Glossary

The words Slota uses, and exactly what each one means.

For everyoneUpdated 31 August 2026
  • Shift — one person, one date, a start and end time, at a location, in a position.
  • Draft — a shift that exists but is only visible to managers. Employees see nothing until it is published.
  • Published — the shift is live, visible to the assigned employee, and has triggered a notification.
  • Unassigned shift — a shift with no one on it. Managers fill it later; employees never see it.
  • Available (open) shift — a shift deliberately offered for employees to apply for.
  • Position — a job role (e.g. Server, Chef). Carries a colour and a default hourly rate, and doubles as a deployment station.
  • Location — an outlet or site, with an address, timezone, kiosk and geofence settings.
  • Group — a free-form grouping of people used for filtering, messaging and announcements.
  • Deployment — the station-by-station plan for one day at one location: who stands where.
  • Station — a position in the deployment grid, optionally with sub-positions one level deep.
  • Pax — the required headcount for a station on a given day. A blue counter means met, red means short.
  • Standby — a person rostered as bench cover. They are told not to report unless activated, and their clock-ins arrive flagged for review.
  • HC — headcount. The deployment band shows HC GAUGE / SCHEDULED HC / ACTUAL HC / NO SHOW.
  • Clopening — a closing shift followed too soon by an opening shift. Slota warns below a configurable rest threshold.
  • Kiosk — a shared screen at a location where staff clock in with a PIN (and optionally a face check).
  • Task set — a named group of tasks assigned to staff. Some sets block shift booking until complete.
  • Time off — a dated leave request that needs approval.
  • Unavailability — a standing pattern of hours someone cannot work. It is not a leave request and needs no approval.