This guide walks Account Owners and Admins through setting up and managing access in Float—from understanding user types and permissions to inviting team members and ensuring everyone has just the access they need by aligning three key elements: who needs to be scheduled, who needs visibility, and what each person can control.

Start with the foundation: People vs Guests

Before inviting anyone, it’s critical to understand how Float separates users into two types - people and guests.

PEOPLE	GUESTS
Appears on the Schedule	Do not appear on the Schedule
Can be assigned work	Cannot be assigned work
Can be assigned access rights	Can be assigned access rights
Requires a paid seat	Free
Used for: Employees, freelancers, contractors, placeholders	Used for: Finance team, executives, stakeholders, PMs who need oversight but don't need to be scheduled
Managed on the People page	Managed in Team settings > Guests

For every team member you are about to invite, start by answering this question:

Do they need to appear on the Schedule?

If yes → add them as a person (paid seat). They will be visible on the Schedule and can be allocated work.
If no → add them as a guest (free). They can view and manage Float without occupying a seat.

Understand access rights

Both people and guests need to be assigned access rights to access your team. To choose the correct access rights, it's important to understand the permission levels. Float offers four access types:

Depending on your needs, their permission can be customized further. For every team member you are about to invite, think about what you need them to control:

Everything -> Account Owner. By default, it's the account's creator.
Team settings → Admin + optional permissions
Projects, people, or both → Manager + optional permissions
Own tasks & time off → Member (with Can edit: Themself permission)
Nothing → Member, read-only (with Can edit: No one permission).

Here's a quick overview of what each access right can and cannot do:

✅ - Available by default
➕ - Requires optional permission, must be enabled by the Account Owner or Admin
❌ - Not available

	Account Owner Full account management	Admin Full team control	Manager Scoped permissions	Member View + optionally self-manage
View the Schedule	✅	✅	✅	✅
Allocate work for others	✅	✅	➕	❌
Add and edit people	✅	✅	➕	❌
Invite team members to Float	✅	✅	➕	❌
Approve time off for others	✅	✅	➕	❌
Create and manage projects	✅	✅	➕	❌
View project budgets	✅	✅	➕	❌
View bill rates	✅	✅	➕	❌
View cost rates	✅	✅	➕	❌
View profitability and margins	✅	✅	➕	❌
View reports	✅	✅	✅	Only projects they are assigned to; no financial data
View dashboards (Pro & Enterprise)	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manage time tracking settings (Pro & Enterprise)	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manage guests	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manage team data: roles, departments, tags, and clients	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manage time off and holiday settings	✅	✅	❌	❌
View activity log	✅	✅	❌	❌
Configure SSO (Pro & Enterprise)	✅	❌	❌	❌
Access API key	✅	❌	❌	❌
Set up integrations	✅	❌	❌	❌
Cancel the subscription and delete the account	✅	❌	❌	❌

Which access right for which role?

While each team's setup depends on its structure and needs, you can use the examples below as a starting point for assigning permissions.

Role in the organization	Tasks in Float	Recommended access rights
Operations/studio manager	Configures team-level settings — work schedule, holidays, roles, rates, departments, and tags. Manages the people and guests list and ensures the platform is correctly set up.	Admin Additional permissions as needed: - Manage plans & billing, - Mange security settings.
Project manager	Creates and manages projects, Allocates people, Tracks delivery and timelines. Can access budgets and rates.	Manager Can view: Everyone or relevant departments Additional permissions as needed: - Add and manage Projects, including budgets if viewable, - Add and edit People, including rates if viewable, - View Project profitability.
Resource manager	Oversees capacity and allocations across the whole organization, Adds people and allocates across all projects, Reviews everyone's workload.	Manager Can view: Everyone Additional permissions as needed: - Add and manage Projects, including budgets if viewable - Add and edit People, including rates if viewable - Add and approve time off for People they manage - View Project profitability Note: Consider making them an Admin if they also configure your team settings.
Department/team lead	Oversees one department, Schedules people in their team, Approves time off, Reviews department reports.	Manager Can view: their Department(s) only Additional permissions as needed: - Add and manage Projects, including budgets if viewable - Add and edit People, including rates if viewable, - Add and approve time off for People they manage.
Team member managing their own schedule	Self-assign for projects they belong to, Book or request time off, Sync their calendar.	Member Can view: Everyone, Department/s, or Themselves Can edit: Themself
Team member logging their time only	Only uses Float to log time	Member Can view: Themselves Can edit: No one
External contractor	Should not see other team members, rates, or commercially sensitive data. Only views their own work.	Member Can view: Themself Can edit: Themself
Finance	Financial oversight, Reviews project budgets, rates, and profitability. Needs access to dashboards and reports.	guest Admin
Senior leader/stakeholder	Needs to see project pipeline and team capacity.	guest Admin

Inviting team members to Float

To invite a team member to Float:

Add their email address to the Access tab of their profile
Assign them access rights.

Float sends invitations from notification@float.com with the subject line “You’re invited to join [Your Team Name] in Float.” Invite links are valid for seven days. After the link expires, it must be resent. When team members open the invite link, they are prompted to create a password and log in.

People can be invited from the People page by the Account Owner, Admins, and Managers with Add and edit People, including rates if viewable permission.

Guests can be invited from Team settings > Guests by the Account Owner or Admins.

Switching between person and guest

A user cannot exist as both a person and a guest at the same time. When you need to switch someone:

To change a person into a guest, first archive their profile from the People page using Actions → Move to archive, and remove their email address from the Access tab. Their historical data will be retained. Next, invite them as a guest from Team settings → Guests.

To change a guest into a person, first remove them from Team settings → Guests. Then add them as a new person from the People page, enter their email address, assign access rights, and send the invite.

Best practices

Start with the most restrictive access
Begin with the minimum level of access and expand it when needed. It is much easier to grant additional permissions than to reverse accidental edits or exposure to sensitive financial data. Start most team members as Members or Managers with limited permissions, then upgrade access over time as needed.
Limit Managers to their departments
If a Manager only oversees one department, restrict their Can view setting to that department only. This reduces visual clutter, prevents accidental edits outside their area, and protects sensitive cross-team information. Visibility can always be expanded later if their responsibilities grow.
Restrict profitability permissions
Bill rates, cost rates, and project budgets contain sensitive commercial information. Only enable profitability permissions for people who genuinely need them, such as finance stakeholders, project managers tracking delivery costs, or resource managers reviewing margins. Individual contributors generally should not have access to this data.
Restrict contractors to “Themself only”
Contractors rarely need visibility into the wider schedule, project list, or team allocation. Setting Can view: Themself only protects sensitive information, prevents visibility into colleague workloads, and creates a simpler experience for contractors inside Float.
Use guests whenever possible
Guests are free and unlimited, making them ideal for anyone who needs access to Float but does not need to be scheduled. Before inviting someone as a person, and using a paid seat, ask whether they actually need to appear on the Schedule. Finance directors, CMOs, client stakeholders, and external auditors are usually better suited as Guests.
Always maintain at least two Admins
The Account Owner is a single point of failure. If they leave the company, lose access, or become unavailable, Float requires confirmation from two Admins to transfer ownership.
Audit access regularly
Use the Access column on the People page as your audit view. Click the column header to sort people by access rights and review permissions whenever someone changes role, leaves the company, or moves from contractor to employee.

Additional notes

Archived people lose access automatically. When a person is archived, their access rights are removed automatically. If they are later reactivated, their previous access rights are not restored and must be reassigned manually.
Access rights cannot be assigned via CSV import. You can import people and their email addresses via CSV, but access rights must be assigned manually - either from each person’s Access tab or in bulk from the People page.

Access rights

Team settings

Inviting team members to Float

Your team

Managing email addresses

Manage team access - configure users and their permissions

Start with the foundation: People vs Guests

Understand access rights

Which access right for which role?

Inviting team members to Float

Switching between person and guest

Best practices

Additional notes