Availability Scheduling

Tell Vanio when you and your team are available, and the system will only offer cleaning jobs during those windows. No more declining jobs at 6am or on your day off. When automatic assignment can't find anyone, Vanio now tells you exactly why — so you always know what blocked a job.

Setting your weekly schedule

1. Go to Operations → Availability
2. If you're a manager, pick a team member from the list; otherwise you'll land on your own schedule
3. For each day of the week, toggle the day on and turn on the hours you're working (e.g. Mon–Fri 8 am–5 pm, Sat 9 am–1 pm)
4. Click Save schedule

Vanio uses these hours to decide who gets offered which job. A cleaner who's off Sundays will never see a Sunday offer.

[Screenshot: Weekly schedule editor showing day toggles and hour pickers]

Tip: The hours you set are in the staff member's own timezone — Vanio shows which timezone is active next to every time input so there's no ambiguity.

Setting your timezone

Because a "9 am start" means different things in different cities, each staff member's schedule is anchored to their own timezone.

1. On the Availability tab, find the Timezone field near the top of the page
2. Choose the correct timezone from the dropdown (e.g. America/New_York, Europe/London)
3. Save — all working hours on this page are now interpreted in that zone

If no timezone has been set yet, Vanio will note that the schedule shown is a default, not a confirmed preference, so you won't mistake an inherited setting for a real choice.

Time off and vacations

Need a week off? Add a Time Off block:

1. On the Availability tab, scroll to the Time Off section and click Add Time Off
2. Pick a start date/time and an end date/time
3. Optional: add a note ("Family trip", "Sick leave")
4. Save

During that period the person is skipped automatically. When the block ends they're back in rotation — no action needed.

One-off changes

For a single day — doctor's appointment, school pickup — use Quick Block:

1. Tap the day on the calendar
2. Choose a time range (or "All day")
3. Save

These one-offs don't affect the weekly schedule. They apply only to that date.

Enabling and disabling a schedule

Every staff member has a master Enabled toggle on their Availability tab. When it's off, Vanio treats that person as unavailable for automatic assignment regardless of their weekly hours. Use this when someone is on an extended leave or hasn't been set up yet, without having to delete their schedule.

There's also a Available by default setting. When it's on, Vanio considers a person available at any moment their weekly schedule doesn't explicitly cover — useful for flexible staff. When it's off (the normal setting for shift-based workers), only explicitly scheduled hours count.

How automatic assignment uses schedules

When Vanio assigns a job automatically, it checks each eligible staff member in order:

• Is today a working day for them? (based on their weekly schedule)
• Is the job time within their working hours? (in their timezone)
• Do they have a time-off block covering that moment?

If any check fails, that person is skipped. When no one is available, the Operations dashboard shows a clear reason next to the unassigned job — day off, outside working hours, or time off — so you know exactly what to adjust.

[Screenshot: Operations dashboard showing assignment failure reason]

Different hours per property

If a staff member only cleans certain properties on certain days, you can set per-property availability. Open the property, go to Assigned Staff, and set custom hours for that person at that address.

What staff see

Staff can manage their own availability from the Vanio mobile app or by replying to any SMS with:

• off — mark today as unavailable
• off friday — block a specific day
• available monday — reopen a day

Changes sync instantly. If they're already assigned to a task in a newly-blocked slot, you'll get an alert so you can reassign.

Key features

• Hour-level scheduling — set exact start and end times per day, not just which days are on or off
• Per-person timezone — every schedule is interpreted in the staff member's own local time
• One-off time off — add holiday or sickness blocks with a start time, end time, and optional note
• Master on/off switch — disable a person's schedule entirely without deleting it
• Available by default — choose whether unscheduled moments count as available or unavailable
• Assignment failure reasons — when a job can't be filled automatically, the dashboard tells you why
• Manager override — owners, admins, team leads, and supervisors can edit any team member's schedule; staff can only edit their own

Tips & best practices

• Set the timezone first. Working hours are meaningless without it. Check this before saving anything else for a new team member.
• Use time off for anything longer than a day. Quick Block is fine for a few hours; for holidays, time off blocks are easier to manage and review.
• Check the "source" hint. When the Availability tab shows a note saying the schedule is a default, it means the person hasn't configured their own yet. Reach out before relying on those hours.
• Review the Operations dashboard after a failed assignment. The reason shown (day off, outside hours, time off) tells you whether to adjust the schedule, find a replacement, or reassign manually.
• Leave "Available by default" off for most shift-based staff. Turning it on for flexible workers gives them coverage at odd hours without requiring you to schedule every possible slot.

Common questions

What if I get sick mid-shift? Use Quick Block for the rest of the day. Any unstarted tasks are reoffered automatically.

Can I set different hours in summer vs winter? Yes — save the schedule as a Season and switch between them from the Availability tab.

Does this affect the marketplace? Yes. Public marketplace offers respect your hours the same way internal tasks do.

Why does the Operations dashboard say a job couldn't be assigned? Vanio checks three things: working day, working hours, and time off. The dashboard shows which check failed — day off, outside working hours, or time off — next to the unassigned job so you know exactly what to address.

Can a manager edit someone else's schedule? Yes. Owners, admins, team leads, and supervisors can open any team member's Availability tab and make changes. Other staff can only edit their own schedule.