The Optimal Labor Tool
The Optimal Labor Tool provides hourly labor recommendations based on your sales forecasts and historical scheduling data, so you can schedule the right number of hours for each department.
Things to know
Important: Managers / Assistant Managers will require both of the following Manager Permissions in order to access the Optimal Labor Tool: Can manage sales projections, can view wages. Managers and Assistant Managers without Can manage labor targets can view the tool but can't adjust labor targets.
Before the Optimal Labor Tool will populate, your location must meet all of the following requirements:
- Your POS is integrated with 7shifts
- At least 15 weeks of integrated sales data
- At least 15 weeks of scheduling data
- At least 50 receipts per day
- Labor percentage targets are set in the Optimal Labor tab (see Set labor percentage targets below)
The Optimal Labor Tool can take 4–24 hours to update after changes are made, including the first time labor targets are set.
- Access to the Optimal Labor Tool may require a plan upgrade.
Access the Optimal Labor Tool
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Go to the Schedules page and select the Optimal Labor tab at the bottom of the page.
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Click the Optimal Labor Tool to expand the full view.
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To switch between departments, click the Department icon.
Read daily labor overages and shortages
The Optimal Labor Tool shows whether your scheduled labor is above or below the recommended amount for each day.
- (+) means you've scheduled more labor than the optimal amount.
- (–) means you've scheduled less labor than the optimal amount.
When scheduled labor is within 5% of your target, the variance number appears green. When scheduled labor exceeds your target by more than 5%, the number appears red.
Hovering over any day displays Projected Sales, Optimal Labor, and Scheduled Labor for that hour.
For example, at 1 PM on Monday, September 9th: Optimal Labor = 3 hours, Scheduled Labor = 3.75 hours. This shows a labor overage of +0.75 hours.
View optimal labor by hour
To see overages and shortages broken down hour by hour, click a specific day in the Week or Day view.
The Hourly Variance row totals show how many hours are scheduled versus how many 7shifts recommends. These numbers update as you adjust scheduled shifts.
Hovering over a variance number shows which roles are overstaffed or understaffed based on your historical schedules and projected sales.
Let's look at 1 pm from the Daily View:
Set labor percentage targets
- Go to the Schedules page > the tool icon > Optimal Labor.
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Click Edit Targets for your location.
- Set labor targets for each department.
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Click Save.
Note: After updating labor targets, the Optimal Labor Tool can take up to 24 hours to recalculate. This applies the first time targets are set as well.
Edit hourly sales projections
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On the Schedules page, click the pencil icon next to Projected Sales.
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To edit a single time period, click the pencil icon next to the amount.
To edit multiple time periods, hold Shift, select the periods, then click the pencil icon.
- Enter a New Value, or adjust by % Offset or $ Offset.
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Edited cells are marked with a red corner. Hover over a cell to see the original and updated values.
Note: If your location's scheduling hours start before 5 AM, time blocks earlier than 5 AM appear at the bottom of the projections editor, after your last scheduled hour. 7shifts uses a fixed business day starting at 5 AM, so pre-5 AM hours are listed last. Projections still save and apply correctly.
Troubleshooting
If the Optimal Labor Tool projections appear greyed out for a specific day, the most common causes are:
- Scheduling hours for that day are set to closed in Location settings. Only the account Admin can update these settings.
- The location hasn't met the minimum data requirements: a connected POS, 15+ weeks of integrated sales data, 15+ weeks of scheduling data, and at least 50 receipts per day.
- The Optimal Labor Tool isn't correctly configured alongside Department-Based Budgeting. Accurate projections require the correct sales category or revenue centre to be selected during integration setup.
- A sync discrepancy exists between 7shifts and the POS. Click the green recycle icon next to Projected Sales to force a sync.
- Labor percentage targets need to be re-saved. Editing and re-saving labor targets can force a sync and resolve missing projections.
Issue unresolved
If the steps above don't resolve the issue, log in to your account and start a chat with the Support team. Include the following in your message:
- The affected location
- The affected date
- A screenshot of your Optimal Labor Tool