Resolving employee and position rostering issues

Building rosters is a key part of the foundU workflow, particularly for wage-earning employees. To help ensure accuracy, your platform is designed so that only employees who can be rostered appear for each roster.

When adding employees (either by selecting Add Employee or creating a New Shift), the system automatically displays a list of employees with positions linked to the roster; these employees can be assigned shifts for that roster. 

  Hot tip: This list can be sorted by employee name or age, in either ascending or descending order. 

Employees on this list will have a status displayed to indicate their current availability to work. The possible statuses are Available, Unavailable, and On leave.

By default, employees who are blocked from the roster will not appear in this list. A blocked employee is someone who has a position linked to the roster and a working status that allows them to be rostered, but is currently prevented from having their shifts published due to a specific rostering condition.

To include blocked employees in your list, select the Include blocked toggle. Once selected, you can see the specific condition next ot the employee's name. 

  Hot tip: To see why an employee has been blocked, which may be for multiple reasons, hover over the blocked status in the employee selector for more details. 

Blocked employee conditions include:

• Compliances- Employee doesn't have the required compliance for working on this roster or shift.  
• Conflict - Employee has a conflicting shift at that time. 
  
    Hot tip: Use the 'Show external shifts' display option to see where your employee has shifts on other rosters or Operations. 
• Exclusion - Employee has been excluded from working for the Operation.
• Exclusive - Employee is set to work exclusively for another Operation's rosters.
• Tags - Employee doesn't have the required tags on their profile to work on this roster or shift.  

For more information on Operation Exclusions /Exclusives, refer to the Employee Profile section below. For details on Requirements, see the Roster section.

The Include blocked toggle will not display all employees on your platform — only those linked to the specific roster you’re viewing. If you’re still unable to add an employee to your roster, it’s likely because their profile or position has been set up incorrectly. 

Review each section below to confirm the employee’s setup is correct and that they meet all rostering requirements.

When you’re unable to add an employee to a roster, checking their profile is the best place to start. An employee’s profile shows key details, such as their approval status and any restrictions that might prevent them from being rostered. 

Reviewing this information helps you quickly identify and resolve the issue so rostering can continue smoothly.

  Permission reminder: To view and update the employee profile, you need various permissions. If you do not have access, please contact your direct supervisor. 

Key checks to review on an employee's profile include:

• Employment Status – Only employees who have completed onboarding and been approved can be rostered; this means they must be from the Approved People menu. If an employee appears under the Pending People, Archived People, or Declined People menus, they cannot be added to a roster.

  
   

• Employment Suspended – When an employee is suspended, they will be removed from all rosters while the Suspend toggle remains enabled on their Employee Profile. This is to prevent rostering an employee who is either unable or prevented from working. 

  
   

• Operation Exclusion – You can mark an employee as excluded from working at a specific Operation and its related rosters. Any shifts assigned to that Operation will not be published to excluded employees.

  
   

• Operation Exclusive – You can also mark an employee as working exclusively for a specific Operation. This ensures the employee only has shifts published that are linked to that Operation.

  

The next step in understanding why an employee can’t be added to a roster is to review their assigned positions. 

Positions determine where an employee is eligible to work by linking them to specific rosters or Operations. Ensuring each employee has the correct position set up is essential for accurate rosters. 

  Permission reminder: To view and update an employee's position, you need various permissions. If you do not have access, please contact your direct supervisor.   
 

Key checks to review on an employee's position include:

• No Position - A position stores all the information about how to roster and pay your employee. If your employee does not have an assigned position, they cannot be added to the roster. 

  
   

• Location - The employee's location is the key link between their position and the roster they can work on. If any of the employee's locations in their position do not match the roster's location, they cannot be added to that roster. 
  
  As shown in the image below, Rafael has Brisbane Northside and Brisbane Inner City locations, so he can be added to any roster with those, but not to rosters with different locations. 

  
   

• Start Date - If you have upcoming positions (white positions) with future start dates, you cannot add or roster the employee to any week before their position's start date.
  
  As shown in the image below, this upcoming position has a start date of 4th April 2026. This means Rafael will be unable to be added to the roster before the week that includes 4th April.

  

From the Rosters page, there are a few specific reasons why you might not be able to add an employee to a shift. These are usually related to how the roster or shift details have been set up. 

Reviewing these settings will help you identify what’s blocking the employee from being added and how to resolve it.

  Permission reminder: To view and update the roster requirements, you will need the 'Manage Rosters'  permission. If you do not have access, please contact your direct supervisor.
 

Key checks to review for the roster include:

• Roster Requirement - This feature ensures that all employees on a roster meet specific requirements before they can be added. These requirements could include holding a valid licence/ qualification or having a particular tag on their profile. 

  
   

• Shift Requirement - You can also set requirements on individual shifts in addition to setting roster requirements. This means only employees who have both sets of requirements can be added to a shift. 
  
  In the image below, we can see that this shift has a roster requirement for an RSA and a shift requirement for a First Aid Certificate. This means only employees with both of these can be added to the shift.

        
   

• Filtering by Position - When creating new shifts on your roster, one of the first fields you complete is the employee's position. Once selected, the employee list filters to show only those who have that position assigned to their profile.

    Please note: This can also happen if you have sorted your roster by Position rather than by Employee Name, as the position will automatically fill. 
  
  If you can’t find the employee you’re after, just clear the position filter to add them first, then choose a position they qualify for.  Alternatively, you can update their profile if a different position is needed. 
  
  In the video below, we see that when creating a shift for Barista, Andre cannot be selected because the list filters only for employees with eligible Barista positions. To include him, we cleared the filter and selected a different position. 

  

  The reverse is also true; if you select the Employee first, the list of positions will filter to show only those assigned to the employee. Please see the sections below for more details. 

If you’re able to add an employee to a roster but not assign them to a shift, the first place to check is the Operations Rates Book. This is especially important if you’ve recently created a new position in your Award or Agreement. 

  Permission reminder: To view and update a rates book, you will need the 'Access Approved Operations' and 'Edit Rates Book' permissions. If you do not have access, please contact your direct supervisor.
 

Key checks to review for an Operation include:

• Rates Book - Each Operation in your platform has its own rates book, which lists all positions that can be rostered, paid, and invoiced for that specific client or venue. 
  
  When creating new positions in your Award or Agreement, it’s important to add them to all relevant rates books so they are accessible across your Operations. 
  
  Casual employees can still have that position assigned to their profiles, as Operations isn’t required for their setup. However, as the position isn’t linked to the correct rates book, this disconnect prevents shifts from being added to the roster.

  

If you’ve confirmed the position is listed in the Operations Rates Book but still can’t assign the employee to a shift, the next step is to check your Position Groups in your Award or Agreement. 

Rostering issues can occur when new positions are created but not added to a group. Reviewing your Position Groups ensures all relevant positions are correctly linked and available for rostering.

  Permission reminder: To view and update a rates book, you will need the 'View Awards and Agreements' and 'Edit Awards and Agreements' permissions. If you do not have access, please contact your direct supervisor.
 

Key checks to review for an Award or Agreement include:

• Position Groups - When setting up your Operations, you can choose how rosters linked to it will manage positions. Rosters can be built using either Positions or Position Groups — not both.

  • Positions – Rostering is based on the position titles from your Award (e.g. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3).

  • Position Groups – Rostering is based on custom labels that group similar positions together (e.g. Waiter, Bartender, Kitchenhand). This helps simplify roster building by letting you group roles that share similar responsibilities or pay levels.

  When using Position Groups, every position assigned to an employee for that roster must belong to at least one Position Group. If a position isn’t included in a group, employees with that position can’t be rostered.
  
  In the image below, the Barista position group contains multiple positions. This means employees with any of those positions on their profile can be rostered under this group. If an employee’s position is not included in the group, they cannot be rostered using it.