Team
Roles & Access Control
Understand what Owners, Managers, and Stylists can do in OpenChair, and assign the right role when inviting team members to your venue.
Last updated 16 July 2026
Roles & Access Control
Understand what each role in OpenChair can do, so you assign the right level of access when inviting team members, and your staff see only what they need.
Where to find it: Roles are assigned when you invite a team member (Team → Invite) and can be changed from the staff profile.
TL;DR
- Three roles: Owner (full access), Manager (operations without billing), Stylist (own calendar and bookings only).
- Roles are per venue, a person can have different roles at different venues.
- Only Owners can change roles or manage other Managers and Owners.
- Owners and Managers approve and manage shared workstations; every operator uses their own shared-device PIN.
Overview
OpenChair uses three roles to control what each team member can see and do:
- Owner: full access to every feature, including billing, venue settings, and team management
- Manager: can manage day-to-day operations, staff schedules, and services, but cannot access billing or financial reports
- Stylist (Staff): can view their own calendar, manage their own bookings and clients, and update their own profile
Roles are assigned per venue. A person can have different roles at different venues if they belong to more than one.
Note
FREE accounts are limited to 1 bookable team member. PRO supports additional bookable team members with capped per-venue pricing. Role functionality is the same on both plans, there is no tier restriction on which roles are available.
The three roles
Owner
The Owner has unrestricted access to the venue. Every feature, setting, and report is available.
Owners can:
- Invite team members with any role (Owner, Manager, or Stylist)
- Remove or offboard any team member
- Change any team member's role
- Access billing, subscription, and payout settings
- Configure venue settings, operating hours, and booking rules
- View all reports, commission settings, invoices, and deposit rules
- Approve and manage shared workstations and shared-device PINs
- Manage reviews
- Access the full Intelligence dashboard
When you create a venue, OpenChair automatically assigns you the Owner role. You do not need to invite yourself.
Manager
Managers handle day-to-day operations without access to billing or sensitive financial data.
Managers can:
- View and manage all bookings on the calendar
- Manage Stylists (invite, edit profiles, set schedules, assign services, offboard)
- Configure services, packages, products, and gift cards
- Manage the waitlist
- View and manage the timesheet (all staff hours)
- Approve and manage shared workstations and eligible staff PINs
- Access communications tools (Inbox, Campaigns, Automations)
- Access Assistant with manager-level prompts
- Edit brand voice, storefront, portfolio, loyalty, forms, and deposit rules
Managers cannot:
- Invite, edit, or remove other Managers or Owners
- Access billing, subscription, or payout settings
- View invoices or financial reports
- View or configure commission rates (web)
- Manage the reviews queue (web)
Tip
Managers see slightly different items depending on the platform. On web, Managers can open Timesheet from the Manage sidebar and manage team hours, even while Time clock is disabled. On mobile, Managers can access commission and timesheet through the More menu; commission setup remains Owner-only on web.
Stylist (Staff)
Stylists have a personal view focused on their own work, here is exactly what they can access on web and mobile.
Stylists can:
- View their own calendar and upcoming bookings
- Create and manage bookings
- View and manage their own clients
- Update their own profile (name, email, bio, calendar colour)
- Edit their own working hours (via mobile self-service)
- Toggle which services they offer (on/off only, no proficiency or price overrides)
- View their own commission earnings on mobile (More → My Earnings)
- Clock in and out, track breaks (More → My Hours)
- Access Assistant with staff-level prompts
- Send and receive messages via Inbox
Stylists cannot:
- Access the Team management page
- View other team members' calendars or schedules
- Change venue settings, operating hours, or booking rules
- Configure services, commission rates, or deposit rules
- Access billing, invoices, payouts, or reports
- Approve, disconnect or manage shared workstations
Feature access by role
The table below shows which features each role can access. "View" means read-only access; "Manage" means full create/edit/delete access.
Core features
| Feature | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar (all staff) | Manage | Manage | Own bookings only |
| Create bookings | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Waitlist | Manage | Manage | No |
| Walk-in checkout | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Clients | Manage | Manage | Own clients |
| OpenChair Assistant | Full prompts | Full prompts | Staff prompts |
| Inbox | Manage | Manage | Send/receive |
| Campaigns | Manage | Manage | No |
| Intelligence dashboard | Full | View | View |
Team management
| Feature | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| View team list | Yes | Yes | No |
| Invite team members | All roles | Stylists only | No |
| Edit staff profiles | All staff | Stylists only | Own profile only |
| Set staff working hours | All staff | Stylists only | Own hours (mobile) |
| Assign services to staff | All staff | Stylists only | Own services (toggle only) |
| Set proficiency / duration / price overrides | All staff | Stylists only | No |
| Offboard team members | All roles | Stylists only | No |
| Change a team member's role | Yes | No | No |
Services & catalogue
| Feature | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Services | Manage | Manage | View |
| Packages | Manage | Manage | View |
| Products | Manage | Manage | View |
| Gift cards | Manage | Manage | View |
| Consultation forms | Manage | Manage | View |
Financial & reporting
| Feature | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission setup (rates & overrides) | Manage | Manage | No |
| Commission report (all staff) | View | View | No |
| Own earnings (My Earnings) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Timesheet (all staff) | Manage | Manage | No |
| Own hours (My Hours / clock in-out) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invoices | Manage | No | No |
| Payouts | Manage | No | No |
| Close till | Manage | Manage | View |
| Deposits (rules & configuration) | Manage | No | No |
| Reviews | Manage | No | No |
Venue & settings
| Feature | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venue settings | Manage | No | No |
| Operating hours | Manage | No | No |
| Booking rules | Manage | No | No |
| Storefront & appearance | Manage | Manage | No |
| Brand voice | Manage | Manage | No |
| Portfolio | Manage | Manage | View |
| Loyalty programme | Manage | Manage | No |
| Billing & subscription | Manage | No | No |
| Shared workstation approval | Yes | Yes | No |
| Shared-device PIN management | Yes | Yes | No |
How roles are assigned
Roles are assigned when you invite a team member:
- Go to Team in the sidebar (web) or More → Team (mobile).
- Click the + button (web) or tap Invite (mobile).
- Enter the team member's email and select a role:
| Role option | Web label | Mobile label |
|---|---|---|
| Stylist | "Staff (Stylist)" | "Stylist" |
| Manager | "Manager" | "Manager" |
| Owner | "Owner" | "Owner" |
- Click Send Invitation (web) or tap Send Invite (mobile).
Changing a role
Only Owners can change a team member's role after they have been invited.
- Go to Team and select the team member.
- On the Profile tab (web) or Edit Profile screen (mobile), change the Role field.
- Click Save Profile.
Role hierarchy for invitations
- Owners can invite and manage all roles (Owner, Manager, Stylist).
- Managers can invite and manage Stylists only: they cannot invite, edit, or remove other Managers or Owners.
- Stylists cannot invite or manage anyone.
For full details on the invitation process, see Team Invitations.
Shared workstation access
A shared workstation has its own restricted device authority and a fixed operational capability set. It does not keep an Owner or Manager personally signed in, and it does not inherit unrestricted access from the claimed operator's account role.
What the workstation allows
| Area | Workstation access |
|---|---|
| Locked calendar | Visible without an operator claim, with customer information redacted |
| Bookings and clients | Basic booking actions and limited, masked client summaries after a claim |
| Waitlist | Basic list, add and pending-request removal after a claim |
| Time clock | The acting operator can view and change only their own clock status |
| Checkout | Restricted checkout with workstation and operator attribution |
| Reports, settings and billing | Never available inside the workstation |
Who can approve and manage a workstation
Owners and Managers can:
- approve a new or reconnecting workstation from their own signed-in web browser;
- rename and disconnect workstations under Settings > Shared workstations;
- set, change, remove and reset cooldowns for eligible staff PINs;
- approve a supported, named checkout exception with a personal PIN.
An Owner or Manager approval never creates a timed escape into the full app. A one-action approval applies only to the displayed booking and reason.
Who can claim a workstation
Any active team profile with a configured four-digit Shared-device PIN can claim the workstation. Workstation eligibility is independent of:
- whether the staff member is bookable;
- whether they have a personal OpenChair account;
- their personal-account navigation permissions.
After a claim, the header shows Acting as [name]. Deliberate interaction extends the claim, and the workstation locks after 15 minutes of inactivity while keeping the redacted calendar visible.
See Set Up and Use a Shared Workstation for setup, reconnect, operations and recovery.
What Stylists see
On web
- The sidebar shows the standard navigation items (Today, Schedule, Clients, Inbox, Intelligence, Assistant, Services)
- The Manage popover in the sidebar is empty (all items are owner-only)
- Navigating directly to restricted pages (Team, Commission, Invoices, Payouts, Deposits, Reviews) shows an "Access Restricted" card with a message like: "Only owners can manage team members."
- The Timesheet page shows: "Timesheet management is only accessible to venue owners and managers."
On mobile
- All five main tabs are visible (Today, Clients, Create, Intelligence, More)
- The More menu hides: Reviews, Timesheet, Commission, Invoices, and Payouts
- Stylists can access: Waitlist, Inbox, Intelligence, Services, Packages, Products, Gift Cards, Team (own profile), My Hours, Resources, Deposits (view only), Storefront, Brand Voice, Portfolio, Loyalty, and Forms
Platform differences
| Feature | Web | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Role assignment UI | Dropdown select in invite dialog | Radio buttons in invite form |
| Sidebar gating | Timesheet is visible to Owners and Managers; Owner-only items remain hidden from Managers and Stylists | Managers see all items; only Stylists have items hidden |
| Access denied message | "Access Restricted" card on the page | Items hidden from the More menu (no error page) |
| Shared workstation setup | Set up a shared workstation on the sign-in screen; approve it from Settings → Shared workstations | Set up a shared workstation on the sign-in screen; approve it from a separately signed-in web browser |
| Commission access (page level) | Owner only | Owner and Manager |
| Timesheet access (page level) | Owner and Manager | Owner and Manager |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| "Access Restricted" message on the Team page | Stylists cannot manage the roster. Managers can manage Stylists only; ask an Owner to change an Owner or Manager profile. |
| Manager cannot see Timesheet in the web sidebar | Timesheet should appear for Managers under Manage, including while Time clock is disabled. Refresh the page and confirm the venue role is Manager. |
| Manager cannot see Commission in the web sidebar | Commission setup is Owner-only on web. Managers can access commission on mobile through the More menu. |
| Cannot invite a Manager as a Manager | Managers can only invite Stylists. To invite another Manager or Owner, ask a venue Owner to send the invitation. |
| Staff member sees "Your account isn't linked to a staff profile" | The team member's user account is not connected to their staff record. The venue Owner should verify the staff record exists and the email addresses match. |
| Cannot change a team member's role | Only Owners can change roles. If you are a Manager, ask the Owner to update the role. |
| Stylist cannot access their own schedule on web | Ensure the Stylist has accepted their invitation and their profile is active. On web, Stylists can view the calendar but may need to navigate to their own bookings. |
| Shared workstation is waiting for approval | Leave the approval code on screen and ask an Owner or Manager to approve it from a separately signed-in web browser, including a browser on a phone. |
| A staff member cannot claim the workstation | Confirm their team profile is active and that a four-digit shared-device PIN is set. Personal account access and bookable status are not required. |
FAQ
What is the difference between Owner, Manager, and Stylist?
Owners have full access including billing, venue settings, and all team management. Managers handle day-to-day operations (bookings, stylists, services, campaigns) but cannot access billing or financial settings. Stylists can only view their own calendar and bookings.
Can a Manager invite other Managers?
No. Managers can only invite and manage Stylists. Only Owners can invite, edit, or remove Managers and other Owners. To invite a Manager, ask a venue Owner to send the invitation.
Can I change a team member's role after they have joined?
Yes, only Owners can change roles. Go to Team → select the member → Profile tab → change the Role field → Save Profile. The new role takes effect immediately.
What can a Stylist access on the mobile app?
Stylists can access their own calendar, clients, Inbox (send/receive), Intelligence dashboard, My Hours (clock in/out), My Earnings (commission), and their own profile. They cannot access billing, team management, venue settings, or the full Timesheet.