Guide

Team Members

Working Hours & Leave Management

Each team member has weekly working hours, special dates for set date ranges, and leave that blocks time off. Petboost offers a team member for bookings inside their hours and outside their leave.

Updated 27 September 2026 - 7 min read
Open in Petboost

Working hours are made of sessions: a working day with no session in it takes no bookings. Hours are times of day in your business's time zone, shown as Timezone under Local Info on Settings, so a 9:00 am start stays 9:00 am when daylight saving changes. Each location of a multi-location business keeps its own hours.

Petboost has no leave request or approval step. Leave takes effect as soon as it is added, and adding it sends no notification.

Set the days a team member works

Set the weekly pattern once. Petboost repeats it every week until you change it.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Working Hours. Default Hours is selected.
  3. On each day, switch the toggle to Working or Day Off.
  4. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

A day switched to Working reads No sessions until you add one. On a day that has sessions, the Day actions menu holds Copy to Other Days... and Clear All Sessions. The same week is on Schedules & Sessions beside the rest of your team.

Add or change a session

A session is a block of the day when appointments can start, with its own number of pets at a time.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Working Hours.
  3. To add a session, select Add Session on a working day. To change one, select the session.
  4. Set Start Time and End Time.
  5. Optional: set Pets at a time for this session. Left empty, the session uses the team member's default.
  6. Select Add Session, or Stage for Publishing when you changed an existing one. Remove Session deletes it.
  7. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

Pets at a time is how many pets can be booked at the same moment in that session, not a daily total. Set it to zero and Petboost shows Zero Capacity Warning, because nobody could book that session.

Set different hours for set dates

Use special dates for a school holiday roster, a seasonal change, a special event or a personal commitment: they replace the default hours for that date range only.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Working Hours, then Special Dates.
  3. Select Create Special Dates. When the team member already has some, the button reads New Special Dates.
  4. On Date Range, set Start Date and End Date.
  5. Optional: enter an Override Label (Optional), such as Holiday Hours.
  6. Select Next: Configure Schedule, then set the hours for each day of that range.
  7. Select Stage for Publishing.
  8. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

The Special Dates switch shows how many special dates the team member has. You can also add them from Schedules & Sessions.

Repeat special dates on a pattern

Batch mode creates a run of special dates in one go, such as every second Saturday.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Working Hours, then Special Dates, then Create Special Dates or New Special Dates.
  3. Select Switch to Batch Mode.
  4. On First Week, set Week Start and Week End for the first set.
  5. On Frequency, choose Every Week, Every 2 Weeks or Every Month.
  6. On End Condition, choose After and enter Create this many periods, or choose Until Date.
  7. On Preview, check the dates, then add a label on Label.
  8. Select Next: Configure Schedule, set the hours, then select Create with the number of special dates.

Batch mode saves straight away. It does not wait for Publish Changes.

Add leave

Add leave for a holiday, a personal appointment, a special event such as a wedding, sick leave or an emergency. Planned leave goes in ahead of time; unplanned leave goes in on the day.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Leaves & Restrictions.
  3. Select Add, then Add Leave.
  4. Set the Start Date and End Date.
  5. Set the Start Time and End Time. They default to 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, so change them to cover the whole shift. Leave runs from the start time on the start date to the end time on the end date.
  6. Optional: enter a Label (Optional), for example Sick Leave.
  7. Select Add Leave.

If the team member has bookings in that time, Appointment conflict detected lists them before you save. Petboost adds the leave without cancelling them unless you select Cancel Appointment, or Cancel All and the number of bookings, then Yes, cancel them. Cancelling tells the pet owners and cannot be undone. Select Check for existing appointments to review the bookings that overlap.

Plan cover for the team member's bookings, and adjust other schedules as needed.

Add leave that repeats

Batch Create adds the same leave on a pattern, such as every Friday afternoon, for a range of up to 7 days at a time.

  1. Open Team Members and select Manage on the team member.
  2. Choose Leaves & Restrictions.
  3. Select Add, then Batch Create.
  4. In Create Blocked Time, set the Start Date, End Date, Start Time and End Time of the first occurrence.
  5. Optional: enter a Label (Optional).
  6. Switch on Repeat this blocked time, then choose how many Days or Weeks apart, and whether it ends After a number of times or on an End Date.
  7. Select Create with the number of blocked times.

To block the whole team at once, for example for a weather emergency, use Bulk Block Time in the settings menu on Team Members.

Manage leave

Leaves & Restrictions holds the team member's leave and blocked time.

  • Leaves & Blocked Time lists every entry, with its label, date range, time and duration. Edit or delete an entry from the list, or tick several and select Delete
  • Leave Summary counts Total Leaves, Single Day, Multi Day and Upcoming
  • Public Holidays: select Magic Load Public Holidays, tick the holidays this team member takes off, then select Apply Selected. Each applied holiday becomes blocked time and reads Applied

For different working hours on set dates rather than time off, use Special Dates on Working Hours.

Plan cover for leave and busy periods

Petboost does not plan cover for you. These habits keep the calendar covered:

  • Plan leave in advance, and check the calendar for cover before you add leave, especially when several team members want the same days off
  • Agree a leave policy with your team and apply it the same way to everyone
  • Cross-train team members on more than one service, name a backup for each person, and keep some capacity spare
  • Aim to have everyone available in peak periods, and schedule leave, training and maintenance in quieter ones
  • Expect seasonal change: summer brings more demand for outdoor activity and longer play and exercise hours, winter moves demand indoors, and holiday periods bring more boarding and changed staff hours
  • Use part-time and contract staff for busy seasons, and offer flexible arrangements where you can
  • Review working hours regularly, for example monthly, and give your team notice of changes
  • Tell customers about schedule changes and offer them an alternative

Frequently asked questions

Need help? Contact support or select Get Help in your dashboard to chat with our team.