Setting Up & Managing Direct Reports

⚡ What are Direct Reports? 

Managing a team means keeping track of a lot at once, and if scheduling is part of your day-to-day, that list can grow even longer. Not every update may need your immediate attention, and not every update is even about someone you oversee.

That's where Direct Reports come in. Instead of every administrator receiving every notification that could affect the schedule, from time-off requests to shift swaps to availability changes. Direct Reports lets you filter your notifications, so you receive alerts only for the employees assigned to you.

📌 | Note: Direct Reports applies to time-off requests, weekly availability updates, shift swaps, and shift releases. 

🔎 Why Set Up Direct Reports?

Here are some common reasons teams set up Direct Reports:

• Reducing Notification Overload: Cuts down on alerts so administrators aren't sorting through every schedule change across the business to find the ones relevant to them.
• Supporting Department-Specific Oversight: Gives administrators who manage a specific team, such as front-of-house or back-of-house, a clear view of only their team's requests.
• Scaling Across Multiple Locations: Keeps each location's administrator focused on their own site as your business grows, without having to sort through requests from other locations.
• Aligning with Shift-Based Supervision: Matches notifications to the administrator on shift, so day and evening managers aren't tracking each other's approvals.

🔐 Access required

Direct Reports is part of the Scheduling feature and is available exclusively on the Supreme package.

📌 | Note: Direct Reports is rolling out in phases across eligible accounts. If you don't see this option and are eligible, please contact our PUSH Support Team to have it enabled.

Who can manage Direct Reports?

• Super Administrators: Full access to enable or disable Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings, and to assign or edit which employees report to each administrator.

Who does not have access to manage Direct Reports?

• Team Administrators: Cannot view or edit which employees report to each administrator, or adjust Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings. If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

Who can be a Direct Report?

• Both Super Administrators and Team Administrators can be assigned to employees.

📋 Topics covered in this article:

• Assigning Employees to their Direct Reports
• Enabling Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings
• Managing & Reviewing Shift Approvals with Direct Reports
• Frequently Asked Questions About Direct Reports

📚 Related articles:

• Managing Scheduler Settings
• Check out our dedicated Scheduling section to find how-to guides, FAQs, and more.

Assigning Employees to their Direct Reports

Before your notifications can be filtered by Direct Reports, the first step is to assign your employees to the correct administrator. This can be done in two ways: either from the Administrator's Profile or from the Employee's Profile. 

Depending on whether you want to assign multiple employees at once or update a single employee, you can choose either option. 

📌 | Note: Each employee can be assigned to only one direct report (aka administrator). This ensures notifications are sent to the correct manager and prevents overlap between multiple administrators. If no manager is assigned, you'll see an error message prompting you to add one before saving.

How to Assign Direct Reports from an Administrator's Profile

1. Click the Company name in the top right-hand corner.
2. In the drop-down menu, click Company Setup 
3. From the left-hand navigation bar, click Administrators.
4.  Under Edit, click the Pencil icon that corresponds to the specific Administrator. 
5. The page will load to the Administrator's profile, and scroll to the Direct Reports section. 
6. Click the selection box and choose the employee(s) who will report to this administrator from the drop-down menu. 
   💡 | Tip: Each employee in the drop-down list is shown with their first and last name, along with the email address on their profile, so you can confirm you're selecting the right person.
7. Once done, click Update Administrator, either from the top-right corner of the page or at the bottom, to save your changes.
8. The page will refresh, and the selected employees will be assigned to this administrator as a direct report! Review this section if you still need to enable notifications based on Direct Reports: Enabling Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings.

How to Assign Direct Reports from an Employee's Profile

1. Click the Employees tab.
2. From the left-hand navigation bar, select the appropriate employee list: Active, Pending, On Leave, or Inactive. 
3. Use the Search bar to find the employee by name or navigate the list. 
4. Under the Edit column, click the Pencil Icon to open the employee profile. 
5. The page will load to the employee's details. 
6. From the left-hand navigation bar, select Manager, or scroll down the page to the Manager section.
7. Click the Manager drop-down menu and choose the administrator to whom the employee will report. 
   💡 | Tip: Each administrator in the drop-down list is organized by type (e.g. Super Admin and Team Admin), shown with their first and last name, along with the email address on their admin profile, so you can confirm you're selecting the right person.
8. Once done, click Update Employee at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
9. The page will refresh and state a Success message, and the selected administrator will be assigned to this employee as a direct report! Review this section if you still need to enable notifications for Direct Reports: Enabling Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings.

📌 | Note: When adding or updating an employee, assigning a Direct Report is required before saving the profile.

Enabling Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings

Once your employees are assigned to the correct administrators, you're ready to head to Scheduler Settings. This is where you switch how shift approval and schedule change notifications are handled. 

Notifications for schedule and availability changes can be handled in two different ways:

1. Select either the Scheduler or Employees tab.
   1. In the Scheduler tab, from the left-hand navigation bar, select Scheduler Settings. 
   2. In the Employees tab, from the left-hand navigation bar, select Shift Approvals > Scheduler Settings.
2. Scroll to the section titled Shift Approvals & Notifications.
3. Under Access, select the toggle associated with Direct Reports. 
4. Under Notification Preferences, check/uncheck the boxes associated with Push Notifications (In-App), SMS, or Email Notifications to determine how administrators are notified.
   💡 | Tip: This can be customized for each administrator; choose a specific notification type, or select multiple, depending on their preference. 
5. Once done, click Update Settings at the bottom of the page to save these changes. 
   💡 | Tip: You'll also find a History of Changes section at the bottom of the page. This lists every change made to Scheduler Settings across your administrators. It will include the administrator's first and last name, the type of change made, and the date and time it was saved. This is helpful for troubleshooting unexpected behaviour or confirming when a setting was last updated.

Managing & Reviewing Shift Approvals with Direct Reports

Once Direct Reports is enabled, shift approvals automatically filter based on manager assignments rather than showing every request to every administrator with scheduler access. 

When you navigate to Shift Approvals, the page will look a little different than before. You'll notice new filter options at the top of the page, letting you narrow down which requests are shown—whether that's everything you have permission to see, or only the requests tied to your own direct reports. This makes it easier to focus on the approvals that are actually yours to review, without sorting through requests for employees you don't manage.

New Shift Approval Filters

Super and Team Administrators will see new filtering options on the Shift Approvals page:

• All Employees: Displays shift requests from all employees, per standard permissions.
• Direct Reports Only: Only available when Direct Reports is enabled.

💡 | Tip: Super Administrators will have access to both filters. Team Administrators will only see Direct Reports if they have employees assigned to them. 

For more information on navigating the Shift Approvals page, check out our dedicated article here. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Direct Reports

Have questions about using Direct Reports? Whether you're wondering how it affects shift notifications, who can enable it, or how to assign employees to managers, this section provides quick answers to help you manage scheduling updates more efficiently.

Q: What does the Direct Reports feature do? 
A: Direct Reports allows managers to receive scheduling notifications only for employees assigned directly to them. This helps reduce unnecessary alerts and keeps focus on the requests that actually need their attention.

Q: Why should my business use Direct Reports? 
A: Direct Reports is ideal for growing teams, multi-location operations, or departments with separate managers. It ensures that shift changes, time-off requests, and availability updates are sent only to the relevant administrator, keeping approvals organized and efficient.

Q: Who can enable or adjust Direct Reports? 
A: Only Super Administrators can turn Direct Reports on or off in Scheduler Settings. They control whether notifications are filtered by Direct Reports or sent to all administrators. For more details, refer to the Enabling Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings section of this article.

Q: Can Team Administrators assign or edit Direct Reports? 
A: No. Team Administrators can see their assigned employees, but cannot change Direct Report assignments. Only Super Administrators can assign or edit which employees report to which manager.

Q: How do I assign employees to a direct manager? 
A: You can assign employees from either the Administrator's Profile or the Employee's Profile. For step-by-step instructions, refer to the Assigning Employees to their Direct Administrators section of this article.

Q: What happens if an employee doesn't have a manager assigned? 
A: An error message will appear when saving their profile. Each employee must have a direct manager assigned before changes are saved. Without this assignment, Direct Reports can't filter notifications correctly.

Q: Which types of notifications are affected by Direct Reports? 
A: When enabled, Direct Reports filters notifications for:

• Time-off requests
• Weekly availability updates
• Shift swaps
• Shift releases

Q: What's the difference between Standard Permissions and Direct Reports in Scheduler Settings? 
A: Under Standard Permissions, all Super and Team Administrators receive notifications based on their scheduler permissions. Under Direct Reports, only administrators assigned as direct managers receive notifications from their team members.

Q: Why am I still receiving notifications for all employees even though Direct Reports is enabled? 
A: Enabling Direct Reports in your account alone doesn't automatically filter notifications. For Direct Reports to work correctly, both of the following must be done: each employee must be assigned to a direct manager in their Employee or Administrator Profile, and Direct Reports must be enabled in Scheduler Settings. If either step is skipped, notifications will continue following the standard structure—meaning administrators will still receive alerts for all employees they have scheduler access to.

Q: I don't see the option to set up Direct Reports. Why not? 
A: Direct Reports is exclusive to the Supreme package and is rolling out in phases across eligible accounts. If you don't see this option and are eligible, please contact our PUSH Support Team to have it enabled.

If you are interested in updating your plan or learning more, please contact our PUSH Support Team, who can connect you with the relevant team.

Additional Information

Need further help? Refer to our Getting Help & Contacting Support article for the latest support options and ways to connect with our team.