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Request casual availability
Choose when to collect hours and send the right dates to your casual workers.
Last updated · 10 November 2026
Availability requests give casual support workers a period to answer and a clear submission date. Open Workforce > Availability.
Set up collection
The settings sit above the calendar. Each choice saves automatically. Changing collection settings needs both Settings edit and Workers edit access. Requests and availability reviews need Workers edit access.
| Setting | Choose |
|---|---|
| Cycle | Weekly, Fortnightly or Monthly. Choose the period the casual team will answer together. This controls the date range being requested, not a worker’s permanent weekly pattern. |
| Timezone | Choose the city timezone used for the period and deadline: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin or Hobart. Check this before choosing dates, especially for teams across states. |
| Submit before | Choose On the first day, or 1 to 28 days before the period starts. The saved pill describes days before Monday for weekly/fortnightly periods, or before the 1st for monthly periods. Earlier deadlines give the office time to review before rostering. |
For example, choose Weekly, Sydney and 7 days before the period starts to collect the following Monday-to-Sunday week one week in advance. Select one setting at a time and wait for saving to finish. There is no separate settings Save button; a failed choice returns to the last saved value and shows an error.
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Weekly is the current cycle and the open menu offers Fortnightly or Monthly. Each setting saves when selected; no setting was changed for this image.
Periods and first requests for eligible casual workers are created automatically when the collection is configured and the period is within the six-week request window. Weekly and fortnightly periods start on a Monday; monthly periods start on the first of the month. Changing the cycle does not mean you need to create each period by hand.
Send or repeat a request
Choose the period
Use the date arrows or calendar picker to open the period you want. Read the complete start and end dates before selecting recipients; a request is for this period, not whichever week the worker last opened. Requests open six weeks before its start. An active period can still be requested while future dates remain.
Choose the workers
Select Request availability. The recipient field starts at All casual workers. Leave it as it is for everyone eligible, or open Recipients, search and select particular workers. Check each selected name before sending. Remove a selected worker with their chip’s remove control; removing all selections returns to All casual workers. It does not mean “send to nobody”.
Send
Select Send to all workers, or Send to workers when you have selected recipients. The worker receives a request that opens the relevant period in their app. The calendar shows Submit by once a request exists.
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This request is for 9–15 November. All casual workers means eligible recipients; workers already approved for the whole period are skipped. No request was sent.
If the request button is unavailable
Read the message beside it. Set up availability means collection is not configured. Opens gives the date a future period becomes requestable. Period ended, Period closed or Period not open explains why that period cannot be requested.
Only casual support workers appear as recipients. If someone is missing, check their account type and employment type. Set permanent workers’ regular hours directly.
Automatic collection, manual follow-up
Automatic collection creates the initial requests for eligible casual workers. Use the recipient controls when you need to request a period again or follow up selected workers. An existing request is not repeatedly resent by the automatic process. A worker counts as approved for a period only when every relevant future date has an approved answer, including dates marked Unavailable. One approved day does not complete the whole period.
Next: Review submitted availability.
Check account access and delivery
Automatic requests use the worker’s active employment and account access. An invited or suspended worker account may not yet be eligible for an automatic request. Check the worker’s account status and employment type, then return to the period. A worker without a login can still have hours managed by the office.
Workers already approved for every relevant future day of the period are skipped and shown as Approved in the recipient picker. One office day edit is not whole-period completion. If everyone is already approved, there is no new request to send.
After sending, confirm the saved request or Submit by information. The worker can respond from their app’s Availability area. If a phone alert fails after saving, the request can still exist in the app; read the partial-delivery message before resending. Never treat a missing phone alert as proof that no request was saved.
Close the request panel
After Request availability opens the recipients, the button changes to Close availability. It closes that panel. It does not close the collection period, cancel a request or approve any hours. If the period itself is unavailable, read Period closed, Period ended or the other request-state message before continuing.