HS: Meal & Break Planning in the Scheduler

Overview

Meal & Break Planning (MBP) helps managers identify, schedule, and manage employee meals and breaks while building the schedule. When a Meal & Break Planning rule set is assigned to a store, eligible shifts display meal and break information in the Scheduler based on the organization’s configured rules.

How meals and breaks are displayed and scheduled depends on the organization’s configuration in the Above Store Console (ASC):

• If the setting Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts is enabled, eligible meals and breaks are added directly to the employee’s shift and can be managed in the Shift Editor.
• If the setting Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts is disabled, managers can plan meal and break times using the Roster Report.

For information about meal and break compliance requirements, refer to this article: HS: Meal and Break Planning Overview. 

For information about creating, configuring, and assigning Meal & Break Planning rule sets, refer to this article: HS ASC: Meal & Break Planning Configuration.

Note: Contact your system administrator if you are unsure which Meal & Break Planning configuration your organization uses.

View Meal and Break Eligibility

When an employee’s shift qualifies for a meal or break based on the assigned rule set, a blue indicator appears in the upper-right corner of the shift. Hover over the indicator to view the employee’s meal and break information.

Depending on the configured rule set, the information may include:

• Eligible meal breaks
• Eligible rest breaks
• Break duration

View Eligibility While Editing a Shift

Meal and break eligibility is also available when creating or editing a shift.

Open the Edit Shift window and hover over the blue meal and break indicator to view the employee’s eligibility details.

View Meals and Breaks in SmartView

Managers can also use SmartView to review meals and breaks across the schedule. This can make it easier to see meal and break placement across multiple employee shifts and make scheduling adjustments as needed.

Schedule Meals and Breaks

How meals and breaks are scheduled depends on whether the setting Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts is enabled for the assigned Meal & Break Planning rule set.

Option 1: Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts Enabled

When Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts is enabled, eligible meals and breaks are added directly to the employee’s shift based on the assigned rule set.

The number, duration, and placement of meals and breaks are determined by the organization’s Meal & Break Planning configuration. Managers can review and adjust meals and breaks directly in the Shift Editor when editing a shift.

Depending on permissions and configuration, managers can:

• Modify meal or break start and end times
• Adjust the duration of a meal or break
• Reposition meals or breaks within the shift
• Remove a meal or break by selecting the trash icon to the right of the duration total

For additional information about creating and editing shifts, see HS Scheduling: Creating and Editing Shifts.

Option 2: Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts Disabled

When Apply Meals/Breaks to Shifts is disabled, meals and breaks are not added directly to employee shifts. Managers can use the Roster Report to plan and record meal and break times for eligible employees.

To enter meal or break times:

1. From the Scheduling tab, select Report.
2. Generate the roster for the applicable day or week.
3. Locate the employee’s shift.
4. Enter the planned meal or break time in the available field.

Changes are saved automatically.

Note: Meal and break times entered in the Roster Report are stored as a note for managers. They do not create a scheduled meal or break on the employee’s shift.

Copy Meal and Break Edits

When copying a schedule to another week, managers can also copy manual changes made to meals and breaks.

1. Open Copy Schedule and select the schedules to copy.
2. Enable Copy Meal/Break Edits.
3. Select Copy.

This preserves meal and break adjustments made to the original schedule.

Related Articles

• HS: Meal and Break Planning Overview
• HS ASC: Meal & Break Planning Configuration
• HS Scheduling: Creating and Editing Shifts