WFM UK: Scheduling 2023: Labour-Based Scheduling: Scheduling

Overview

The Scheduling tab is where future schedules are created and, once the week starts, forecast hours are updated to actual hours each day.

For a list of all available Labour-Based Scheduling articles, please visit Labour-Based Scheduling: Getting Started.

Process

• Users with access to more than one, need to select the required Location from the drop-down before the Scheduling tab becomes available 
• Select the Scheduling tab from the Homepage 

The current week’s schedule will display.

Fig.1 - The Scheduling tab 

• Move to future weeks by selecting the arrow icon >, or by selecting the week dates to load the date picker to select the required schedule week. 

The Scheduling tab is broken down into two sections:

• Costs
• Schedule

The Costs table section displays the wage cost for each day and is updated with daily sales figures. Wage budgets are displayed in monetary (£) and percentage (%) values. Until sales are completed, the variance in £ and % is based on the budget and will update the sales at the end of each night. This will also update the Weekly Total values, which have been configured. There are a maximum of 5 rows of data that can be displayed in the Costs table. All other labour and sales data can be configured to be displayed in the dedicated Weekly Totals pop-up.

• Select the Weekly Totals button to load the pop-up

Fig.2 - Weekly Totals Cost Pop-Up 

On the Scheduling tab, beneath the Costs section is the Schedule itself. Initially, the display will be for all areas, and as such will show all team members within the site.

• Drill down into finer detail with the Areas and Roles drop-downs, as required

Fig.3- The Schedule, with Areas and Roles drop-downs indicated

Any Holidays & Absences created in the HR Module will appear on the Schedule on the relevant days. 

Creating Shifts

• To create a shift, select/tap the empty space (with the + icon)
• Enter a Start and End Time
• If an employee has more than one job role, use the Role drop-down to select it
• Once the Start/End Times have been entered, select Save

Fig.4 - Selecting a day and creating a shift

• To remove or edit the shift, select it and make the necessary changes
• To create split shifts, repeat this process selecting the space beneath the shift already entered.

• If there are more than two records (Records are working shifts, Holiday, Absence,and Unavailability)  for a single day for an employee, a link with and x more… will be displayed

  • To display all shifts for that day, select x more...
  • To edit or delete a shift, select it and the shift pop-up will be displayed with all records for that day

Please note: Start and End Times cannot overlap

If an employee is multiple-employed through the HR module, the relevant job role for each of their shifts will be available in the drop-down next to the shift times. Hours for employees already scheduled at another location or department will be greyed out.

Contracted Hours

The colour-coded Contracted Hours icon displays the number of contracted hours for the employee. Select or tap on the employee's hours next to the employee name. The hours are colour coded, as shown below.

-Green if scheduled hours for the employee match their contracted hours
-Red if scheduled hours are less than their contracted hours
-Amber if scheduled hours for the employee exceed their contracted hours

These statuses are based on the total hours that an employee works in all Locations within the portal.

Fig.5 -Contracted Hours tooltip 

Schedule Settings

Shifts can be dragged and dropped to employees, with the default action being 'copy'.

• Select an existing shift for any employee, and drag it to another employee

The shift start and end time and break records are copied and the shift is created for the employee in the job role which they are available to work on in that department.

• To change the option to Move use the switch at the top of the schedule page
• In 'move' mode, select an existing shift for an employee and move this to any other employee

The shift is moved from employee X to employee Y. The start and end times and break records are copied and the shift is created for the employee in the job role which they are available to work on in that department.

Fig.6 - Copy/Move Shift Settings