# Reviewing staff availability

Review and approve your team's availability requests, see everyone's week at a glance, enter availability for someone, and set up the reasons staff pick when they can't work.

For: Managers, Admins · On: Web, iOS, Android · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling) · Last updated October 22, 2026 · Mays Team

Your team tells you when they can work from the Mays app. As a manager you approve or decline those requests, see everyone's week at a glance, and can enter availability for someone yourself.

**Where:** **Scheduling → Availability** on the web, for the location picked at the bottom of the sidebar. It has three tabs: **Requests**, **Glance View** and **Reasons**. Pending requests also wait in **Scheduling → Approvals** on the web (under **Availability**, for all your locations) and under **Schedule → Approvals** in the app.

For how staff send availability, see [Setting your availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-your-availability).

## Approve or decline a request

1. Go to **Scheduling → Availability**. **Requests** lists every request at the location — click **Pending** to see the ones waiting. You can also filter by type (**Recurring** or **Temporary**) and by person.
2. Click a request.
3. Compare **Requested availability** (what they asked for, day by day, with any reason and note) with **Current live availability** (what's in effect now — it *stays active until this request is decided*).
4. Optionally add a **Decision note**. They see it when they open the request in the app; it isn't in the notification.
5. Click **Approve** or **Decline**.

![The Requests tab of Availability for South: filters All, Pending, Approved, Declined and Cancelled, All types, All employees and Add availability, and two recurring requests — Emma North, Approved, and Olivia South, Pending](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__manage-availability__01-requests.fb25351180.png)

![Olivia South's pending recurring request opened: Requested availability shows every day All day — Available except Saturday, All day — Not available with the note Weekend classes this term; Current live availability shows No availability set for each day and Stays active until this request is decided; below, Decision note (optional) and the Decline and Approve buttons](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__manage-availability__02-review-request.5a8305bbd9.png)

They get **Availability approved** or **Availability changes declined**.

- **Approving a recurring request** replaces their normal week. **Approving a temporary one** applies it for its dates only, then their normal week comes back.
- **Declining** leaves their current availability as it was.
- **Approve** and **Decline** are also in the row's **⋮** menu (without a note), along with **View** and **Delete**.
- Approved availability doesn't move shifts that are already on the schedule. The grid and the publish warnings show the clashes — see [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule).

**In the app:** go to **Schedule → Approvals**, tap a request under **Availability**, check **Requested** and **Current**, add a **Decision note (optional)** and tap **Approve** or **Decline**. Managers also have **Schedule → Availability** with **Requests**, **Approved** and **Mine**. On a declined request the app still says **Approved by** before the name of whoever decided. See [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox).

**Your own availability:** managers can't approve their own availability unless an admin allows it; an admin always can.

- **Managers** can't approve or decline their own request — on the web or in the app. It shows **Waiting for another manager** instead of **Approve** and **Decline**, and stays **Pending** until another manager of your location or an admin decides it. You can still edit it while it's pending. Once it's approved, ask another manager or an admin to change it, or add new availability for review.
- **Admins** (anyone who can edit organization settings) can approve or decline their own request like any other — nobody is above them, so a one-owner business isn't stuck. The decision note records it: *Self-approved by an org admin.*
- **To let managers approve their own**, an admin turns on **Managers can approve their own requests** under **Scheduling → Settings → Approvals** — see [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings). It covers availability and time off together. A manager's own request then has the usual **Approve** and **Decline**, and the decision note records it: *Self-approved by a manager.*
- If your company doesn't require approval for availability, none of this applies — everyone's availability, yours included, takes effect as soon as it's saved.

## See everyone's week

**Glance View** shows each person on the location's schedule for one week: green **Available**, amber when they're only available part of the day, and red **Not available**. Under each name, **Recurring** or **Temporary** tells you which kind is in effect.

- Use the arrows or the date box to change week, and **All types** to show only recurring or temporary patterns.
- **Print** prints the grid.
- Only approved availability is shown — pending requests aren't.

![Glance View for South, week of 09/21/2026: Emma North, Olivia South and Owen South each Available Monday to Saturday, and Emma North Not available on Sunday](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__manage-availability__03-glance-view.7ca53e795b.png)

## Enter availability for someone

Click **Add availability**, pick the **Employee** and the **Type** (**Recurring**, or **Temporary** with **From** and **To** dates), set each day — **All day** or a time range, **Available** or **Not available**, a reason and a note — and click **Save**.

- It takes effect straight away — no approval needed — and they get **Availability added**.
- **Your own availability** is the exception for managers: when you pick yourself, it's added as **Pending** (the form says so) and another manager or an admin approves it — unless **Managers can approve their own requests** is on. An admin's own is added as approved and recorded as self-approved.
- It cancels any request of the same kind they were still waiting on.
- To change or remove one, open it and use the pencil (**Edit**) or **Delete**. They're told either way.

## Reasons

**Reasons** is the list staff choose from when they're not available, like *School* or *Second job*. Admins manage it: **Add reason**, with the **Reason**, a **Sort order**, and **Comments required** if staff must also explain.

- As soon as there's at least one reason, **every** "not available" day needs one — staff can't send availability without it.
- Deleting a reason that's in use makes it **Inactive** instead. An inactive reason can't be switched back on from this screen; add it again.
- Managers see the buttons too, but only admins can save changes; a manager's **Delete** does nothing.

## Settings

- **Scheduling → Settings → Approvals → Require manager approval for availability changes** (admins, on by default). Turn it off and staff availability takes effect as soon as it's sent, with no request for you. See [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings).
- **Temporary availability** on each location's **Scheduling** tab (on by default) decides whether staff see the **Temporary** option in the app. Temporary patterns already approved keep applying if you turn it off.

## Good to know

- **Who can do this:** managers for the people at their locations, and admins. While approval is required, you're notified of new requests (**New availability request**) from everyone who works at your locations.
- The auto-scheduler and **Find cover** use approved availability — see [Auto-schedule with AI](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/auto-scheduler) and [Finding cover for a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/find-cover).
- **Glance View** and **Reasons** are on the web only.

## Related articles

- Scheduling: [Setting your availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-your-availability) — Tell your manager which days and hours you can work — as a weekly pattern, or for a date range — from the Availability screen in the Mays app.
- Scheduling: [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox) — One place for everything your team is waiting on you for — shift claims, trades, the shift pool, time off and availability.
- Scheduling: [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule) — Build a location's week on the web — add, move, copy and edit shifts, add open shifts, and keep an eye on time off, availability and labor cost while you work.
- Scheduling: [Finding cover for a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/find-cover) — Someone can't make their shift? Open it in the Mays app, see who's free, then assign it, offer it to the team, or ask the best matches if they can take it.
- Scheduling: [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings) — The organization-wide scheduling settings admins control — the schedule week, overtime, pay periods, approvals and time off — and where each location's own settings live.
- Scheduling: [Setting up scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-up-scheduling) — Get a location ready to schedule in Mays — choose Mays or 7shifts as its schedule, set the day its week starts, and pick who appears on the schedule.
- Scheduling: [Auto-schedule with AI](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/auto-scheduler) — Let Mays build a week's draft schedule from last week — working around time off, availability, notes and weekly hours — then fine-tune it by chatting with the assistant.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/manage-availability