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Employee Schedules

Use the Employee Schedules module to create and manage employee schedules, employee availability, and manager fixed schedules. View and edit schedule details in weekly or daily view. View the projected hourly sales for each day and the standard number of man hours to schedule for each job. Manage employee shifts and job assignments on an interactive graphical grid.

Overview

Things to Know

What are the differences between the schedule viewing options Weekly View and Daily View?

From the upper-right of the toolbar, select the desired schedule viewing option:

Option

Description

Weekly View

Add employee shifts to a grid that includes scheduled labor hours for each employee for the entire week.

Depending on how the system administrator configured the application, the Weekly View feature may not be available.

Daily View

View job and employee scheduling details for a selected day of the week.

Review and update daily job schedules and employee shifts from the respective job and employee scheduling grids.

How are Fixed Schedules incorporated into an Employee Schedule?

From the toolbar, select Fixed Shifts to add the Fixed Schedules that have been defined for employees to the currently selected day. Any existing shifts are replaced with the fixed shifts.

To define a Fixed Schedule for an employee, see Fixed Schedules.

Is there a way to automatically build an Employee Schedule?

From the toolbar, select Auto Build to remove all existing shifts from the currently selected day and add optimal shifts based on defined labor goals.

When editing Employee Schedules, is there a way to discard changes to the current schedule and restore the previous schedule?

From the toolbar, select Restore to revert all unsaved changes to the current schedule and restore the last saved schedule.

How are potential problems or conflicts identified on an Employee Schedule?

A warning icon appears next to an employee name on the employee list when a potential conflict exists with their scheduled shift(s).

The following describes the warning icons.

Icon

Description

Purple with "M" label

Employee is a minor. Labor laws may restrict the employee's availability.

Orange with "H" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee is approaching or has exceeded the defined threshold for Affordable Care Act (ACA) eligibility.

Red with "OT" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee exceeds the defined Overtime Warning Limit.

Is there a way to edit the availability times for individual employees from Employee Schedules?

From the Employees dropdown on the toolbar, select Availability to view and edit schedule availability times for each employee for each day of the week.

From the Employee Availability screen, define the following:

  • Ideal number of hours to schedule each employee.

  • In each day of the week field, type the start time and end time of the employee availability (e.g. 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM).

Weekly View

Nota

Depending on how the system administrator configured the application, the Weekly View feature may not be available.

In Weekly View, add employee shifts to a grid that includes scheduled labor hours for each employee for the entire week.

Add Shifts

To add employee shifts in Weekly View:

  1. From the far-right of the toolbar, select Weekly View.

  2. From the Employee Name column on the left, locate the employee name.

  3. In each day of the week field, type the start time and end time of the employee shift (e.g. 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM).

If an issue exists with an employee's scheduled shift, the employee row is highlighted in yellow. A warning icon appears next to the employee name when a potential conflict exists. The following describes the warning icons used on the Employee Name column.

Icon

Description

Purple with "M" label

Employee is a minor. Labor laws may restrict the employee's availability.

Orange with "H" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee is approaching or has exceeded the defined threshold for Affordable Care Act (ACA) eligibility.

Red with "OT" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee exceeds the defined Overtime Warning Limit.

Toolbar

The following tools are available on the toolbar at the top of the Employee Schedules page:

Tool

Description

Save

Save all changes to the schedule.

Restore

Revert all unsaved changes and restore the last saved schedule.

Load Prior

To load a schedule from a previous day or week:

  1. From the toolbar, select Load Prior.

  2. From the Load Prior window, select Day or Week.

  3. From the Date In Week field, select the desired date. The default is the date from the previous week.

Auto Build

This tool is not available in Weekly View.

Shifts

From the dropdown, select the desired option:

  • Fixed Shifts - Add the Fixed Schedules that have been defined for employees to the currently selected day. Any existing shifts for those specific employees are replaced with the fixed shifts.

    To define a Fixed Schedule for an employee, see Fixed Schedules.

  • Pending Shifts - View pending employee shift pickup requests for a selected store and period, approve / decline requests and view pending schedule changes.

    For more information, see Pending Shift Changes.

Employees

From the dropdown, select the desired option:

Reports

From the dropdown, select a report to generate:

  • Daily Schedule - View employee schedule details for the current day.

  • Weekly Schedule - View employee schedule details for the current week.

  • Schedule Summary - View an employee schedule summary for the current week.

Status

The availability of the following indicators is dependent on the security options enabled by the system administrator.

Select the applicable schedule status indicators:

  • Completed - Employee schedule is completed and ready for review.

  • Approved - Employee schedule is reviewed and approved.

    Depending on how the security options are defined, users may not be able to edit a schedule once it is approved.

Day / Week Labor Percentage

  • Day - Percentage of total labor that is attributable to the labor scheduled for the currently selected date.

  • Week - Percentage of total labor that is attributable to the labor scheduled for the currently selected week.

The color coding for these tools are configured by the system administrator.

Help

From the dropdown, the following items are available:

  • General Info - Open the user documentation.

  • Labor Parameters - Review shift and employee meal break parameters, and define time frames for employee retention and breaks. See Labor Parameters.

Weekly View / Daily View

Select the desired schedule viewing option:

  • Weekly View - Add employee shifts to a grid that includes scheduled labor hours for each employee for the entire week.

  • Daily View - View job and employee scheduling details for a selected day of the week.

Any updates to the schedule are automatically saved when switching views.

Week Availability Tooltip

Use the Week Availability tooltip to view an employee's weekly schedule and availability.

There are two (2) methods to open the tooltip in Weekly View:

  • From the Employee Name column, hover the cursor over the employee name.

  • From the Hours column, hover the cursor over the hours value.

The Week Availability tooltip provides the following information for each day of the week:

Field

Description

In

Time of day when the employee shift begins. If more than one shift is scheduled, the start time for the first shift is displayed.

Out

Time of day when the employee shift ends. If more than one shift is scheduled, the end time for the last shift is displayed.

Hours

Total number of scheduled hours for the day.

  • The Total field located on the far-right contains the total number of scheduled hours for the week.

  • The Goal field located on the far-right contains the preferred number of scheduled hours for the week.

Available

Time of day when the employee is available to be scheduled. If the employee is unavailable, this field is blank.

Daily View

In Daily View, view and add job and employee scheduling details for a selected day of the week.

Toolbar

The following tools are available on the toolbar at the top of the Employee Schedules page:

Tool

Description

Save

Save all changes to the schedule.

Restore

Revert all unsaved changes and restore the last saved schedule.

Load Prior

To load a schedule from a previous day or week:

  1. From the toolbar, select Load Prior.

  2. From the Load Prior window, select Day or Week.

  3. From the Date In Week field, select the desired date. The default is the date from the previous week.

Auto Build

Remove all existing shifts from the currently selected day and add optimal shifts based on defined labor goals.

Fixed Shifts

Add the Fixed Schedules that have been defined for employees to the currently selected day. Any existing shifts for those specific employees are replaced with the fixed shifts.

To define a Fixed Schedule for an employee, see Fixed Schedules.

Breaks

From the dropdown, select the desired option:

  • Add Breaks - Automatically add breaks to all eligible shifts on the schedule.

  • Remove Breaks - Remove all breaks from the schedule.

View Options

From the dropdown, select the desired format, filter, and sort options. See View Options section below.

Employees

From the dropdown, select the desired option:

Reports

From the dropdown, select a report to generate:

  • Daily Schedule - View employee schedule details for the current day.

  • Weekly Schedule - View employee schedule details for the current week.

  • Schedule Summary - View an employee schedule summary for the current week.

Day of Week Panel

Select the day of the week to view. Changes to the currently selected day are automatically saved when another day is selected.

Status

The availability of the following indicators is dependent on the security options enabled by the system administrator.

Select the applicable schedule status indicators:

  • Completed - Employee schedule is completed and ready for review.

  • Approved - Employee schedule is reviewed and approved.

    Depending on how the security options are defined, users may not be able to edit a schedule once it is approved.

Day / Week Labor Percentage

  • Day - Percentage of total labor that is attributable to the labor scheduled for the currently selected date.

  • Week - Percentage of total labor that is attributable to the labor scheduled for the currently selected week.

The color coding for these tools are configured by the system administrator.

Help

From the dropdown, the following items are available:

  • General Info - Open the user documentation.

  • Labor Parameters - Review shift and employee meal break parameters, and define time frames for employee retention and breaks. See Labor Parameters.

Weekly View / Daily View

Select the desired schedule viewing option:

  • Weekly View - Add employee shifts to a grid that includes scheduled labor hours for each employee for the entire week.

  • Daily View - View job and employee scheduling details for a selected day of the week.

Any updates to the schedule are automatically saved when switching views.

View Options

The following describes the options available from the View Options dropdown on the toolbar.

Option

Description

Color

  • Break Available - Highlight time frames on the grid when employee breaks are permitted.

  • Day Parts - Highlight day parts in alternating colors.

  • Retention - Highlight time frame when retention is set.

Filter

  • None - Display all employees and shifts.

  • Scheduled - Only display scheduled employees and shifts. Unscheduled employees are hidden.

  • No Minors - Display all non-minor employees, any minor employees who have a scheduled shift, and unassigned shifts.

  • Minors - Display all minor employees, any non-minor employees who have a scheduled shift, and unassigned shifts.

Sort

  • Early - Sort employee shifts in each category from earliest to latest.

  • Late - Sort employee shifts in each category from latest to earliest.

  • Last Name - Sort employee shifts in each category alphabetically by last name.

  • First Name - Sort employee shifts in each category alphabetically by first name.

Collapse/Expand

Collapse/expand the Job List and Job Scheduling Grid.

Job List

Located in the upper-left of the Employee Schedules screen, the Job List lists all the staffing jobs for the site and provides daily labor hour totals.

Reference this list to view:

  • Total hours to schedule for each job.

  • Projected Sales and labor hour variances.

The following describes the fields on the Job List.

Field

Description

Projected Sales

Total projected sales for the selected day of the week.

Job List

The following is provided for each job:

  • Job Name

  • Std - Recommended number of hours to schedule for the job for the selected day of the week.

  • Adj - Number of hours that were actually scheduled for the job on the job scheduling grid.

  • The difference between the Std and Adj values.

To access the complete list, use the vertical scrollbar on the right of the job scheduling grid.

Planned Hours

  • Total number of recommended hours for the selected day of the week.

  • Total number of hours that were adjusted with the job scheduling grid.

  • The difference between the Std and Adj values.

Scheduled Hours

Total number of hours that were scheduled with the employee scheduling grid.

Over/Short

Difference between the number of hours planned with the job scheduling grid and the number of hours scheduled with the employee scheduling grid.

The Over/Short value is color coded as follows:

  • Red - The value is short (negative).

  • Orange - The value is over (positive).

Job Scheduling Grid

Located in the upper-right of the Employee Schedules screen, the Job Scheduling Grid displays the standard number of man hours to schedule for each job in the Job List for the selected day of the week.

  • Each day on the grid is broken down into hourly segments. Each hourly segment is divided into 15-minute increments.

  • The projected hourly sales is displayed in the header of each hourly segment. Hover the cursor inside the increment header to open the projections tooltip.

  • The hours of the day are identified in the second row of the grid header.

  • The standard number of man hours to schedule for each job is displayed within each 15-minute increment.

  • The following is provided in the footer of each hourly segment:

    Field

    Description

    Planned Hours

    Total number of planned hours for each 15-minute increment.

    Scheduled Hours

    Total number of hours that were scheduled with the employee scheduling grid.

    Over/Short

    Difference between the number of hours planned with the job scheduling grid and the number of hours scheduled with the employee scheduling grid.

    The Over/Short value is color coded as follows:

    • Red - The value is short (negative).

    • Orange - The value is over (positive).

Projections Tooltip

The Projections tooltip provides the projected sales for each 15-minute increment within the currently selected hourly increment, and the 15-minute increments immediately preceding and following the selected hour.

To open the Projections tooltip:

  1. From the Job Scheduling Grid, locate the hourly increment.

  2. Hover the cursor inside the increment header.

Adjust Planned Hours

To adjust the number of planned hours for a job:

  1. From the Jobs List on the left, locate the job.

  2. From the Job Scheduling Grid, locate the time interval.

  3. From the time interval, double-click the cell.

  4. In the cell, type the number of planned hours for the job.

  5. Press the Enter key on the keyboard -OR- click outside the cell.

Nota

The system administrator may impose restrictions on adjustments to the planned hours defined for particular jobs.

For example, scheduling more or less than the planned number of hours may not be allowed for one or more jobs.

Employee List

Located in the lower-left of the Employee Schedules screen, the Employee List lists all the employees for the site. Reference this list to see:

  • Employee shift information for the selected day of the week.

  • Shifts on the schedule that are not assigned to an employee.

Categories

The Employee List is divided into categories (or departments):

  • The category names may vary by site.

  • The number of employees that are included in each category is displayed in parentheses next to the category name.

  • Expand/collapse a category to view/hide the list of employees in that category.

  • Employees with scheduled shifts appear at the top of the list in the category.

  • The Unassigned category is displayed at the top of the list. This category lists the shifts on the schedule that are not assigned to an employee.

The following describes the fields on the Employee List.

Field

Description

Employee

Employee name.

Shift

Start and end time of their scheduled shift.

Day

Total number of scheduled hours for the selected day (excludes break time).

Week

Total number of scheduled hours for the week.

Hover the cursor over this value to open a popup window that contains an overview of the employee's weekly schedule. The popup window includes:

  • The In/Out time for each day of the week.

  • The total number of scheduled hours.

  • The number of preferred scheduled hours.

  • The employee's availability for each day of the week.

Warning Icons

The following describes the warning icons used on the Employee List. A warning icon appears next to an employee name when a potential conflict exists with their scheduled shift(s).

Icon

Description

Purple with "M" label

Employee is a minor. Labor laws may restrict the employee's availability.

Orange with "H" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee is approaching or has exceeded the defined threshold for Affordable Care Act (ACA) eligibility.

Red with "OT" label

The total number of scheduled hours for the employee exceeds the defined Overtime Warning Limit.

Week Availability Tooltip

Use the Week Availability tooltip to view an employee's weekly schedule and availability.

  1. From the Employee List, locate the employee.

  2. From the Week column, hover the cursor over the weekly hours total.

    • (Mobile users) Tap the weekly hours total.

    The Week Availability tooltip provides the following information for each day of the week:

    Field

    Description

    In

    Time of day when the employee shift begins. If more than one shift is scheduled, the start time for the first shift is displayed.

    Out

    Time of day when the employee shift ends. If more than one shift is scheduled, the end time for the last shift is displayed.

    Hours

    Total number of scheduled hours for the day.

    • The Total field located on the far-right contains the total number of scheduled hours for the week.

    • The Goal field located on the far-right contains the preferred number of scheduled hours for the week.

    Available

    Time of day when the employee is available to be scheduled. If the employee is unavailable, this field is blank.

Employee Scheduling Grid

Located in the lower-right of the Employee Schedules screen, the Employee Scheduling Grid lists shift details for each employee in the Employee List for the selected day of the week.

  • The day of the week, date, and any special events are identified in the first row of the grid header.

  • Each day on the grid is broken down into hourly segments where one cell represents one (1) hour. The hours of the day are identified in the second row of the grid header.

  • Each hourly segment is divided into 15-minute increments. Hover the cursor inside an empty cell to access each 15-minute increment.

  • From the grid, add and edit shifts for the employees listed in the Employee List.

  • Use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to access different areas of the grid.

  • A bold vertical line on the grid indicates the latest recommended time to start a shift for the selected day.

Shift Bars

When an employee shift is added to the Employee Scheduling Grid, the shift is represented by a bar that spans the cells on the grid from the start time of the shift to the end time of the shift.

Hover the cursor over a shift bar to see a popup that displays the start time and end time of the shift.

A shift bar may include one or more text labels that identify:

  • The name or description of the Job assigned to the shift (when provided).

  • Any potential issues or conflicts with the shift.

The following describes the labels a shift bar may display:

Label

Description

Ends During Retention

The ending time for the shift, and the time slot after the shift, is within a retention period.

Needs a Break

The shift length requires the addition of an employee break.

See Add Break for instructions on how to add a break.

Not Available

The employee is not available for the shift. The shift time is partly or fully outside the employee's availability range.

Too Long

The shift length exceeds the Shift Length Hours (Maximum) setting defined by the system administrator.

Too Short

The shift length is less than the Shift Length Hours (Minimum) setting defined by the system administrator.

Shift Color Code

The following describes the color code for shift bars.

Color

Description

Blue

No conflicts exist.

Orange

One or more conflicts exist. Refer to the shift bar label for details.

Shift Breaks

When a shift includes a break, the break is visually represented on the shift bar with a Break section.

  • The Break section spans the cells on the grid from the start time of the break to the end time of the break.

  • A break is thirty (30) minutes in length.

  • A shift can include multiple breaks.

The following describes the color code for the Break section.

Color

Description

Blue

No conflicts exist.

Yellow

One or more conflicts exist. The break is either scheduled outside the time frame when breaks are permitted, or the break is scheduled too soon or too late in relation to the shift times.

Manager Fixed Schedules

To add a fixed schedule for managers:

  1. From the Employees dropdown on the Employee Schedules toolbar, select Mgr Schedules.

  2. From the Employee column on the Manager Fixed Schedules grid, locate the employee name.

  3. In each day of the week field, type the start time and end time of the shift (e.g. 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM).

    • At the end of each row, the Total column specifies the total number of hours the manager is scheduled.

    • Split shifts are not supported on a fixed schedule.

  4. Repeat steps 2 - 3 for each manager.

  5. From the upper-right of the Manager Fixed Schedules grid, select Save.

Additional Actions

From the upper-right of the Manager Fixed Schedules grid, the following actions are available:

Action

Description

Cancel

Cancel all unsaved changes and return to the Employee Schedule.

Restore

Revert all unsaved changes and restore the last saved schedule.

Print

Print the current schedule.

Save

Save all changes and return to the Employee Schedule.

Employee Availability

To edit schedule availability times for employees:

  1. From the Employees dropdown on the Employee Schedules toolbar, select Availability.

  2. From the Employee column on the Employee Availability grid, locate the employee name.

  3. In each day of the week field, type the start time and end time of the employee availability (e.g. 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM).

    • Type ALL if the employee is available all day.

    • The Goal column indicates the ideal number of hours to schedule the employee.

  4. Repeat steps 2 - 3 for each employee.

  5. From the upper-right of the Employee Availability grid, select Save.

Additional Actions

From the upper-right of the Employee Availability screen, the following actions are available:

Action

Description

Cancel

Cancel all unsaved changes and return to the Employee Schedule.

Restore

Revert all unsaved changes and start over without exiting the screen.

Print

Print the employee availability information.

Save

Save all changes and return to the Employee Schedule.

Labor Parameters

Reference Labor Parameters Review to see the defined parameters for employee shifts and breaks and to define time frames for employee retention and breaks.

From the Help dropdown on the Employee Schedules toolbar, select Labor Parameters.

The following describes the Labor Parameters Review popup window.

General Shift Parameters

Parameter

Description

Latest Time To Start a Shift

Latest time of day when a shift can start.

Crew Changeover Time #1

Time of day when the first crew changeover occurs.

Crew Changeover Time #2

Time of day when the second crew changeover occurs.

Minimum Shift Length

Minimum length of a shift in hours.

Maximum Shift Length Guideline

Maximum length of a shift in hours.

Select Time Frames for Employee Retention to view the employee retention time frames at 15-minute intervals for each day of the week.

Employee Meal Break Parameters

Parameter

Description

Shift Length Required To Earn A Break

Length of time in hours an employee must work to earn a meal break.

Time Excluded at Shift Start

Length of time from the start of a shift when meal breaks are not permitted.

Time Excluded At Shift End

Length of time before the end of a shift when meal breaks are not permitted.

Select Time Frames When Breaks Are Permitted to view the time frames when employee meal breaks are permitted for each day of the week.

Search Schedules

Labor Employee Schedules Search Criteria

  1. To search for a specific site, type the Store # or Store Name into the Search field.

  2. Select the box next to the target site(s) in the Store List. To select all sites in the Store List, select the box to the left of Store # at the top of the list.

  3. With the target site(s) selected, select the calendar icon in the date selector to choose a date range for the search.

  4. From the calendar popup, define the date range, and then select Apply.

    It is also possible to select Period / Week, Today, or Yesterday as the search date or date range.

  5. Select Search. Any records that match the Search Criteria will display in the utility to the right.

Add Schedule

Labor Employee Schedules

To add an employee schedule:

  1. From the upper-right of the Employee Schedules Search screen, select Add a Schedule.

  2. From the Store dropdown, select the store for the schedule.

  3. From the right of the Date In Week field, select the calendar icon.

  4. From the Date popup, select the first business date of the schedule.

    • The first business date of next week is selected by default.

  5. From the lower-right of the Date popup, select Apply.

  6. From the lower-right of the Add a Schedule popup, select Add.

Add Shift

Labor Employee Schedules

To add a shift for an employee:

  1. From the toolbar at the top of the screen, select the day of the week.

  2. From the Employee List, locate the employee.

  3. From the Employee Scheduling Grid, click the starting time of the shift.

  4. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to the end time of the shift, and then release the mouse button.

    • The shift information is added to the Shift column next to the employee name in the Employee List.

    • The Day and Week totals for the employee in the Employee List are updated accordingly.

Alternate method:

  1. From the Employee List, locate the employee.

  2. From the Employee List, double-click the Shift field.

  3. In the Shift field, type the shift time.

Edit Shift

Labor Employee Schedules

To move a shift to a different day, time, or employee:

  1. From the Employee Scheduling Grid, select the shift.

  2. While holding down the left-mouse button, drag the shift to the desired location on the grid.

To edit the shift time:

  1. From the Employee List, double-click the Shift field.

  2. In the Shift field, type the updated shift time.

Context Menu

Right-click a shift bar to open the context menu. The following describes the actions available from the context menu:

Action

Description

Add Break

See Add Break.

Delete Shift

Remove the shift from the schedule.

Position

Select a job or position to assign to the shift.

From the top of the menu, select Clear Position to remove the current position assignment from the shift.

Split & Assign

Split the shift and assign the split shift to an employee.

Available

View a list of employees who are available to work the shift. The total scheduled hours for each employee is displayed next to their name. If a conflict exists, a warning icon is displayed.

Select an employee from the list to assign them to the shift.

Unavailable

View a list of employees who are NOT available to work the shift. The total scheduled hours for each employee is displayed next to their name. If a conflict exists, a warning icon is displayed.

Select an employee from the list to assign them to the shift.

Already Working

View a list of employees who are already scheduled to another shift at that time. The total scheduled hours for each employee is displayed next to their name. If a conflict exists, a warning icon is displayed.

An asterisk (*) is displayed next to the employee name if that employee has an assigned shift that day that is outside the selected shift's timeframe.

Unassign

Remove the employee assignment from the shift.

Split

Split the shift into multiple shifts.

To Volume

Indicate the shift does not end at a specific time. Apply this action to indicate the shift ends when the employee completes their assigned tasks for the business date.

To Close

Indicate the shift does not end at a specific time. Apply this action to indicate the shift ends when the necessary tasks are completed to "close" the store for the business date.

Add Break

To add a break:

  1. From the Employee Scheduling Grid, locate the shift.

  2. Right-click the shift bar at the desired 15-minute interval.

  3. From the context menu, select Add Break.

    Nota

    A "Break" label is not displayed on shift bars for salaried managers.

Edit Break

To move a break:

  1. From the shift bar, select the break.

  2. While holding down the left-mouse button, drag the break to the desired time interval on the grid.

To remove a break:

  1. From the shift bar, right-click the break.

  2. From the popup menu, select Remove Break.