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 can I view shift confirmations?

Shift confirmations enable you to ensure that the employee who is scheduled for a particular shift has received notification and confirmed that they will work the scheduled shift. Confirmed shifts also let you better predict the cost of each shift. You may want to view shift confirmations to see which employees have confirmed their schedules shifts and which employees have not.

Go to the Schedules List

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Navigate to to the Schedules tab and click on Shift Confirmations.

Select the Dates

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You can view shifts from last year, last week, last month, or any applicable time period. Either manually enter the dates by typing them into the date fields, or click on the calendar icon next to the date fields and simply click on the preferred dates. You can also choose to view the Shift Confirmation Status: Both, Yes, or No.

View shift confirmations

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This shows the confirmed and the unconfirmed shifts, as well as the percentage of shifts both confirmed and unconfirmed.

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How do I import data from Excel or CSV?

During Set Up, you will be asked to enter information about your employees. This information can provide names, positions, and pay rates to help TimeForge manage your employees. TimeForge also provides employee contact information to enable the software to contact them through email and phone messages. To avoid unnecessary time spent during set up, you can import this data from an existing Excel spreadsheet (or CSV) with your employees’ information on it.

Create CSV file in Excel

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Set up your staff in Excel and save it as a CSV file.

Go to Import Data

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Navigate to the Set Up tab, then click on Import Data.

Upload CSV file

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You can import your data (positions, employees, departments, pay rates) in a CSV and TimeForge will process it.
Click on Browse, and find your Excel (or CSV) file. Click Upload to continue.

Preview then Import Data

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Preview data by using the Previous and Next buttons, and align the proper field titles, then click Import Data.

Finish Importing Data

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Click the Finished button to save information that was imported from your CSV or Excel file.

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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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How do I add a Leave Type?

Leave types help you track employee leave and eligibility. For example, an employee might be eligible for one paid week of vacation every year. You could label the leave type for this as “Vacation”. You can also modify leave options when you fill out the Leave Type Information, so TimeForge will automatically calculate accrued and used time off.

Go to Leave Types

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Navigate to the Set Up tab, then click on Leave Types.

Add a New Leave Type

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On the Leave Types page, go to the Add a New Leave Type button.

Fill in the Leave Type Information

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On the Leave Type Information page, complete editing and when finished, click save.

Posted in Setup Tab / No Comments.

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 rate a shift from my schedule?

You will want to rate your shifts so that your managers (and the TimeForge AutoScheduler) can see which shifts you prefer to work and which shifts you would prefer to not work. Shift ratings are a quick and easy way for your managers to get an idea of how good the schedule was so that they can make the best schedules possible in the future. The goal of every schedule is to make everyone happy – happy managers, happy employees, and happy customers. Be sure to rate all of your shifts so your managers know how you feel.

Navigate to Schedules Page

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on My Schedule.

Rate your shift

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To rate your shift, click on the blue Rate link.

Did you enjoy your shift?

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Click on the green “thumbs up” button if you enjoyed your shift. If you did not enjoy your shift, click on the red “thumbs down” button.

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We are one year into it now, well past being enamored with the newness. We are married to TimeForge. It's as essential to us now as any of our management tools today, and we very happy about that.- Steve @ Hermosa Cyclery
We really like the program so far. I know that it is geared towards restaurants, but we are a real estate company and we love it because it is inexpensive and it is so easy to use.- Nicole @ Exit Premier Realty
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I would highly recommend TimeForge to anyone making work schedules. ... What used to take 1-2 hours, now takes 15 minutes. The reports section is comprehensive and useful.- Lawrence Payne @ Mid Pacific Country Club
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