Updating Productivity Thresholds by Position

Measuring and monitoring productivity is very important in many businesses, and is a critical part for scheduling employees for many businesses. With TimeForge, there are several ways to budget – including straight one-to-one budgets, comparing labor to sales (or some other metric), and productivity analysis. In most cases, the budget process can be broken down by location, department, or position – providing a lot of power for the financial experts in your organization.

Navigate to the Employee Positions

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After logging in, navigate to Employee->Positions

Locate the Positions

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Locate the position that needs to have the sales thresholds modified, and click Edit.

Click on Threshold

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All of the sales thresholds are stored within the Threshold sub tab. Choose this tab.

Select a Sales Category, and Enter Thresholds

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At this point, choose an applicable sales category for the position, and then modify or update the start date, end date, desired ratio, the minimum, and the maximum. Make sure to click on Save before you finish.

Thresholds, What do they Mean?

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Defining Thresholds can be somewhat confusing, because there are a number of ways to budget for your business, location, department, or position. Here’s a guide to some of these values:

1. Each Sales Category can be tied to different metrics for comparison. For example, you can compare labor costs, hours, or shifts in a day to your sales numbers. In this case, Paid Skier Visits is being compared to an “H”, or hours.

Additionally, sales can be categorized by department or by location. For example, a single department may have sales, and the location may have some additional sales. In this case, Paid Skier Visits is a “L”, or Location level sales category.

2. Sales Thresholds can be established by day, week, month, quarter, year, or whatever other date range you would like. Enter a start date range here.

3. End the end date of your sales threshold.

4. Enter the desired ratio you would like to have, when comparing this particular position to your sales for the day or week. This number can be either a “large” number (such as 20, representing 20%), or a “small” number (such as 0.0135, representing an actual number).

5. Enter the minimum number for your staffing requirements. In this case, we are comparing the threshold to hours, so this field represents 8 hours as a minimum (per day).

6. Enter the maximum number for your staffing requirements. In this case, we are comparing the threshold to hours, so this field represents 32 hours as a maximum (per day).

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How do I make Human Resource Categories required?

Human Resource Categories help you organize and streamline your labor management by uploading documents or recording certifications and other HR items into TimeForge. TimeForge HR documents are easy to upload, easy to print, and best of all – easy to access. You can make HR documents required for specific positions. For example, if every employee on staff needs an I-9, you can require that every position has an I-9. If Bartenders need alcohol serving certifications, you can make this document required only for bartenders. Below are instructions for making HR documents required.

Go to the Employees list

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Navigate to the Employees tab and click on Human Resources.

Select a Human Resource Type

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If you have not already added HR Types, do so now. Click on the blue Edit link next to the Human Resource Document you want required.

Select Positions

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On the Human Resources Information page, click on the Positions tab, then choose the positions for which you would like this document required.
Remember to save!

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How does TimeForge handle salaried staff?

Handling salaried staff members can be confusing because of the complexities of labor percentages and the variability of salaried wages when analyzed by hour. TimeForge can help you accurately track your labor percentages even if you have salaried employees by simply changing a couple of settings.

Though putting an employee on salary can have major benefits for both your business and for the employee, there are some analytical problems that are related to salaried employees. Labor percentages, which compare the budgeted (scheduled) cost of labor to the actual (clock ins/outs) cost of labor, can be complicated by salaried employees because the amount they get paid each pay period can fluctuate due to vacation time and other changes in work time. Salaried employees can also make daily labor reports complicated because their fluctuating hourly wage is so variable.

You need to decide whether you want to see salaried employees’ hours in your labor percentages. You can choose not to see them at all, or your can modify the way that you see them so they are closer to being accurate.

Consider whether your salaried employees clock in when they are at work.
- (1.) If they do clock in, you can set their pay rate as an hourly rate instead of as a salary. This way, fluctuating hourly wage would always be a set amount, so you wouldn’t need to worry about a surprise high cost in your labor percentages.
-If your salaried employees don’t clock in, you can (2.) set the hourly rate to $0, or (3.) change your option settings to automatically copy a salaried employee’s scheduled hours to his or her attendance.

Below are instructions for all of these options.

Option 1. Salaried Employees Clock In: Track Pay Rate Hourly: Go to Employees List

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Go to the list of employees by first navigating to the orange Employees tab, then clicking on the gray Employees link.

Option 1. Salaried Employees Clock In: Track Pay Rate Hourly: Select Employee

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Click on Edit next to the salaried employee for whom you wish to track their pay as hourly.

Option 1. Salaried Employees Clock In: Track Pay Rate Hourly: View Employee information

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You should be on the Employee tab of the Employee Information page.

Option 1. Salaried Employees Clock In: Track Pay Rate Hourly

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Scroll down to the Employee Positions section. The position(s) that the employee works should be checked and his or her pay rate should be set as “annually”. An Hourly Rate will automatically be calculated. Enter the calculated Hourly Rate into the Fixed Rate box. Now, scheduled shifts will always be calculated by the hourly rate input, helping you to better understand and more accurately analyze your labor percentages and attendance. Remember to click Save (at the bottom of the page) when you are finished!

Option 2. Salaried Employees DON’T Clock In, DON’T Track Costs: Set Fixed Rate to $0: Follow the Same Steps as Option 1, but Set Fixed Rate to $0

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If your salaried employees do not clock in and out when they start or end a shift, and you don’t care to track their costs, you can simply set their Fixed Rate to $0.00. Follow the same steps as Option 1, but simply enter 0 into the Fixed Rate box. Remember to click Save (at the bottom of the page) when you are finished!

Option 3. Employees DON’T Clock In: Automatically Copy Scheduled Attendance as Actual Attendance: Go to

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It’s easy to automatically copy an employee’s scheduled hours to his or her attendance hours. Simply navigate to the Employee tab of the Employee Information page (follow the first two steps in Option 1) and check the “Auto-copy schedule for staff member?” box by clicking on it. Now, your salaried employee’s attendance will be automatically filled in so that you can more accurately track your labor percentages. Remember to click Save when you are finished!

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Can employees share an email address?

No. Each employee email address can only be assigned to one account, and each account can only be assigned to one email address.

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How do I add HR information to an employee?

HR information might include pre-hiring information, onboarding paperwork, training documentation, certifications, or offboarding paperwork.

You can upload forms, specify which positions need specific HR documents, and customize your options. Below is information on adding HR information to an employee, after you have already customized HR settings. If you have not set up HR yet, go to the Human Resources link under the Employees tab.

Go to Employees List

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Navigate to the Employees tab and click on Employees.

Select an Employee

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To add HR information, choose a staff member and click on the blue Edit button next to their information.

Human Resources

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On the Employee Information page, click on the Human Resources tab.

HR Information

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Edit the information for the HR type, click Upload to upload the appropriate form (if applicable), and click the Save button.

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How do I add Human Resource Category?

Human resource information enables you to store and easily access all applicable paperwork regarding employees and their information. You can upload HR documents like I-9’s, W-4’s, training manuals, insurance verification, and other forms that are applicable to the labor management needs of your business.

You will want to add human resource information categories to organize these documents for easy input and retrieval of these forms. Categories you might use include I-9, W-4, Acceptance Letter, Job Application, Insurance Verification, Driver’s License, Customer Service Policies, alcohol serving certification, etc.

These categories are further filed under specific types that are provided by TimeForge. For example, an acceptance letter, job application, and I-9 might be filed under Onboarding Document, while a handbook on customer service policies might be filed under Ongoing Training.

Go to Employees list

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Navigate to the Employees tab and click on Human Resources.

Edit Human Resources

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Edit the information to make a Human Resource Type.

Remember to click Save!

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Why can’t I see other departments or staff members?

You will not be able to see another department if you are not associated with that department, according to your department settings. To be able to see a department, the position to which you are assigned must be associated with that department OR you must be assigned to that department (you can manage a department without working in the department).

For example, if you are a “Craft Manager” (position) in “Crafts” (department), and all “Craft Managers” are assigned to the “Crafts” department, then you will be unable to see what’s going on in the “Produce” department, unless you assign “Craft Managers” to “Crafts” and “Produce”. If you don’t want to assign all of the employees associated with that position to a department, you can add them individually. So, if you only want a specific “Craft Manager” to work in “Produce”, you can assign just the employee you want without assigning all the other “Craft Managers” to “Produce”. Below are instructions for reassigning department positions.

Go to Departments

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Navigate to Set Up and click on Departments

Select a Department

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Click on the department that you would like to be in.

Go to Positions

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Go to the Positions tab and click on the certain positions that are wanted in the department.
Click save!

Finish Editing Department Information

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This question pops up because you already have these positions in a different department. Choose one of the following and click Next.

Choose Department While Managing Attendance

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When managing time and attendance shifts, you can also choose the department that the employee is working in (note, the Department column is only shown if the position and employee can be assigned to more than one department).

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How do I add an employee to a department?

TimeForge enables you to set up multiple departments in the TimeForge system to represent the departments within your store. Often times, an employee will work at more than one department, or will transfer departments, requiring you to add them to a department, in order to schedule the staff members, or account for their payroll cost.

Go to Employees

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Navigate to the Employees tab and click on Employees.

Select an Employee

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On the Employees page, choose an employee that needs to be moved to a certain department, then click the blue Edit link.

Go to the Employee Department Section

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On the Employee information page there is a section called Employee Departments. Scroll through this section and click on the department to which you want to add the selected employee.  Additionally, you may want to set a Default Department for the staff member.
Remember to click Save when you are finished!

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How do I modify Age Rules?

TimeForge Age Rules enable your business to adhere to company, state, or federal mandates regarding minors and seniors in the workforce. For example, if employees under age 16 are restricted from working more than 20 hours per week, TimeForge can help you set up and enforce this restriction on the Age Rules Page. Below are instructions for doing so.

Go to Age Rules

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Navigate to the Employees tab and click on Age Rules.

Select an Age Rule

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Click on the blue Edit button.

Begin Modifying Age Rules

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On the Age Rule Information page, edit the Age Range section to fit your needs.
To set specific times during the week that these employees should or should not work, go to the next step.
If this does not apply, you are finished! Click Save!

Availability and Requests

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Select a day and time by clicking on it, the Add a New Preference page will pop up.

Making a Request Under Age Rules

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Setting preferences is just like entering availability or requests for staff members. Select a preference (request) type, leave type (if applicable), and the date(s) applicable. Remember to save!

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How do I Set Up Break Rules?

The TimeForge Breaks module inside of TimeForge Scheduling is a powerful and flexible management system for scheduling breaks and meal periods for staff members. TimeForge Breaks are controlled using the Break Rules, and these Break Rules become scheduled breaks on the schedule that can be controlled and monitored using TimeForge Attendance, or with a worksheet and signatures by staff members.

TimeForge Break Rules are designed to allow management staff to specify the language and requirements of paid, unpaid, optional, and required breaks, similar to how they might be specified by federal, state, or local authorities

For example, in some states, it may be required to provide a 15-minute optional and unpaid break to staff members who work at least 6 hours.

Navigate to the Break Rules

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Go to the Employees tab, and the Breaks sub-tab.

Review the Break Rules

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Review the Break Rules, which specify the number of breaks, duration of break, recurrence, whether or not the break is required (or optional), whether the break is paid (or unpaid), a description for the break, the position the break applies to, and how long the employee must be at work for the break to apply.

Configure Break Rules

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To add a break rule, click on the Add a New Break Rule button [7]. Some information about this screen:

1 – Breaks applying to any position are listed under the “Any Position” section. Breaks for specific positions are listed under their respective position names. This flexibility allows management breaks, or FOH and BOH to have different break set ups.

2 – Select the number of breaks, and the duration of the break(s). For example, in the picture, we are describing “2 breaks”, and each break lasts “5 minutes”.

3 – Choose the duration for repetition of the break(s). For example, in the picture, we are describing breaks that occur once every 6 hours. If the breaks should be awarded every 2 hours, but the shift is 4 hours long, the staff member may be awarded 2 sets of breaks.

4 – Decide whether the breaks are paid, unpaid, required, or optional, and add a description for the break. For example, in the picture, we are describing a required, but unpaid break, with no description.

5 – Decide if the break applies to all positions, or only one type of position, and also decide which specific shifts will receive the break. For example, in the picture we are awarding breaks to staff members who work Bartender shifts that are at least 6 hours long, but no longer than 8 hours.

TimeForge will tie all of the Break Rules together and will apply / award the breaks to staff members working applicable shifts. Based on the picture for this step, TimeForge will provide (2) 5-minute breaks to bartenders who work at least 6 hours, but less than 8 hours. These breaks will both be required, but are unpaid.

When you’re done working with the breaks, make sure to click on the Save Break Rules button [6].

Test the Break Rules

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TimeForge provides management staff with the ability to test the break rules, to ensure that the break rules are configured exactly as you need them for your business.

To test the break rules, choose an applicable position, and then simulate the duration of a work shift, and click on Test Break Rules.

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