Instructor subbing

Allow instructors to request and pick up substitutions when they can't teach a class.

Instructor subbing lets instructors request a substitute for classes they can't teach and allows other eligible instructors to pick up those classes — either automatically or with manager approval.

Enable subbing

Go to Settings → Instructor subbing (under Business Settings)
Check Enable auto substitution management
Under Manager approvals, choose your approval setting:
- Auto approve requested substitutions — any eligible instructor can pick up a sub automatically
- Require manager approval of accepted substitutions — all sub pickups need admin review before going through

Configure eligible instructors

You set which instructors can sub for a given class type in two places:

On the service type:

Go to Setup → Service Types
Edit the service type
On the Scheduling step, add Eligible team member(s)

On the team member profile:

Go to the instructor's profile in Staff → Team
Find Approved services and categories
Add the services and categories they're approved to sub for

These are the same eligibility setting, so a change in one place also shows in the other.

Optional: let instructors swap themselves

Instructors can also change the instructor on a class directly from Full Schedule if their role has the Edit Instructors permission under Group Classes (Staff → Team → Roles & Permissions). The permission's Scope decides how far that goes: scoped to their own classes, they can hand off classes they teach; set to all classes, they can also put themselves on other instructors' classes.

The approved services and categories on the team member profile determine which sub-request emails an instructor receives. If a team member is approved for All services and categories, they will receive sub-request emails for every service — even ones where they aren't listed under the service type's Eligible team member(s). To stop an instructor from receiving emails for a service, update their team member profile to list only the specific services and categories they should sub for, rather than "All."

How to request a sub (instructor)

Click on the class that needs a sub
Open the ⋯ menu and click Request substitute
Enter a comment (optional) explaining the situation
Click Send request

Once submitted, eligible instructors can see and claim the sub.

Who gets notified about a sub request

When a sub is requested, Arketa emails the team members whose profile approves them for that service or category, plus the instructor who made the request. The email exists so someone can pick the class up, so the recipients are the people eligible to teach it.

Owners and admins do not receive sub-request emails, and the studio's own account is never on the list. There is no setting that adds another address to it.

The Substitute instructor notification under Settings → Communications → Transactional Messages is a different message. It goes to clients who are booked or waitlisted, and only after a substitute has been assigned. Its Send to step offers Client on purpose, so it cannot be pointed at a staff or admin address.

To keep an eye on sub requests as an owner or admin, go to Scheduling → Sub Requests, where every open, pending, and completed request is listed.

How to pick up a sub (instructor)

Eligible instructors can claim a sub from:

The Sub Requests tab in their dashboard
Directly from the class view

Auto-approved: After claiming, the instructor sees a confirmation and they're immediately assigned to the class.

Manager approval required: After an instructor claims the sub, it moves to Pending sub approval. An admin reviews and approves or rejects it — either from the class view or the Needs approval tab under Sub Requests.

After the sub is approved

The class updates to show the substitute instructor. The original instructor is no longer listed. Payroll reporting reflects who taught the class. The subbing instructor and the requesting instructor will both receive an email and sms message, if they have a phone number listed on their team member profile. Reminders for substitute instructors will be sent at approximately 9pm EST the day before the class is scheduled.