Home Wiki DE

Invite Employees

Have them join via access code or QR — and merge with a placeholder later if needed.

Wiki > Getting Started > Invite Employees

Overview

In PlanFast there are two ways to add employees to your team:

Employee joins via code

You share access code or QR code, the employee registers themselves and sends a join request. You approve.

Placeholder employees

You create employees without an account. You can plan with them right away — they can join later and will be merged with the placeholder.

Joining via access code

Each company in PlanFast has its own access code. You'll find it in the settings under Team or Employees.

1

Share access code or QR

Send the code via WhatsApp, email or in person — or show the QR code that the employee scans with the app.

2

Employee registers

The employee downloads PlanFast (iOS, Android or web), creates an account, enters the access code and sends a join request.

3

You approve

The pending join request appears on your dashboard. You verify the name, approve — done. If a matching placeholder exists, PlanFast suggests merging (see below).

No email invites

PlanFast doesn't send invitation emails. The access code is the only thing you need to share — everything else happens in the app.

Placeholder employees

With placeholders you can pre-create employees without an account — name, department, weekly hours, qualifications. The AutoPilot plans them like everyone else.

When are placeholders useful?

  • Initial setup: You want to plan immediately, without waiting for everyone to install the app.
  • Temps / seasonal staff: People who only work occasionally and don't need app access.
  • Transition period: You're sharing the code, but the schedule keeps running until the team has joined.

What placeholders can — and can't — do

Feature Placeholder Real account
Receive shift assignments✓✓
Visible in the schedule✓✓
Scheduled by AutoPilot✓✓
Set own availabilityvia admin✓
Submit sick leave / absencesvia admin✓
Push notifications—✓
Shift swap / handover—✓

Merging with a placeholder

If a placeholder later joins as a real employee, you don't want everything duplicated. PlanFast offers two paths:

Automatic on join (self-merge)

When someone registers and enters the access code, PlanFast searches the company for placeholders with similar names. On match, the new employee sees a dialog:

Example dialog

"There's already a placeholder named Maria Schmidt in this company. Is that you? If yes, we'll transfer your existing shifts and absences after approval."

Yes → Join request goes to admin with merge marker. Confirmation: "Join request sent! Your existing profile will be transferred after approval."

When name matching kicks in

  • Exact match: "Maria Schmidt" ↔ "Maria Schmidt" (also case-insensitive and whitespace-trimmed).
  • Partial match: Placeholder "M. Schmidt", new account "Maria Schmidt" — one contains the other.
  • Same first name: Placeholder "Max Mustermann", new account "Max Müller" — suggested with lower confidence, you as admin decide.
  • No match: "Anna Schmidt" ↔ "Max Mustermann" — no suggestion, regular join without merging.

Manually by the admin

You can always merge later — e.g. if the employee used a different name when joining or auto-matching found nothing:

1

Click on the real account in the team area

Pick the employee you want to merge a placeholder into.

2

Choose "Merge with placeholder"

PlanFast shows all available placeholders for selection.

3

Confirm

All shifts and absences from the placeholder transfer to the real account, the placeholder is removed.

What happens during a merge

For every merge — auto or manual — the following data transfers:

  • Shifts: All shifts assigned to the placeholder go to the real account (past and future).
  • Absences: Admin-entered absences for the placeholder are migrated.
  • Active employee list: Placeholder out, real account in.

Statistics (worked hours) stay continuous — the new account picks up the history without gaps.

Common situations

Two employees with same first name

If two Marias are on the team, PlanFast doesn't suggest auto-merge on ambiguous matches. You as admin assign manually.

Employee uses different name than the placeholder

E.g. nickname in the system, full name on the account. No auto-merge — merge manually.

Confirmed wrong merge by accident

While the join request is still pending, you can decline it. Once approved the merge is done — contact support for manual correction.