← Learning Center · Scheduling

Build and publish a schedule

Drag-and-drop shifts onto a weekly calendar, copy from past weeks, manage staff availability, then publish to your team with notifications.

Step 1 — Open the schedule

Go to Manage → Scheduling. The default view is the current week. The top bar shows weekly totals: scheduled hours, projected labor cost, staff count, and number of shifts.

Step 2 — Add a shift

Click Add shift or click directly on a day cell:

1. Pick the staff member (typeahead by name)
2. Pick a start time and end time
3. Optionally set a location if multi-location
4. Optional note visible to staff (e.g. "Cover register 2 during lunch rush")
5. Click Save

The shift appears as a card on that staff member's row. The labor cost summary at the top updates immediately based on the staff member's hourly rate.

Step 3 — Use shift templates (optional)

If you have repeating roles like "Floor cashier 9–5" or "Closing shift 5–10pm", create a shift template once and drag it onto the calendar:

1. Click the Templates tab in Scheduling
2. Click New template
3. Name it (e.g. "Opening cashier")
4. Set start/end time and location
5. Save — it's now available in the dropdown when adding shifts

Step 4 — Copy a week

Most stores have a stable rhythm. To save time:

1. Navigate to a previous week with the schedule you want to repeat
2. Click Copy week
3. Pick the destination week
4. Confirm — all shifts copy over with the same staff, times, and notes
5. Adjust any conflicts (someone on time off, a new hire, etc.)

Step 5 — Check availability and time off

The calendar shows:

• Available staff in their normal row color
• Approved time off in a hatched/striped pattern — you can't schedule someone on PTO
• Pending time off with a yellow warning icon
• Conflicts (overlapping shifts, double-bookings) flagged in red

Resolve all conflicts before publishing.

Step 6 — Publish the schedule

Click Publish schedule:

1. Choose the date range to publish (default is the week you're viewing)
2. Choose whether to send notifications: email, mobile push, or both
3. Add an optional message: "Holiday hours start next week — please check your shifts"
4. Click Confirm and notify

Staff receive a notification with a link to their schedule in the staff portal. Until you click Publish, shifts are draft-only and not visible to staff.

Step 7 — Handle changes after publish

If you change a published shift, Staff Hub sends a notification to the affected staff member. They can:

• Accept — the shift is locked in
• Request swap — opens a swap request that other staff can claim, subject to your approval

Common issues

"Can't add a shift to this person"

Either the staff member is on approved time off (calendar shows hatched), terminated (employment status), or has no assigned location and "Assigned location only" is on. Check the staff profile's Workforce settings.

"Labor cost shows $0"

Hourly rates aren't set on staff profiles. Open Manage → Staff → each staff member → Workforce → Hourly rate (cents). Without rates, labor cost projections are zero.

"Schedule notifications not sending"

Check that SMTP is configured (Settings → Email) and that staff have notification preferences enabled (Settings → Notifications). For mobile push, check that VAPID keys are configured (production setting).