will automatically handle the correct bill rate.
To apply a rate modifier, choose one from the Private Pay Bill Modifier menu (see Setting up rate modifiers for how these are created). This menu only appears when bill modifiers exist in your workspace.
If you use profit targets, choose a Gross Profit Calculation and a Net Profit Calculation so the shift's profitability can be tracked. These are optional — see Scheduling for profitability.
Set the Start Date, then the Start Time and End Time. The page shows the resulting Shift Duration and flags the shift as Overnight if the end time is earlier than or the same as the start time.
Click Save, or Cancel to leave without creating the shift.
Setting up a recurring schedule
On the Create Schedule page, turn on the Repeats switch.
Enter a number under Repeats Every and choose the frequency: Day, Week, or Month.
For weekly schedules, pick the days of the week with the weekday checkboxes.
To use different times on different days, turn on Customize shift times per day. Each checked weekday then gets its own start and end time (a moon icon appears next to any day that crosses midnight).
Optionally set a Repeats Until date. If you leave it blank, the schedule continues until the service ends.
Assigning a caregiver directly
Use Configure Assignment when you already know who should take the shift. It offers two ways to assign:
Schedule — the employee is assigned and notified immediately.
Tentative — the employee is added to the shift but is not notified until you move the shift to Schedule. Use this to hold a spot quietly while you confirm things.
Open the shift, then click Configure Assignment in the action bar.
Under Assignment Type, choose Schedule or Tentative.
If this shift is part of a recurring schedule, an Affected Shifts choice appears: This shift only, This and all following unassigned shifts, or This and all following shifts. Pick how far the assignment should reach.
Pick the caregiver in the Employee field. Only caregivers in the onboarding, active, or departure professional stages appear here — anyone in another stage (for example, a prospect) simply won't be listed.
Optionally add a Note and choose people under Notify Team Members.
Click the confirm button (it reads Schedule or Tentative to match your choice).
Get an AI caregiver recommendation
In Configure Assignment, click Recommend with Assistant to have the side-panel Assistant suggest the best-fit caregiver based on qualifications, availability, and client compatibility. When it finishes, it auto-fills the Employee field with its recommendation, which you can then confirm or change before saving.
Offering a shift to caregivers
Offer Shift is different from assigning directly: instead of picking one person, you post the shift so caregivers can claim it. (Inside Configure Assignment you may see a Want caregivers to claim this shift? alert with a Go to Offer button that takes you to the same flow.)
Open the shift and click Offer Shift in the action bar.
Choose who to reach: By category (notify everyone matching a pool of roles, tags, and statuses) or Specific caregivers (hand-pick people to offer it to).
Under Included Shifts, choose This shift or This and all following shifts.
For By category, build the pool with the role, tag, status, and gender selectors (each can Include or Exclude). For Specific caregivers, pick people in the Caregivers field.
Submit with Offer shift (specific caregivers) or Post (by category). The first caregiver to accept is assigned; everyone else is withdrawn. If a caregiver is already assigned, you'll be asked to confirm unassigning them first.
Unassigning a caregiver from a shift
When a caregiver can no longer work a shift they're assigned to — a call-out, a schedule change, a client request — take them off the shift with Unassign. The shift goes back to Unassigned so you can assign someone else or offer it out, and the reason you give is recorded in the shift's history.
Open the shift and click Unassign in the caregiver section of the shift page. You can also hover over the shift on the Calendar and choose Unassign from its menu.
If the shift belongs to a recurring schedule, choose under Affected Shifts whether to remove the caregiver from This Shift only or This and all following shifts.
Choose a Reason. This is required. The list is grouped by who is driving the change — the caregiver (for example Call Out, No Call, No Show, Sick Day, Vacation, Training, Personal, Work Injury, FMLA, Jury Duty), the client (Requested Change), or the office (Unable to Staff) — and your workspace's list may differ.
Optionally add a Note and pick people under Notify Team Members.
Click Remove.
If you'd rather record the caregiver's time off once and let Careswitch handle every shift it overlaps, record an absence from the caregiver's Schedule tab instead — Careswitch shows you the affected shifts before unassigning them. Shifts unassigned that way are logged with the reason "Approved absence".
Editing a shift
Open the shift from the calendar or table.
Click Edit in the top-right action bar. (Depending on the shift's status, Edit may sit inside the More menu.)
Make your changes and click Save.
Editing one shift in a recurring schedule vs. the whole series
If the shift belongs to a recurring schedule, the edit form makes you choose under Affected Shifts:
This Shift — changes only that single occurrence and forks it out of the series.
This and all following shifts — updates the whole series from that date forward. An Impact to Schedule alert appears explaining that all following shifts will also be updated.
Editing is available only while the shift can still be changed (it has not started and is in an editable status). See Why billing and payroll can lock a shift below for what limits editing once a shift is billed or paid.
Cancelling, restoring, deleting, and archiving
There are three different ways to take a shift off the active schedule. They are not interchangeable:
Cancel keeps the shift in the schedule, marked as canceled, and is reversible with Restore.
Delete permanently removes the shift and is blocked once billing, payroll, or EVV has advanced.
Archive hides a completed or in-progress shift that isn't on an invoice.
Cancelling a shift
Open the shift, click More in the action bar, then choose Cancel Shift.
The form opens with a note that any assigned caregiver stays assigned, the shift is marked canceled in their schedule, and clients may still be billed for canceled shifts.
Choose a Reason for the cancellation.
If you still want to pay the caregiver, turn on I wish to still pay the caregiver for this shift.
Optionally add a Note (posted on the shift's activity tab and included in notifications you send).
Use Notify Team Members to select anyone who should be told.
Click Continue.
Restoring a cancelled shift
If you cancel a shift by mistake, open it again and use the Restore action to bring it back. Restore is only available for canceled shifts, and it disappears once any of the shift's line items have been billed or paid. If Restore is missing for that reason, you'll need to remove the shift from its invoice or claim first (and a paid item is locked — see below).
Deleting vs. archiving
Delete (in the More menu) permanently removes a shift. It is only allowed for shifts in the unassigned, offer pending, scheduled, tentative, canceled, or incomplete states, and it is blocked when:
any line item is on an invoice or a claim, or
any payable item is approved or locked (payable, processing, or paid), or
the shift's EVV (Sandata) visit has already been submitted externally — in that case, cancel the shift instead so the visit is voided properly.
Archive (in the More menu) is for tidying up completed or in-progress shifts that are not on an invoice. It hides them from normal views rather than deleting them.
Notifying caregivers of incomplete shifts
A shift is marked Incomplete when its scheduled time has passed but it was not clocked in or out as expected. You can remind the assigned caregiver to finish it.
Filter the calendar or table by Shift Status and select Incomplete to find them quickly.
Click the shift to open it.
Click Notify Caregiver in the action bar (it may be inside the More menu).
Check any of Push Notification, Email, or SMS.
Click Notify.
Setting up rate modifiers
Rate modifiers adjust pay and bill rates for things like holidays or special situations. You set them up once in settings, then choose them on a shift.
In the left sidebar, click Settings, then open Rate Modifiers.
Click Add Pay Modifier or Add Bill Modifier.
Give it a Modifier Name, choose a Modifier Type, and enter the Amount. Pay modifiers can be Multiplier, Added to Rate, or Added to Total; bill modifiers can be Multiplier or Added to Rate.
Save it. A bill modifier then becomes selectable as a Private Pay Bill Modifier when you create or edit a shift. (Pay modifiers apply during payroll, not at shift creation.)
For holidays, use the Holidays section on the same page to set each holiday's Pay Rate Multiplier and Bill Rate Multiplier.
Scheduling for profitability
Careswitch can show how profitable a shift is so you can schedule with margins in mind. This is optional, and it depends on having profit calculations configured first — without them, no profit figures appear on the shift.
Go to Settings and open Financial Targets. Add Net Profit Calculations and Gross Profit Calculations for the team to use.
When creating or editing a shift, choose the relevant Gross Profit Calculation and Net Profit Calculation.
Open the shift to review its profitability. For shifts that aren't completed yet, these are projections based on the scheduled details.
Why billing and payroll can lock a shift
Once a shift's line items have been billed or paid, the app intentionally limits what you can do so financial records stay consistent. Specifically:
Cancel is unavailable if any line item is billed or paid.
Restore disappears once line items are billed or paid.
Delete is blocked by invoiced/claimed line items, by approved or locked payable items, or by a submitted EVV visit.
To make changes, first remove the shift from its invoice or claim, then retry. If the related payroll item has already been paid, it is locked and can't be unwound from the shift page — that is the one case where you'll need to involve your billing/payroll workflow (or reach Support if you can't otherwise unblock it) rather than self-serve.
Using AI to schedule safely
Careswitch's AI is branded Looper, and there are two surfaces you'll meet while scheduling:
The Assistant is the in-app side panel. It's what opens when you pick Assistant in the Create Shift menu or click Recommend with Assistant, and it's good for creating shifts from plain language and getting caregiver recommendations.
The Command Center is the larger agent that can run longer, multi-step work. It auto-confirms its actions and has no undo, so treat anything it does as live.
Both can run in Read-Only Mode, which limits them to read-only tools so you can preview the impact of a scheduling or financial change before anything is committed. When you're about to have AI create or change real shifts, use Read-Only Mode first to confirm the plan, then run it for real. For a caregiver callout, there is no dedicated web button — ask the Assistant to handle the callout and it will find replacements and offer or reassign the shift for you.
Frequently asked questions
When should I use the Timeline instead of the Calendar?
Use the Timeline when you need to see how shifts relate in time — overlaps, tight back-to-back visits, overnight shifts that cross midnight, or whether a shift sits inside a caregiver's available hours. Use the Calendar grid for a compact week-at-a-glance and for printing. Both views share the same Group by, Display, and Filter settings, and Careswitch reopens whichever tab you used last.
What's the difference between Schedule and Tentative when assigning a caregiver?
Schedule assigns the caregiver and notifies them right away. Tentative adds them to the shift but does not notify them until you move the shift to Schedule — useful for holding a spot quietly while you confirm details.
How do I let multiple caregivers claim a shift instead of assigning one?
Open the shift and click Offer Shift. Choose By category to notify a pool (by role, tag, status, gender) or Specific caregivers to hand-pick people. The first to accept is assigned, and the rest are withdrawn.
Why does Careswitch ask for a reason when I unassign a caregiver?
The reason is recorded on the shift's history so you can later see why coverage changed — and tell a caregiver call-out apart from a client request or an office staffing decision. It's required, so pick the closest match from your workspace's list.
Why did editing a recurring shift ask whether to change "This Shift" or "This and all following shifts"?
Because the shift belongs to a recurring schedule. This Shift changes only that one occurrence; This and all following shifts updates the whole series from that date forward, and you'll see an Impact to Schedule alert confirming it.
Why can't I cancel or delete this shift?
Cancel is blocked when a line item has been billed or paid. Delete is blocked when the shift is on an invoice or claim, has approved or locked payable items, or has an EVV (Sandata) visit that was already submitted. Remove the shift from its invoice/claim first; if a payable item is already paid, it's locked. A shift with a submitted EVV visit must be canceled (not deleted) so the visit voids correctly.
I canceled a shift by mistake — how do I get it back, and why is Restore sometimes missing?
Open the canceled shift and click Restore. Restore only shows for canceled shifts, and it disappears once any line items have been billed or paid. If that's the case, remove the shift from its invoice or claim first.
Why doesn't a particular caregiver show up in the Employee list when I assign a shift?
Only caregivers in the onboarding, active, or departure professional stages can be assigned. Someone in another stage (for example, a prospect) won't appear in the picker — move them to an eligible stage first.
Why don't I see profit figures on my shift?
Profit tracking is optional. You need profit calculations set up in Settings → Financial Targets, and you need a Gross Profit Calculation and/or Net Profit Calculation selected on the shift. With none configured or selected, no profit figures appear.
Why doesn't the Create Shift menu show an "Assistant" option for me?
The Assistant option in the Create Shift menu only appears for users whose role has permission to use the Assistant. If you don't have it, use Manual to create the shift.
Can I preview what an AI-driven shift change will do before it happens?
Yes. Run the Assistant or Command Center in Read-Only Mode to preview the impact safely. Keep in mind the Command Center auto-confirms its actions and has no undo, so preview first before letting it change live data.