How do I create, edit, and post employees’ schedules using the Labor Scheduler?

This article will walk managers through the various scheduling options of Decision Logic’s Labor Scheduler feature.

Overview

Decision Logic’s labor scheduler feature allows managers to create, edit, and post employee schedules.  Posted schedules appear in the Employee Central mobile application.  Additionally, managers can view the shift card on the Digital Manager mobile application. 

The labor scheduler lets restaurants generate a sales forecast based on past sales to advise managers when building a schedule. Scheduling labor appropriately helps:

• View and schedule based on employee’s availability.

• Ensure you have the right people during the right times.

• Easily identify which employee is a minor.

• Reduce overtime hours.

• Reduce turnover.

Additionally, the labor scheduler provides metrics for:

• Service and Non-Service Hours

• Total Labor Hours

• Labor Dollars

• Labor %

• Scheduled (forecasted) Sales

• Budgeted vs. Scheduled Shifts

Users will also see weather information for that store based on what is entered for that store’s zip code. Decision Logic will show weather up to 16 days, and refresh daily as weather changes. This feature is another tool to support best projections for labor scheduling.

Employees who are flagged with the minor icon are under the age of 18 years old. The minor flagged is based on the date of birth entered in the Employee Roster. The icon will appear on the Labor Scheduler and Shift Card on the web based platform.

Create Schedule

Before creating a schedule, operators will need to generate sales forecasting and make adjustments if needed.

Begin by navigating to:

Operations > Labor Scheduling > Labor Scheduler

1. Select the Store you are creating the schedule for.

   Open

   

2. Click Week or Day on the calendar.

   1. Week is the default scheduling view.

      Open

      

3. Select a Schedule from the dropdown.

4. Select a Date or Date Range in the labor week.

   1. Open and generate sales forecasting if needed. 

5. Select Create a Blank Schedule.

Users can select Create From An Existing Schedule if one exists.  This feature will copy all scheduled shifts from a previously posted schedule, including House Shifts.

1. Select a Schedule based on Labor Week to copy.

2. Click Copy.

3. Make adjustments as needed. 

4. Click Post Schedule.

Add Shift

Stores may have more than one schedule they need to create.  For example, a front-of-the-house schedule, a back-of-the-house schedule, a bar schedule, or one main schedule.

Before adding an employee to a shift, be sure to check their availability.  All employees are marked as unavailable upon hire until the employee has their availability defined. The following icons indicate what the employee’s availability is.

By The Week

After a blank schedule or copied schedule is created, users will add or edit shifts.  There are two views to add or edit shifts:  By the week or by the day.

1. Select the Week tab.

   1. Week is the default scheduling view.

2. Select a Week.

3. Select the Schedule.

4. Click on a Day of the Week on the row of an employee.

    

   1. Users will see the week’s updated weather projection to assist in decision-making.

5. Select the Job Code from the dropdown.

6. Select the Start Time of the shift by scrolling or typing in the time. Increments are defaulted y 15 minutes.

7. Select the End Time of the shift by scrolling or typing in the time. Increments are defaulted by 15 minutes.

   1. Ensure the employee is available during the times you have selected.

   2. Managers can schedule an employee to work a double shift by clicking + Shift and repeating steps 3-5.

8. Click Save.

This view displays a Projected Labor table to guide users on their current metrics when building the schedule.

By The Day

Users can focus on a single day to add or edit shifts after a blank or copied schedule is created.

1. Select the Day tab.

   1. Week is the default scheduling view.

2. Select a Date.

3. Select the Schedule.

4. Click on a Time on the row of an employee.

5. Select a Job Code.

6. Select the Start Time of the shift by scrolling or typing in the time. Increments are defaulted by 15 minutes.

7. Select the End Time of the shift by scrolling or typing in the time. Increments are defaulted by 15 minutes.

8. Click Save.

Users can drag the time frame within this view by hovering the mouse over a shift and dragging either the left or right bar.

The bottom of this view shows an overview of:

• Total Hours scheduled.

• Labor as a percentage.

• Scheduled Sales.

• Labor Dollars.

Edit Shift

Editing shifts follow the same general steps for the Week or Day view.

1. Hover your mouse over the shift you want to edit.

2. Click the 3-dot menu.

3. Click Edit.

4. Make the changes and click Save.

Additionally, users can move a shift from one employee to another who has the same job code.  Managers will drag and drop the shift to an available employee.  Employees that are able to work the shift based on availability and the job code will be highlighted in green.

Copy Shift

Managers have the option to copy a scheduled shift and paste it into other dates and employees when building the schedule.  The job code, start and end date are copied.  Managers can still make edits to copied shifts once they are pasted on a date.

1. Hover your mouse over the shift you want to edit.

2. Click the 3-dot menu.

3. Click Copy.

4. Click on an available Date.

   1. Employees that are able to work the shift based on availability and the job code will be highlighted in green.

   2. Managers can continue to click multiple dates to paste the same shift to multiple dates and employees.

5. Click Done.

Unassign Shift

Managers can unassign a shift.  An unassigned shift will move to the top of the Labor Scheduler as a House Shift.  Employees can accept an available house shift from the Employee Central mobile app if they are assigned to that job code.  Managers will need to approve or deny any acceptance from an employee.

1. Hover your mouse over the shift you want to edit.

2. Click the 3-dot menu.

3. Click Unassign.

4. Click Unassign again.

Delete Shift

1. Hover your mouse over the shift you want to edit.

2. Click the 3-dot menu.

3. Click Delete.

4. Click Delete again.

Update Projections

The Labor Scheduler allows managers with Change permissions to update Target Hours and Target Labor % when creating the schedule through the Projections feature.  This option signals the Projected Labor table at the bottom of the View by Week screen to turn either green or red depending on the labor entered.

• White font:  indicates that the schedule has not met the targeting labor hours or percentage.

• Green font:  indicates that the scheduled labor hours or percentage is within the recommended target range.

• Red font:  indicates that the scheduled labor hours or percentage is outside the recommended target range.

Toggle Option

When toggling on “All Schedules”, the Schedule Sales amount should change based on how the activity-based forecasting was designed.

• When you toggle “All Schedules” on, it returns the estimated sales from all departments.

• When you toggle it off, it shows sales for all departments assigned to the schedule.

Activity-Based Forecasting gives managers the ability to base their labor % on projected sales for specific department sales per schedule.  If a job is flagged as "Manager" in POS Setup, it will not be included in the labor % calculation.

As the manager builds the schedule,

1. Click Projections.

2. Enter the Target Hours or Target Labor %.

3. Click Save.

Post Schedule

When a manager has completed all shift entries, they will post the schedule.  The posted schedule will immediately appear in the Employee Central app, and the employee will receive a Push Notification if they are logged in and have it enabled on their mobile device.

Simply click Post Schedule.

Managers are able to make edits to a posted schedule.

View Shift Card

A shift card is a helpful tool that managers can use to review posted shifts, for all staff to review, or to print each week’s schedule. Decision Logic recommends using the Digital Manager to view the shift card while on the go.

This condensed, daily view adds transparency to who is working throughout the day and also provides the following insights:

• Who is working each day

• What Schedule each employee is assigned to

• The employee’s job role

• The employees scheduled hours

• The start and stop time for each employee’s shift

• Print Shift Card

1. Click Shift Card.

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