How the System Works
Floating: the selection rule
How the system picks which worker covers an empty desk, traced from the gap to the assignment.
This page is a placeholder. Its structure is fixed; the writing lands in a later phase.
Float selection is fixed: source order, then the longest unbroken run, then three tiebreak checks.
How the pick is made
A lookup runs two hours before an unclaimed block that would leave the desk empty. The floor is one worker, not the staffing target. So an Upper Quad evening with one worker on is covered, and its empty seats are never floated. Present counts scheduled, claimed, floated in, pending float in, and secured Allied cover. Emptiness is judged when the step fires, so a desk claimed before then never reaches it.
One pass handles at most four hours of a contiguous window. The rest stays claimable and re-escalates, because buying hours outright is worse than letting a worker take them.
Each source is exhausted before the next. The school year tries Upper Quad, then Harnwell. Summer tries the most heavily staffed source first, since it has the most slack to lend.
Within a source, whoever covers the longest unbroken run of the gap wins it, and the rule repeats on what is left. Several floaters on one gap is normal, not a failure. A run of one block still counts, because buying half an hour of Allied is worse than moving a worker for it. Each selection is charged against that source’s slack at once, so a desk of three lends two and stops.
If no worker at a source covers the longest run, the system takes the longest leading stretch from the gap’s start instead. Whatever no source can reach becomes an Allied request, which pages the Residential Services Manager, then the Housing Manager, then the Housing Manager on duty.
Who can be floated
Every rule holds at once, and each exists for a different reason.
| The worker | Why |
|---|---|
| is at a house that may float here today | direction depends on the season |
| leaves someone behind at their own desk | a desk is never emptied to fill another |
| is on shift there during the gap | a float moves hours that already exist |
| is not already floating in that window | one person, one desk |
| is not there on a cross-house pickup | they hold that desk’s headcount |
| is not a manager | managers run a desk, not another’s |
| has not declined an overlapping float here | a refusal is not re-asked |
| is still active | leavers are out of every pool |
During the school year Upper Quad may float to the 11 single-staff houses, and Harnwell to any house. In summer any open, multi-staffed house may float to any other open house. Harnwell is never a destination, because that desk needs training only Harnwell workers hold. Weekly hour caps are never consulted, because a float relocates hours you were already scheduled to work.
Breaking a tie
When several workers cover the same winning run, three checks decide, in order.
One qualifier at a check wins outright. The third check is genuinely arbitrary. Seniority, hours worked, and how often you have floated before play no part at any check.
A worked example
Lauder is empty from 19:00 to 22:00, six blocks. Upper Quad has three workers on.
| Worker | House | On shift | Covers of the gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | Upper Quad | 17:00 to 21:00 | 19:00 to 21:00 |
| E | Upper Quad | 19:00 to 21:00 | 19:00 to 21:00 |
| F | Upper Quad | 19:00 to 21:00 | 19:00 to 21:00 |
| G | Harnwell | 19:00 to 24:00 | all of it |
Upper Quad goes first, so G waits. The longest run any Quad worker reaches is 19:00 to 21:00, and all three reach it. E and F start at 19:00, so D is out. Both end at 21:00, so the third check takes one arbitrarily. Say E.
Quad now has two left, which meets the floor, and nobody there works past 21:00. Harnwell is next: G covers 21:00 to 22:00 and Harnwell keeps a worker. Two floaters, no Allied.
Why it works this way
- A source desk never drops below one worker. The guard sits in the rule itself, so configuration cannot empty one desk to fill another.
- Harnwell can send but never receive. A Harnwell gap skips the lookup and goes straight to an Allied request.
What this means for you
You cannot influence the choice. No queue, no fairness counter, and no preference reaches this rule.
A manager may override any outcome by hand, at either house, and may also run this rule early for a gap they know nobody will claim. Automation may not. So a float you have been given stands until a person changes it.