Requirements

Employee Roster is entirely self-hosted and stores all data in your own WordPress database with no external API dependencies or SaaS connections. Before installing, verify your environment meets the following minimum versions.

Installation

Installation follows the standard WordPress plugin process. On first activation, the plugin automatically creates all database tables, registers the roster roles, seeds default settings, and creates the five frontend portal pages with no manual setup required.

1. Upload the emp-roster folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install the ZIP through Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
2. Activate the plugin via Plugins > Installed Plugins.
3. On activation the plugin automatically:
   • Creates 8 custom database tables (shifts, assignments, leave, attendance, availability, swap_requests, leave_balances, login_logs)
   • Registers the roster roles emr_manager, emr_supervisor, and emr_employee on paid plans; the free WordPress.org version registers emr_employee only
   • Seeds default settings, one department (General Department) and one location (Main Location)
   • Creates 5 WordPress pages pre-loaded with the frontend portal shortcodes
4. The setup wizard opens automatically the first time an administrator visits an EmpRoster screen. See Setup Wizard.
5. Add your staff at EmpRoster > Staff > + Add Staff, then create your first shift at EmpRoster > Shifts > + New Shift.

Setup Wizard

The setup wizard opens automatically the first time a WordPress administrator visits an EmpRoster screen after activation. It walks through the settings that matter on day one. Every step can be skipped, and everything it sets can be changed later in EmpRoster > Settings.

The free WordPress.org version runs a 7-step wizard the Leave Management step is not included, because the leave module is a paid feature.

Quick Start

Follow these five steps to go from a fresh install to a working roster. Each step takes only a few minutes once the plugin is activated.

1. Create departments: Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Departments and add your departments. Departments are unlimited on every version and plan.

2. Create locations: In Settings > Locations, add location names and pick a colour for each. The colour is used on shift cards and in the calendar views.

3. Add staff: Go to EmpRoster > Staff > + Add Staff. Assign each person a role (Manager, Supervisor, or Employee paid plans), a job type (Full-time, Part-time, or Casual), and an hourly pay rate (when payroll is enabled). A WordPress user account is created automatically.

4. Create a shift: Open EmpRoster > Shifts and click + New Shift. Fill in the department, location, start and end times, break duration, and assignment type. Assign employees directly or publish the shift as an open shift for staff to claim (Starter+).

5. Employees log in: Staff can use the WordPress admin or the frontend portal pages to view their roster, submit leave requests, clock in/out, and set their weekly availability.

The EmpRoster Menu

Everything the plugin does lives under the EmpRoster item in the WordPress admin sidebar. Which sub-items appear depends on the user's role, the plan, and which features are switched on in Settings.

A cleaner admin for roster users

Managers, supervisors and employees who are not WordPress administrators see only the EmpRoster menu when they log in all other plugin menus, dashboard widgets and plugin notices are hidden from them. Administrators always see the full WordPress admin. Roster users are also redirected straight to the EmpRoster dashboard after logging in, rather than the standard WordPress dashboard. See Hidden WordPress UI.

Updating the Plugin

Plugin updates are delivered through the standard WordPress update mechanism. All data staff accounts, shifts, attendance records, leave history, settings, and licence information is fully preserved across updates.

Applying an update

When a new version of Employee Roster is available, a notification appears in WordPress Admin > Dashboard > Updates and on the Plugins screen. Click Update Now to apply it. No manual preparation is needed before updating.

Auto-deactivation during the update process

WordPress briefly deactivates the plugin during the file-replacement step of an update. This is standard WordPress behaviour and is handled transparently no manual deactivation or reactivation is required before or after the update. The plugin reactivates automatically once the new files are in place.

When the updated plugin loads for the first time after a version change, it runs an internal upgrade routine that applies any required database schema migrations. This routine is safe to run on a live site: it is idempotent, runs only when a version increment is detected, and does not modify or delete existing data.

Seamless plan upgrades

Upgrading your licence plan (for example, from Starter to Professional) does not require a plugin update or any WordPress configuration change. Once the upgraded licence is verified, plan-gated features become available immediately on the next page load with no manual re-enabling needed.

If settings or data that were previously constrained by a lower plan already exist, they are restored automatically the moment the upgrade is applied. Downgrading to a lower plan does not delete data above the new limits; it only blocks the creation of new entries beyond the cap. See Staff Account Limits by Plan for the full breakdown.

Custom Roles Overview

The paid plans register three custom WordPress roles on activation. These roles determine what each user can see and do within the plugin, and they also control the WordPress admin experience; roster users see only the Employee Roster menu, not the full WordPress dashboard.

Who can create which role

• Only a WordPress administrator can create, promote, demote or deactivate a Manager account, or reset a manager's password. This prevents one manager locking out another.
• The Manager role can be assigned on Professional+. On Starter, use Settings > Roles & Permissions > Admin Visibility to include your own administrator account in the roster as a Manager instead. Managers created on a higher plan keep the role if the site drops to Starter.
• Supervisor accounts: up to 2 on Starter, unlimited on Professional+.
• Employee accounts are unlimited on every plan.
• Nobody can change their own role, and administrators' email addresses cannot be edited through the roster.

WP Administrators retain full access to all Employee Roster features in addition to their normal WordPress capabilities. Administrators are not included as roster staff by default. See Admin Inclusion Settings to change this.

Custom Capabilities

Each role is granted a specific set of WordPress capabilities that gate access to individual plugin features. These capabilities are checked throughout the plugin backend and frontend to determine what each user can see and do.

Capability matrix by role

Whether supervisors can see other people's pay rates is controlled by a separate setting Settings > Roles & Permissions > Supervisor Pay Rate Professional+, off by default.

Capabilities are independent of plan gating. A Starter-plan Manager has emr_manage_settings capability granted, but plan-gated settings within the Settings page (such as the public roster shortcode) still display an upgrade prompt on lower plans.

Admin Inclusion Settings

EmpRoster provides two settings that control whether WordPress administrator accounts appear in the staff list: a per-administrator personal toggle and a global override that includes all administrators at once. For full details on how these settings interact and what happens when the global setting is disabled, see Admin Visibility (Per-Administrator Control).

Admin Visibility

Available to WordPress Administrators only. Roster Managers do not see this setting.

The Admin Visibility settings control whether WordPress administrator accounts appear in the EmpRoster staff list as Managers. Because administrators are not roster staff by default, these two settings let each administrator independently decide their own participation, with an optional global override to include all administrators at once.

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Roles & Permissions to find the Admin Visibility section. These settings are visible only to WordPress Administrators Roster Managers do not see this section.

The Two Settings

How Per-Administrator Inclusion Works

Each WordPress administrator controls their own roster participation independently via the Include Current Administrator in the staff list toggle.

When an administrator enables this setting and saves:

• Only that specific administrator account is added to the staff list
• They appear throughout EmpRoster with the Manager role in the roster view, staff list, analytics, timesheets, dashboards, and all manager-based queries
• A confirmation message appears on the Settings page confirming the current administrator is now included as a Manager
• The setting state is stored per administrator account it persists across sessions and is not affected by other administrators changing their own setting

When an administrator disables this setting and saves:

• Only that administrator is removed from the staff list
• All other administrators' inclusion settings remain unchanged
• Historical records (attendance, leave, shifts) for that administrator are preserved

Because this setting is per-account, two administrators on the same site can have different states one included in the roster, one not without any conflict.

How Global Inclusion Works

The Include All Administrators in the roster setting acts as a global override that affects every WordPress administrator account on the site simultaneously.

When the global setting is enabled:

1. All WordPress administrator accounts are immediately added to the EmpRoster staff list as Managers
2. In the background, each administrator's personal Include Current Administrator in the staff list setting is permanently synced to enabled so every admin now has their individual setting turned on
3. On the Settings page, both toggles appear checked for every administrator who views the page, because all admins are globally included

When the global setting is later disabled:

Disabling the global setting does not remove administrators from the roster. Because each administrator's personal inclusion setting was already enabled during the global inclusion process, all administrators remain individually included as Managers.

After the global setting is turned off:

• Each administrator retains their personal Include Current Administrator in the staff list setting in the enabled state
• Administrators continue to appear in the roster as Managers
• Each administrator may independently disable their own personal setting if they wish to be removed from the roster
• No administrator is removed automatically removal requires each admin to manually disable their own personal toggle

State Combinations Reference

Where Admin Inclusion Takes Effect

When an administrator is included in the roster, they appear as a Manager throughout EmpRoster:

• Staff list shown in EmpRoster > Staff with the Manager role badge
• Roster views appear as a staff row in weekly, day, and monthly views when shifts are assigned
• Shift assignment available for selection when assigning shifts
• Analytics included in timesheet summaries, payroll calculations, and labour cost totals
• Dashboard counted in KPI cards and manager-scope queries
• Permissions treated as a Roster Manager for all in-plugin permission checks

Important Considerations

• These settings only affect WordPress administrator accounts. Regular Roster Manager accounts (emr_manager role) are always included in the staff list and are unaffected by these settings.
• Enabling Admin Visibility does not change the administrator's WordPress role they remain a WordPress Administrator. EmpRoster simply includes them in roster queries and treats them as a Manager within the plugin.
• If a WordPress administrator account is deleted, their EmpRoster records (shifts, leave, attendance) follow standard WordPress user deletion behaviour.
• The Admin Visibility section is not visible to Roster Managers only WordPress Administrators can see and change these settings.

Hidden WordPress UI

When a Roster Manager, Supervisor, or Employee logs into the WordPress admin, the plugin hides all standard WordPress UI elements that are irrelevant to rostering. The user sees only the Employee Roster menu in the left admin sidebar.

What is hidden

• All WordPress admin menu items except Employee Roster
• The WordPress dashboard home page and all its widgets
• Plugin-originating admin notices (notices from other installed plugins)

Why this matters

Showing the full WordPress admin to roster users would expose information about other installed plugins, site settings, and WordPress internals that roster staff have no reason to see. Hiding this UI reduces confusion and prevents accidental disclosure of your site configuration.

Creating Shifts

Navigate to EmpRoster > Shifts and click + New Shift (managers and administrators only). A shift modal opens where you fill in the details and assign employees before saving.

Automatic checks when you assign people

• Availability check. If someone you have ticked has marked themselves unavailable on that weekday, a warning naming them appears and the save pauses. Click Save again to assign them anyway it is advice, not a block.
• Conflict check. The server refuses to create a shift that double-books someone, or that rosters someone on a day they have approved leave. You get a message naming the clash.

Assignment Types (Direct vs Open)

Each shift uses one of three assignment modes. The mode is selected in the shift modal at creation time and can be changed when editing a shift.

Direct Assignment

The manager selects specific employees from the staff list when creating or editing the shift. Assigned employees receive a shift assignment email immediately (if notifications are enabled). When multiple employees are assigned to a direct shift, each employee gets their own independent shift record; editing or deleting one employee's shift does not affect any other employee's record. Direct assignment is available on every version, including the free version.

Open and Open with Approval

Open shifts require the Starter plan or above the assignment type selector offers Direct only in the free version. The shift is published with a configurable slot limit and staff pick it up themselves:

• Open the first employees to click Join are confirmed immediately, up to the slot limit.
• Open with Approval clicking Request creates a pending request for a manager to approve or decline.

See Open Shifts for how open shifts appear on the roster and how requests are reviewed.

Admin/Manager: Creating an open shift with approval:

Employee: Claiming an open shift:

Employee: Requests for open shift:

Admin/Manager: Accepting a request for an open shift:

Roster Views (Day, Week, Month)

The roster at EmpRoster > Shifts has three views, switched with the Day / Week / Month buttons in the toolbar. All three are available on every version, including the free version. Arrows either side of the date label move backwards and forwards through time.

Day View

A single compact column showing every shift on one day, with shift cards reflowed into a two-column grid. Useful when you only care about what is happening today.

Week View

A grid of staff rows versus day columns for the selected week. Each cell shows the shift cards assigned to that employee on that day department (or title), time, location colour, and duration.

Staff visibility: Only staff members who have at least one shift assigned in the selected week are displayed; employees with no shifts in that window are automatically hidden to keep the view focused. Employees always see their own row regardless of this rule.

Weekly hours and warnings: Each staff row shows their total hours for the week, with a ⚠ warning when those hours exceed the weekly limit configured for their employment type.

Unassigned and open shifts: Open shifts appear in a dedicated Open Shifts row pinned above the staff rows. Direct shifts with no assigned employees also appear there for managers with an "Unassigned" badge, so no shift is ever silently hidden.

Month View

A calendar of all shifts in the month. Each day cell shows shift summaries with colour-coded badges, and today's cell is highlighted. Approved leave appears as an amber card.

Toolbar filters

Managers also get an All Locations filter and an All Skills filter (Professional+, since skill tags are a Professional feature) in the roster toolbar.

Today Indicator

In both the weekly roster and monthly calendar views, the current day receives a distinct highlighted background. The day column header displays "Today" instead of the date string, and individual shift rows for today also display "Today" in their date column.

Open Shifts

Open shifts require the Starter plan or above. Instead of assigning a shift to a named person, you publish it and let staff pick it up. Set the shift's Assignment Type to Open or Open with Approval when creating it.

How they appear on the roster

• Open shifts sit in a dedicated Open Shifts row pinned above the staff rows, showing Available to join to staff and Open & unassigned to managers.
• When the slot limit is above one, shifts show how many slots remain, and disappear from the row once they are full.
• Employees never see open shifts whose start time has already passed. Attempting to join a shift that has already started returns a clear error.

Joining and requesting

• Open the first employees to click Join are confirmed immediately, up to the slot limit, and receive a shift assignment email.
• Open with Approval clicking Request creates a pending request. Managers are emailed, flagged Pending your approval.

Supervisors can claim and request open shifts as well as employees.

Reviewing requests

Requests are reviewed under EmpRoster > Requests > Open Shift Requests, which lists every request pending, approved, declined, cancelled, expired with Approve and Decline buttons on the pending ones.

Copy Roster

Copy Roster requires the Starter plan or above. If your weeks look alike, build one and repeat it. On the Shifts page click Copy Roster.

What is and is not copied

• Only direct assigned shifts are copied open shifts are skipped.
• Assignments carry over as-is, except that deactivated staff are left out.
• A shift whose only assignees have all been deactivated is not copied at all.

Editing & Deleting Shifts

Click any shift block in the weekly or monthly view, or any row in the list view, to open the shift modal. Managers can edit all shift fields, reassign employees, or delete the shift from within the same modal.

Editing a Shift

Clicking a shift opens its detail card. Managers get Edit, Assign and Delete. All fields set at creation (department, location, start/end, assignment type, break duration, slot limit, notes, and job sheet attachment) are fully editable after saving. Reassigning employees (adding or removing assignees) can also be done from the edit modal at any time.

Deleting a Shift

The delete button is available inside the shift modal. Deleting a shift permanently removes the shift record and all its assignment records. This action cannot be undone.

Shift Limits

There is no shift limit on any version or plan. Earlier releases capped the number of "active" (today or future) shifts on lower tiers; that cap was removed and no shift limit is enforced anywhere in the plugin today including the free WordPress.org version.

Active shifts on the dashboard

The term active shift still appears on the dashboard, where it is a simple count rather than a quota: it counts shifts whose date is today or in the future. Navigate to EmpRoster > Dashboard and the KPI tiles show the active shift count, shifts today, and total staff. Past shifts are retained indefinitely and are never deleted to make room.

Clocking In and Out

Clocking in and out requires the Starter plan or above. In the free version, the Attendance menu item and the frontend clock page ([empr_attendance]) are absent entirely no upgrade prompt is shown to employees. On Starter and above, employees navigate to EmpRoster > Attendance in the WP admin, or visit the frontend clock page, to start and end a clock session. Only one active clock-in session is permitted per user at a time; starting a new session while one is already open is blocked.

The clock panel

EmpRoster > Attendance shows a clock dial with the person's current state and a single big button.

• Clock In starts a session. EmpRoster checks today's schedule and tells you how you are doing: "You're clocking in early your shift starts at 9:00 AM", "You're 12 minutes late your shift started at 9:00 AM", or "Clocked in no scheduled shift found for today." The threshold either side is 10 minutes.
• Clock Out offers an optional Notes field (256 characters) and closes the session. The break is taken from the linked shift's configured break duration.

What the system records

Each attendance entry stores the following fields:

• Clock-in timestamp: recorded when the employee clicks Clock In
• Clock-out timestamp: recorded when the employee clicks Clock Out; empty while the session is still open
• Break minutes: taken from the linked shift; deducted from total hours worked in timesheets
• Optional notes: free-text field (256 characters) the employee can fill in at clock-out
• Associated shift: the scheduled shift the session is matched to, when there is one

Clock history

Below the dial sits the history My Clock History for staff, Recent Attendance for managers and supervisors (most recent 100 records) showing clock in, clock out, break, net hours, notes and status.

Self-Clock Setting

The Allow self clock-in/out setting in EmpRoster > Settings > Roster & Attendance controls whether employees can record their own attendance. It is enabled by default.

When enabled

• The Attendance menu item is visible in the WP admin.
• The frontend clock page ([empr_attendance]) is active.
• Employees clock themselves in and out, adding optional notes at clock-out.
• Timesheet hours are taken from the recorded clock sessions.

When disabled

• The Attendance menu item and the clocking panel disappear entirely.
• Hours are derived from the scheduled shift times instead useful if you roster people but do not run time clocks.
• Managers can still record and correct attendance entries on behalf of staff.

Attendance Management (Managers)

Attendance management requires the Starter plan or above. In the free version, the Attendance feature is unavailable entirely. Managers and supervisors see a Recent Attendance table (the most recent 100 records) below the clock dial at EmpRoster > Attendance, covering every staff member's clock history. Hours also roll up into EmpRoster > Timesheets.

What managers can do

• View the clock-in/out history for any employee, with clock in, clock out, break, net hours, notes and status
• Correct a clock-in time, clock-out time, or break on any record
• Remove incorrect or duplicate records
• Review the resulting hours and earnings per employee in Timesheets

Requests

The Requests page consolidates all staff request types into a single location. Access it from EmpRoster > Requests in the WordPress admin sidebar, or from the Requests link in the in-plugin navigation.

The page contains three independently paginated sections:

Each section shows 10 entries per page with its own Prev/Next pagination controls navigating one section does not affect the others.

Pending count badge

The Requests menu item displays a red badge showing the total number of pending items across all three sections relevant to the current user's role. The badge updates whenever the dashboard or Requests page is loaded.

Plan availability

The Requests page requires the Starter plan or above, and only appears while the leave module is switched on in Settings > Leave & Accrual. In the free version, the Requests menu item is hidden entirely for all roles. Leave submission and open shift claiming require Starter or above; shift swaps require Professional or above.

Frontend access

Employees on Starter+ can submit leave requests from the frontend EmpRoster – Leave page. The shortcode [empr_leave] renders the leave submission form for authenticated employees.

Leave Requests

Submitting a Leave Request

Click + Request Leave on EmpRoster > Requests, or use the frontend EmpRoster – Leave page. Fields:

On submission:

• The request appears in the Leave Requests section of the Requests page with a Pending status
• An automatic email notification is sent to all active Roster Managers (when notifications are enabled)
• Employees can Withdraw their own pending requests at any time before a decision is made

Approval Workflow

Managers see all pending leave requests in the Leave Requests section of EmpRoster > Requests. Each request shows the employee name, leave type, dates, reason, and current status.

Managers can:

• Approve request status changes to Approved; the employee receives an email with the decision
• Decline request status changes to Declined; the employee receives an email with the decision
• Edit change the type, dates, reason or status of any request
• Delete remove any request

Approving annual or sick leave deducts from the employee's balance where balances are enabled; declining or deleting previously-approved leave restores it.

Leave Request Statuses

Open Shift Requests

Open Shift Requests appear when an employee or supervisor requests a slot on an Open with Approval shift. Managers review these requests from the Open Shift Requests section of EmpRoster > Requests. This feature requires the Starter plan or above.

How Employees Claim Open Shifts

Eligible employees and supervisors see open shifts in the Open Shifts row of the roster view. What happens next depends on the shift's assignment type:

• Open clicking Join confirms the employee immediately, up to the slot limit. Managers are emailed, flagged Auto-confirmed.
• Open with Approval clicking Request creates a pending request, managers are emailed flagged Pending your approval, and the shift shows as Pending for that employee until a manager reviews it.

Manager Review

Managers see every request pending, approved, declined, cancelled, expired in the Open Shift Requests section. Each entry shows the shift, date, time, and the requesting employee's name.

Managers can:

• Approve the employee is assigned to the shift and receives a shift assignment email
• Decline the request is rejected; the slot remains available for others

Past Shifts

Past shifts are not shown to employees in the Open Shifts row or month calendar. Attempting to join a shift that has already started returns a clear error message.

Shift Swap Requests

Shift swap requests require the Professional plan or above. The feature lets employees formally request that a shift be reassigned to another employee, subject to manager approval. Employees cannot swap shifts directly without a manager approving the request.

Shift Swap Requests appear as the third section on the EmpRoster > Requests page, below Leave Requests and Open Shift Requests. Each section is independently paginated.

How to Submit a Swap Request

A Swap button appears on an employee's own future shifts in the roster. In the request form they can:

• Optionally pick a preferred cover person from their colleagues
• Add an optional reason for the swap (visible to the reviewing manager)

If no cover person is specified, the request is open, meaning any eligible employee could potentially take the shift. The submitted request immediately appears in the Shift Swap Requests section with a Pending status, and employees can Withdraw their own pending requests.

Manager Review

Managers see all pending swap requests in the Shift Swap Requests section of the Requests page. Each entry shows the requesting employee, the shift they want to give up, and the target employee (if one was specified in the request).

Approving a swap

When a manager approves a swap, the plugin automatically reassigns the two shifts between the employees involved. No manual editing of shift assignments is needed; the handover is applied atomically on approval.

Declining a swap

When a manager declines a swap, the original assignments remain exactly as they were. The requesting employee's shift is unchanged.

Manager Actions on the Requests Page

Managers can also Edit or Delete swap requests directly from the Requests page:

• Edit opens a modal to update the request status and reason
• Delete removes the request after a confirmation prompt

Leave Balances

Leave balance tracking requires the Starter plan or above. Turn on Settings > Leave & Accrual > Leave Balances to track entitlements per person; each employee then has annual and sick leave balances tracked per calendar year, accruing against configured entitlements and reducing automatically when leave is approved.

Default entitlements (days per year)

How the accrual works

• Annual leave accrues daily, pro-rata, towards the annual entitlement for the person's employment type. Someone who joined mid-year accrues from their start date, not from 1 January.
• Sick leave is allocated in full at the start of each year it is not pro-rated.
• Casual employees are excluded entirely and are shown as No paid leave entitlement.
• Available = accrued − used + adjustments.

Approving annual or sick leave deducts from the balance; declining or deleting previously-approved leave restores it. When an employee requests annual leave, the form shows how many days they have and warns them before they overspend and the server refuses the request if they do.

Manager controls

Managers get a Leave Balances table for all staff at the bottom of the Requests page, with:

• Run Accrual brings every employee's accrual up to today
• Adjust add or deduct days for one person (enter a positive or negative number). Adjustments are recorded separately from accrual

Setting Availability

Every staff member sets their own availability under EmpRoster > Profile > My Availability in the WP admin, or through the frontend EmpRoster – Availability page ([empr_availability]). Availability is weekly and recurring; it represents which days and times the employee is generally available each week, not availability for a specific date. It is available on every version, including the free version.

How the availability grid works

There is a card per weekday with an on/off toggle and a start and end time. Apply to all days sets the same hours across the whole week in one go, and changes are saved with Save Availability. Days toggled off are treated as unavailable.

• An employee available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm sets those ranges on each weekday row.
• A day with no time range set is recorded as "unavailable" for that day of the week.
• Availability data is re-used every week; there is no need to re-enter it each week unless the employee's availability changes.

When no availability is set

If an employee has not set any availability at all, the shift assignment modal shows their status as Not set. This is distinct from Unavailable, which means the employee has recorded availability but it does not cover the shift's day and time. See Availability Hints in Shift Modal for how this information is surfaced to managers.

Availability Hints in Shift Modal

When a manager opens the shift assignment modal to add or review employees, each employee row shows an availability indicator based on that employee's recurring weekly availability. This allows managers to spot scheduling conflicts at a glance without leaving the modal. Availability hints are available on every version, including the free version.

Adding Staff

Managers navigate to EmpRoster > Staff > + Add Staff to create a new team member. The plugin creates a real WordPress user account automatically and assigns the selected role. The new staff member is immediately available for shift assignments.

Passwords

A password is generated for the new account. On paid plans it is shown to you in an Account Created dialog with a Copy button, so you can hand it over directly; the employee can change it after signing in.

Editing Staff

Click Edit on any staff row in EmpRoster > Staff to open the staff edit modal. All fields set at creation (first name, last name, email, role, job type, pay rate and skill tags) are editable after the account has been created. View opens a read-only card showing the same details plus the person's full weekly availability.

Role changes

Changing a staff member's role (for example, from Employee to Supervisor) immediately updates their WordPress capabilities. The change takes effect on their next page load with no re-login required.

Two restrictions apply: nobody can change their own role, and only a WordPress administrator can promote someone to or demote someone from Manager. Administrators' email addresses cannot be edited through the roster.

Reset Account

Reset Account in the Edit modal generates a new password immediately, invalidating the old one, and shows it to you so you can pass it on. If notifications are enabled, an account reset email with the new credentials is sent to the employee as well. This requires the Starter plan or above; only a WordPress administrator can reset a manager's password.

Staff list tools

The Staff page lists everyone with their name, email, job type and role, and provides a search box (matching name, email, job type or role), tick boxes for selecting people, and an Export button Starter+ that produces a staff directory CSV.

Pay rate visibility for supervisors

Supervisors do not see pay rate fields in the staff list or shift modal by default. The Supervisors can see pay rates setting in Roles & Permissions (Professional+) enables this visibility when your organisational structure requires it.

Job type changes

Changing an employee's job type affects future leave accrual calculations and the weekly hour threshold used for overtime flagging. It does not retroactively alter existing leave balances or timesheet records.

Skill Tags

Skill Tags require the Professional plan or above. They let managers label employees with relevant competencies for example Barista, First Aid, Forklift Licence, or Opening Shift Lead. Tags appear on each employee's profile and in the shift assignment panel so managers can immediately identify the right person for a shift. On the free version and on Starter, the field is not shown and no tags are stored or displayed.

Adding skill tags to an employee

Open the Add Staff or Edit Staff modal in EmpRoster > Staff. Type into the Skill Tags field and press Enter or comma to add each tag, then save. Tags are stored per employee and can be added, edited, or removed at any time.

Using skill tags when assigning shifts

When a manager opens the shift assignment modal to add employees to a shift, each eligible employee's skill tags are displayed as small chips alongside their name and availability indicator. This allows managers to identify qualified staff at a glance without leaving the modal.

Skill tags also drive the All Skills filter in the roster toolbar and are included in the staff directory CSV export.

Deactivating & Deleting Staff

Employee Roster provides a deactivation action that suspends a staff member's access and hides them from the roster while preserving all their historical data. If you need to permanently remove the WordPress user account itself, that is done separately by a WordPress Administrator through WordPress Admin > Users.

Deactivating a Staff Member

Open a staff record in EmpRoster > Staff and click Deactivate in the Danger Zone of the Edit modal. A confirmation prompt is shown before the change is applied. The action takes effect immediately. Only a WordPress administrator can deactivate a Manager account.

Visibility after deactivation

• The employee is hidden from the active staff list. A collapsed Deactivated Employees section on the Staff page lists all inactive accounts.
• They are removed from shift assignment lists managers cannot assign new shifts to a deactivated employee.
• They are removed from today's and all future shifts. Shifts they shared with others simply lose their assignment; shifts only they were on are deleted. Past shifts are untouched.
• In the weekly and monthly roster views, the deactivated employee's row no longer appears.
• Pending leave requests and shift swap requests for the deactivated employee are cancelled automatically.
• Copy Roster skips them a shift whose only assignees have all been deactivated is not copied at all.
• All historical data is preserved and fully accessible to managers: past shift assignments, attendance records, leave requests, and timesheet totals continue to appear in the Timesheets view under the employee's name.

Access revocation

• The employee's active WordPress sessions are terminated immediately they are logged out even if they were actively browsing at the time of deactivation.
• Subsequent login attempts are rejected with the message: "Your account has been deactivated. Please contact your manager."
• All frontend portal pages (shifts, leave, clock in/out, availability) become inaccessible to the deactivated user.

Email flow

No automated email is sent to the employee upon deactivation. Deactivation is an administrative action; whether to communicate it to the affected employee is left to the manager's discretion.

Reactivating a Staff Member

To reactivate a deactivated employee, open the Staff screen, expand the Deactivated Employees section to reveal their record, then click Reactivate.

• The employee reappears in the active staff list and shift assignment dropdowns immediately.
• All historical data is restored in full nothing is removed during the deactivation period.
• The employee can log in again immediately after reactivation.
• A fresh password is generated, the deactivation flag is cleared, and a welcome email is sent to the employee.

Deleting a Staff Member

Permanent deletion of a WordPress user account must be done by a WordPress Administrator through WordPress Admin > Users, not through the Employee Roster interface. Deleting a user from the WordPress Users list removes their account entirely and also purges all associated plugin records.

What is deleted

• The WordPress user account
• All shift assignments for that employee
• All leave requests submitted by that employee
• All attendance (clock-in/out) records for that employee
• All availability records for that employee

Timesheet Views

Navigate to EmpRoster > Timesheets to access timesheet data. The screen has two faces depending on who is looking at it.

My Timesheet (staff)

Staff see only their own record: hours worked, leave taken, and when payroll is on and they have a pay rate their earnings, tax and net pay. They can:

• Switch the period between Week / Month / Year
• Group rows by Weekly / Monthly / Yearly
• Export their own timesheet to CSV (available on every version)

Team timesheets (managers and supervisors)

Managers and supervisors see the whole team one row per person with pay rate, work hours, leave days, gross earnings and, when tax is on, tax amount and net earnings. Details → drills into one person's periods and leave.

Payroll Calculations

Payroll requires the Starter plan or above. The free WordPress.org version has no pay rates, earnings or cost figures anywhere the pay fields and money columns are not shown at all. On paid plans, Payroll Features in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll is the master switch, on by default; the plugin then computes gross earnings from hours worked and each employee's configured hourly pay rate.

Enabling payroll

Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll and make sure Payroll Features is on. Once enabled:

• Pay rate fields become visible in the Staff screen for each employee
• Earnings columns appear in the Timesheets view
• Daily labour costs appear on the roster week and month views Professional+
• Weekend penalty rates are applied to shifts on Saturday and Sunday, if enabled

Turn Payroll Features off and pay rates, earnings, payroll estimates and every cost column disappear across the roster, timesheets, staff profiles and exports, for everybody.

How earnings are calculated

The base formula for each shift session is:

• Net hours worked = (clock-out − clock-in) − break minutes
• Effective rate = pay rate + the day's weekend loading (no loading on weekdays; Saturday and Sunday configurable)
• Gross earnings = net hours worked × effective rate
• Totals are shown per employee per date range in the Timesheets view

Weekend Penalty Rates

Configure Saturday and Sunday loadings in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll. Penalty Rates are off by default; when switched on, the configured loading is applied to all shift earnings that fall on that day affecting timesheet session rows, grouped totals, the roster's daily cost figures, and CSV exports. See Penalty Rates for full configuration details.

Penalty Rates

Penalty rates apply a weekend loading to an employee's base pay rate for shifts that fall on Saturday or Sunday. They require the Starter plan or above and are configured in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll. The Penalty Rates toggle is off by default.

How penalty rates work

When a shift falls on Saturday or Sunday, the plugin adds the configured loading to the employee's base hourly rate before computing earnings for that shift:

• Effective rate = base pay rate + the day's loading
• Gross earnings = net hours worked × effective rate

Shifts on weekdays (Monday–Friday) always pay the base rate with no loading applied. The Saturday and Sunday rates are configured independently of each other.

Default rates

Set either rate to 0% to remove the loading for that day without turning payroll off entirely, or switch Penalty Rates off to disable both at once.

Tax

Tax calculation requires the Professional plan or above. On the free version and on Starter the setting is shown with a padlock and an upgrade link, and no tax figures are produced.

How tax is applied

When Tax Calculation is turned on in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll and a flat tax rate percentage is configured:

• The configured tax rate (%) is applied to each employee's gross earnings to produce a tax amount
• Timesheets and CSV exports show gross earnings, the tax deducted, and net take-home pay
• The tax rate applies uniformly to all employees regardless of job type or hours worked

The rate is configured in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll > Tax Rate and defaults to 0%. Setting the rate to 0 produces no deduction without needing to toggle the setting off.

Daily Budget

Daily budget tracking requires the Professional plan or above. It is off by default and is visible to managers and administrators only.

How it works

When Daily Budget is turned on in EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll and a target amount is configured:

• A compact daily cost row appears on the roster week and month views, showing the estimated labour cost (assigned hours × pay rates) for each day column
• Days where the estimated cost exceeds the target are colour-coded red
• Days where the estimated cost is within the target are colour-coded green

The target is a single site-wide value configured under Daily Budget Target. Enable Daily Budget Target by Day to set a different target for each weekday instead useful where weekends are deliberately busier or quieter than midweek.

Job Type Hour Limits

Weekly hour thresholds are configured per job type in EmpRoster > Settings > Employment Type & Overtime and flag employees who have exceeded their scheduled hours. The thresholds themselves can be set on every version; the ⚠ warnings on staff rows in the week view and the overtime breakdown in analytics appear on paid plans.

Flags appear in the roster view against individual employee rows when their total scheduled hours for the displayed week approach or exceed the threshold for their job type. The thresholds are configurable in EmpRoster > Settings.

Print PDF

PDF roster export requires the Professional plan or above. Starter users see an inline upgrade prompt in the roster toolbar instead of the Print PDF button. The free version does not show the button.

How to export

Managers in the week or month view click Print PDF in the roster toolbar. A popup window opens with a self-contained, print-ready HTML layout containing:

• Company name and the selected period in the page header
• Colour-coded shift cards matching the roster colour scheme
• Inter font for clean print output

The browser's print dialog launches automatically. Choose Save as PDF in the print destination to generate a PDF file using the browser's built-in PDF printer. No additional software is needed.

Analytics Dashboard

The analytics section of EmpRoster > Dashboard requires the Starter plan or above and is visible to managers, supervisors and administrators.

KPI tiles

The dashboard opens with KPI tiles your clock-in status, your hours this week, your upcoming shifts, and for managers: pending leave, pending open shifts, pending swaps, active shifts, shifts today and total staff. Every tile has a small i you can hover for an explanation of exactly what it counts.

Analytics cards

Below the tiles sits the Analytics section, with period tabs for Today / This Week / This Month / This Year and five cards:

Cards you have no data for are hidden: Attendance Issues only appears when self clock-in is on, Leave when the leave module is on, Payroll Estimate when you are allowed to see pay, and Budget when daily budgeting is on.

Exports & Printing

EmpRoster produces CSV exports from several screens and a print-formatted roster. What is available depends on your plan.

See Print PDF for details of the printable roster.

Enabling Notifications

Email notifications are available on every version, including the free version, and are off by default. Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Email Notifications and toggle Enable Notifications on to activate all automated emails.

Emails to staff

• Added to the roster / welcome on paid plans this includes their username, temporary password and a secure link to set their own password; the free version sends a simplified welcome without credentials
• New shift scheduled for you also sent when a manager approves their open-shift request
• Your shift has been updated sent when a shift's start or end time changes
• Your leave request was approved / declined Starter+
• Your account has been reset with the new credentials Starter+

Emails to managers

• A new leave request has been submitted Starter+
• An employee has claimed an open shift flagged either Pending your approval or Auto-confirmed Starter+
• A new swap request has been submitted Professional+

Manager notification emails use the same Enable Notifications toggle. They cannot be enabled or disabled independently of the employee notifications, and features your plan does not include simply do not generate their emails.

Technical details

• All messages are branded HTML with a plain-text fallback, sent through WordPress's wp_mail() function, and use your configured company name
• The From name and From address follow the WordPress site settings with no plugin-specific From address
• Notifications are triggered server-side by manager actions and do not require the employee to be logged in when the event occurs they keep arriving even when employee login is switched off via Profile Mode

Welcome Email

The welcome email is sent automatically when a manager creates a new staff account through EmpRoster > Staff > + Add Staff, provided email notifications are enabled. It is also re-sent when a deactivated employee is reactivated.

Full onboarding email Starter+

On paid plans the full onboarding welcome email is sent, containing:

• Employee's name, login email address and username
• Their temporary password and a secure link to set their own password
• A direct link to the EmpRoster dashboard

Simplified welcome email (free version)

The free WordPress.org version sends a simplified welcome email that announces the account but carries no credentials and no login link. Staff set their password through the standard WordPress "Lost your password?" flow instead.

Shift Assignment Email

A shift assignment email is sent to each employee the moment they are assigned to a shift by a manager. The email fires on save; employees are notified immediately when a direct assignment is created or when an open-shift claim is confirmed.

Email contents

• Shift title
• Date and time (formatted according to the WordPress site's date/time settings)
• Location and department
• Shift notes (if any notes were added to the shift)

Shift Timing Change Email

A timing change email is sent to all currently assigned employees whenever a manager changes a shift's start time or end time. This fires automatically on save with no separate notification step for the manager.

Email contents

• Shift title
• Updated date and time
• Location

Leave Decision Email

A leave decision email is sent to an employee the moment a manager approves or declines their leave request. The email fires at the point the manager saves the decision with no additional confirmation step needed.

Email contents

• Leave type (Annual, Sick, Personal, Unpaid or Other)
• Leave dates (start and end)
• Decision: Approved or Declined

Shortcode Pages

Employee Roster automatically creates five WordPress pages pre-loaded with shortcodes when the plugin is first activated. These pages let employees manage their roster from the public-facing side of the WordPress site, without needing to navigate the WP Admin at all. Unauthenticated visitors who land on any of these pages see a login prompt; the roster content is never publicly exposed through these shortcodes.

The addresses of these pages are listed under EmpRoster > Settings > Frontend Pages. You can move the shortcodes onto any page or post you like, and if any of the auto-created pages are deleted you can re-create them by placing the corresponding shortcode on a new page.

The same JavaScript app that powers the WP Admin views also powers the frontend shortcode pages; only the rendered content differs based on the page context.

Public Roster Shortcode

The public roster shortcode requires the Professional plan or above. Unlike the five frontend portal shortcodes, this shortcode renders a read-only roster view that does not require the visitor to be logged in.

Enabling the public roster

Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Integrations & Public View and toggle Weekly Roster Shortcode on. Once enabled, place the shortcode on any WordPress page or post:

[emp_roster_weekly]

It publishes the current week's shifts as a print-friendly calendar grid. Add a week attribute any date inside the week you want to show a specific week instead of the current one:

[emp_roster_weekly week="2026-08-03"]

Use cases

• Pin the week's roster on a public staff page
• Show the schedule on a screen in the break room
• Let walk-in staff check the roster without signing in

Settings: General

EmpRoster > Settings is a set of cards you can reorder with the arrows in each card's header (Reset layout puts them back). The General card holds the site-wide basics.

Departments and locations have their own cards see Settings: Departments and Settings: Locations. Both are unlimited on every version and plan.

Settings: Roster & Attendance

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Roster & Attendance to configure clock-in/out behaviour. This card requires the Starter plan or above and is not present in the free version at all.

See Self-Clock Setting for a full description of what changes when this setting is disabled.

Settings: Departments

Departments are managed in the Departments card of EmpRoster > Settings. Each department entered here becomes available as a selectable option in the shift creation form, allowing shifts to be organised by team or business function. The department is also what appears as the shift's label on roster cards.

One department, General Department, is seeded on activation. You can add as many as you need there is no limit on any version or plan.

Settings: Locations

Locations are managed in the Locations card of EmpRoster > Settings. Each location has a name and a colour. The name appears in shift forms and the roster view; the colour visually distinguishes shifts assigned to that location in calendar views. You can add as many locations as you need there is no limit on any version or plan.

Settings: Leave & Accrual

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Leave & Accrual to configure leave management and annual entitlements. The leave module and balance tracking both require the Starter plan or above, and this card is not present in the free version at all.

Casual employees are excluded from leave accrual entirely and are shown as No paid leave entitlement. See Leave Balances for how accrual is calculated.

Settings: Employment Type & Overtime

Weekly hour thresholds are configured in EmpRoster > Settings > Employment Type & Overtime and can be set on every version, including the free version. Each threshold sets the expected maximum scheduled hours per week for that employment type. When a staff member's total scheduled hours in the displayed week approaches or exceeds their threshold, a flag is shown against their row in the roster view.

Settings: Payroll

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Payroll to configure earnings calculations, weekend penalty rates, tax, and daily budget. The whole card requires the Starter plan or above the free version has no pay rates or earnings anywhere. Tax and daily budget require Professional or above.

Pay rates themselves are set per person on the Staff page. Supervisors only see other people's pay rates if Settings > Roles & Permissions > Supervisor Pay Rate is enabled Professional+.

Settings: Roles & Permissions

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Roles & Permissions to control which roles can access specific features and data within the plugin. Settings are organised into four groups Access & Profile Mode, Manager Settings Access, Supervisor Pay Rate, and Admin Visibility.

Access & Profile Mode

See Profile Mode: Overview & Use Case for a full description of how Profile Mode works and when to use it. On the free plan there is no login restriction everyone can log in.

Manager Settings Access

Visible to WordPress Administrators only.

Supervisor Pay Rate

Admin Visibility

These settings control whether WordPress Administrator accounts appear in roster staff lists alongside regular employees. This section is visible only to WP Administrators Roster Manager accounts do not see it on the settings page and cannot modify these options.

Settings: Integrations & Public View

The Integrations & Public View card sits in EmpRoster > Settings. It enables a read-only shortcode that exposes the current week's roster to visitors who are not logged in. This feature requires the Professional plan or above; sites on the Starter plan see a padlock and an upgrade link in place of this toggle, and the card is not part of the free version.

See Public Roster Shortcode in the Frontend Portal section for full usage details.

Settings: Email Notifications

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Email Notifications to enable or disable all automated plugin emails. Email notifications are available on every version, including the free version on WordPress.org, and are off by default. Paid plans send the full onboarding email with credentials and a password setup link; the free version sends a simplified welcome without credentials.

This single toggle activates every notification type at once individual notification types cannot be enabled or disabled separately. Features your plan does not include simply do not generate their emails.

Settings: Job Sheet Attachments

Navigate to EmpRoster > Settings > Job Sheet Attachments to configure job sheet file attachments. This feature requires the Professional plan or above and is off by default; the card is not present in the free version at all.

Attach a document to a shift a run sheet, a site map, a job spec and the people working it can download it.

Enabling attachments

Toggle Enable Attachments on to allow managers to upload a file to individual shifts. Once enabled, a Job Sheet file field appears on the shift form.

Supported file types and size limit

Uploads that exceed 2 MB or use an unsupported file type are rejected at the point of upload with an inline error. No partial upload is stored.

How attachments appear in shifts

Shifts that carry an attachment show a 📎 on their card, and the shift detail view offers View and Download links. Each shift holds one job sheet uploading a new file replaces the old one, and Remove deletes it.

Employee access

Employees assigned to a shift can view and download its job sheet from:

• The shift detail view in EmpRoster > Shifts in the WP Admin
• The frontend shift detail view on the portal pages

Employees can only download; they cannot upload or remove files. Employees who are not assigned to a shift do not have access to its job sheet.

Auto-delete policy

Auto-Delete Policy keeps your media library tidy by removing old attachments automatically.

What happens when files are automatically removed

Attachments past the configured age are removed from the WordPress media library overnight. When that happens:

• The file is permanently deleted it cannot be recovered
• The View / Download links disappear from the shift detail view
• No notification is sent to managers or employees
• The shift record itself is untouched hours, notes and assignments are unaffected

Settings: Frontend Pages

Employee Roster automatically creates five WordPress pages with embedded shortcodes when the plugin is first activated. These pages give employees access to their roster, leave, attendance, and availability without needing to navigate the WordPress admin. Each page can be renamed, moved, or embedded in a custom template the shortcode remains functional regardless of the page's title or URL.

This settings card is read-only: it lists the current addresses of the five pages so you can find and share them. Unauthenticated visitors see a login prompt on all frontend pages. The same application that powers the WordPress admin views also powers the frontend only the rendered layout changes based on context. See Shortcode Pages in the Frontend Portal section for a full description of each page's functionality.

Profile Mode: Overview & Use Case

Profile Mode is an access control feature that prevents employees and supervisors from logging into WordPress while still allowing them to receive email notifications. It requires the Starter plan or above; on the free version there is no login restriction and everyone can log in.

Use case

Businesses that manage schedules internally and only want employees to receive email updates, without granting them any WordPress access, can enable Profile Mode. This is common where the WP Admin should be restricted to managers and the IT team only. Managers and WP Administrators are never affected by Profile Mode.

Behaviour when enabled

• Any login attempt by a user with the emr_employee or emr_supervisor role is rejected with the message: "Employee login is currently disabled. You will continue to receive schedule updates by email."
• WP Administrators and Roster Managers can always log in regardless of this setting.
• All existing active WordPress sessions for employees and supervisors are immediately terminated the moment Profile Mode is switched on; affected users cannot continue browsing even if they were already logged in.
• Email notifications continue to fire normally; they are triggered server-side by manager actions and do not require employees to be logged in.

An amber warning banner is displayed on the Settings page while Profile Mode is active as a persistent visual reminder for admins and managers.

Plan downgrade behaviour

If a site is downgraded from a paid plan to free, employee and supervisor sign-in is suspended and affected users are shown an explanatory message. Restoring a paid plan lifts the suspension automatically. No data is lost either way, and managers and administrators are never affected.

Enabling Profile Mode

Profile Mode requires the Starter plan or above. To stop employees and supervisors signing in:

1. Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Roles & Permissions.
2. Switch Allow Employees and Supervisors to Log In off.
3. Click Save Settings.

Restoring employee login

Switch Allow Employees and Supervisors to Log In back on and save. Employees and supervisors can log into WordPress normally again immediately, and the amber warning banner on the Settings page disappears.

Employee Login Logs

Employee Login Logs is a security audit trail for roster accounts and requires the Professional plan or above. Once enabled, a Login Logs item appears in the menu for managers, showing successful logins and failed login attempts for every emr_employee, emr_supervisor, and emr_manager account.

Enabling login logs

Go to EmpRoster > Settings > Employee Login Logs and toggle Enable Login Logs on it is off by default. Logging begins immediately on save; events that occurred before it was enabled are not recorded.

Log columns

Searching and filtering

You can search by name, email or IP; filter by All time / Today / This Week / This Month / This Year / Custom Range; filter by event type; and page through the results 25 at a time. Download Logs exports a CSV using exactly the filters currently on screen.

Retention policy

The Auto-Delete Policy sets how long entries are kept:

• 30 days
• 60 days
• 90 days recommended, and the default
• 180 days
• 365 days
• Never delete retain all records indefinitely

Older entries are removed automatically each day. Changing the retention period to a shorter window removes any records that now fall outside the new limit.

Plan availability

Feature Availability by Plan

Employee Roster is sold in three tiers: Starter ($99/year), Professional ($199/year), and Business ($599/year for 5 sites). Licences are annual and per-site unless noted.

A separate free version is available on WordPress.org. It is a complete scheduling tool: unlimited employees, departments, locations, and shifts, with day, weekly, and monthly roster views, staff availability and email notifications. Staff are managed directly from your WordPress Administrator account. The "Free" column below describes that version.

On the paid plans, features above your tier display an upgrade prompt rather than a broken or missing control. In the free version, features that are not included are simply absent no upgrade prompts are shown to your staff.

Staff Account Limits by Plan

Employee accounts are unlimited on every version and plan. Supervisor and Manager accounts are where the plans differ. The free version on WordPress.org has no account limits of any kind, but it has no Manager or Supervisor role either you run the roster yourself from your own WordPress Administrator account. The paid plans exist to let you delegate that work: dedicated Manager and Supervisor accounts give staff members roster management without full WordPress Administrator access.

* On the Starter plan, attempting to create or promote a Roster Manager returns "The Manager role requires a Professional plan." Instead, include your own WordPress administrator account in the roster as a Manager via Settings > Roles & Permissions > Admin Visibility; there is no cap on how many administrator accounts can be included that way. Managers created while on Professional keep the role if the site later drops to Starter.