Creating, confirming, and managing employee schedules

A computer readable medium having computer readable program for operating on a computer for scheduling a plurality of employees, said program comprising instructions that cause the computer to perform the steps of:

• creating a schedule having a plurality of time slots comprising shifts, each shift having one employee of said plurality of employees;
• publishing said schedule on a two-way communication network to each of said plurality of employees;
• and
• receiving a response from each employee, wherein said response is one of a confirmation, a request for shift change, and a null response, and for each employee:
• if the null response is received, sending a reminder to said employee, and
• if the confirmation is received, saving the confirmation in the schedule, and
• if the request for shift change is received, performing the steps of:
• sending an alert to one or more eligible employees of said plurality of employees using a preferred communication mode of each of said eligible employees;
• if one of the eligible employees responds and if manager approval is needed, alerting the manager and if the manager approves, changing and saving the shift as the confirmation in the schedule and alerting the employee and the eligible employee, and if the manager does not approve, alerting the employee and the eligible employee;
• and
• if one of the eligible employees responds and if manager approval is not needed, changing and saving the shift as the confirmation in the schedule and alerting the employee and the eligible employee.

A system for scheduling a plurality of employees, comprising:

• a plurality of time slots having a plurality of time slots comprising shifts, each shift having one employee of said plurality of employees
• a schedule having the plurality of time slots;
• a two-way communication network publishing said schedule to each of said plurality of employees;
• and
• a response received from each employee, wherein said response is one of a confirmation, a request for shift change, and a null response, and for each employee:
• if the null response is received, sending a reminder to said employee, and
• if the confirmation is received, saving the confirmation in the schedule, and
• if the request for shift change is received, performing the steps of:
• sending an alert to one or more eligible employees of said plurality of employees using a preferred communication mode of each of said eligible employees;
• if one of the eligible employees responds and if manager approval is needed, alerting the manager and if the manager approves, changing and saving the shift as the confirmation in the schedule and alerting the employee and the eligible employee, and if the manager does not approve, alerting the employee and the eligible employee;
• and
• if one of the eligible employees responds and if manager approval is not needed, changing and saving the shift as the confirmation in the schedule and alerting the employee and the eligible employee.