How do I Create an Employee Schedule?
Once your employees and positions are configured in the software, creating an employee schedule is easy!
In just a few clicks, a complete employee work schedule can be assembled and posted for other staff members to view.
TimeForge allows you to build a labor schedule in different ways – depending on your exact scheduling needs. TimeForge includes a Daily View, which includes a bar/gantt chart to easily determine staffing levels, as well as a Detail View, which resembles Microsoft Excel, and allows you to work on an entire week at a time.
Scheduling Employees: Create a Work Schedule
Creating a schedule is very simple, using the “Add or Edit A Schedule” screen.
To begin scheduling employees, enter this information:
- Start and end dates for your work schedule (these are the begin and end dates for the schedule)
- A descriptive name to remember the schedule (the software will suggest a name for your schedule)
- If your account is configured for multiple Departments, you can choose an applicable Department
- If your account is configured with Sales Forecasting, you can choose an appropriate Sales Type
Schedule Employees with Different Views – Daily View
TimeForge allows you to build a labor schedule in different ways – depending on your needs. TimeForge includes a Daily View, which includes a bar chart to easily determine staffing levels, as well as a Detail View, which resembles Microsoft Excel, and allows you to work on an entire week at a time.
Pictured above is the Schedule Daily View. Some of the powerful features and benefits of the Daily View include:
1. The schedule can be built by employee (Schedule By Employee), or by position (Schedule By Position). Switch back and forth with a single click.
2. Make a template from the shifts you have created, or use a previously created schedule template to make a schedule fast!
3. Choose Daily Labor Costs to review a graph of labor costs by position.
4. Important messages about the schedule, including scheduling rule problems and best practices are displayed at the top of the Daily View.
5. Adding a shift is easy – just pick the start and end times, then choose the employee or position from the drop-down. That’s it!
6. A graphical chart is shown next to each shift to allow you to easily staff your business.
Schedule Employees with Different Views – Schedule Detail
TimeForge allows you to build a labor schedule in different ways – depending on your needs. TimeForge includes a Daily View, which includes a bar chart to easily determine staffing levels, as well as a Detail View, which resembles Microsoft Excel, and allows you to work on an entire week at a time.
Pictured above is the Schedule Detail View. Some of the powerful features and benefits of the Detail View include:
1. The schedule can be built by employee (Schedule By Employee), or by position (Schedule By Position). Switch back and forth with a single click.
2. Group summaries (such as the total hours, number of shifts, and labor costs) can be switched on and off by clicking on Hide Group Summaries or Show Group Summaries.
3. Clicking on Show Shift, Show Hours, or Show Cost to quickly display each shifts start and end times, hours of duration, or the cost of the shift. No more sorting through Excel for this data!
4. Important messages about the schedule, including broken scheduling rules and best practices are displayed at the top of the Detail View.
5. Click on the date header (such as Sat 08/08 or Sun 08/09) to view a pop-up window of additional actions, such as switching to the Daily View, creating a template, copying shifts from one day to another day, and much more!
6. The group summaries can be seen for the position or employee, as well as totals for the entire week and each individual employee, position, and day.
7. Click on Add Shift or the start and end time of the shift to add or edit a new shift for the employee.
Schedule Staff with the Add/Edit Shift Pop-Up in Detail View
In the Detail View, clicking on Add Shift will show the above window.
This window allows you to quickly add a shift to an employee / position combination, and also shows any other shifts that the employee is already scheduled for, and requested time off. Shifts can also be copied to other days of the schedule with a single click!
Drag and Drop Shifts to Quickly Copy Schedules
In the Detail View, select an employee (or position) and drag it to another employee (or position). Release your mouse button when you see a “check” icon, and then you will then see the window displayed above.
You can choose to copy (duplicate) or move the shifts from one employee to another. Copy the shifts to copy any upcoming shifts, leaving the original shifts intact. Move the shifts to move shifts from one staff member to another.
Use the Daily View to Add Shifts to a Day
Instead of using the Detail View to add shifts and manage the schedule, many TimeForge users will use the Daily View.
To add shifts while using the Daily View:
- Pick the appropriate Start Time (when the employee should arrive) and End Time (when the employee will likely leave) for the shift. Instead of choosing from the drop-down box, you are free to enter your own start and end times (such as 2:12pm)
- Choose the position for this shift from the Position drop-down box. (Positions that do not have employees assigned will not be shown)
Use the Daily View to Schedule Employees
After choosing start and end times on the Daily View, and a position for the shift, click on the Employee drop-down. TimeForge will display a listing of all possible employees that are available to fill this shift.
Information about each employee will be shown, including their name, skill level for this position, an approximate cost to have the employee work this shift, and any notes about employee availability or requests.
Additionally — the “AutoSchedule” option is available. When you choose the “AutoSchedule” option, TimeForge will automatically look for the employee that is a “best fit” for the schedule, based on available hours, employee constraints (such as their availability), cost of labor, and a number of scheduling best practices.
Scheduling Employees: Post the Employee Schedule to be Viewable by Employees
When the schedule is complete, it should be Posted. Posted schedules can be seen by all other staff members that have access to TimeForge. Schedules that are not yet posted cannot be viewed by employees.
The schedule can only be posted from the Detail View, giving you one last chance to see the entire schedule before giving it to your employees.
If you would like to come back later and continue editing the schedule without allowing other employees to see the schedule, simply leave the page – all of the changes are already saved.
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