The Optimal Labor Tool

The 7shifts Optimal Labor tool provides hourly forecasts and labor recommendations to help you budget your scheduled labor more effectively.

Accessing the Optimal Labor Tool 

1. Head to the Schedules page > select the Optimal Labor tab at the bottom of your page:

    

2. Click on the Optimal Labor Tool to expand the full view.
   
   

    

3. Departments can be changed by clicking on the Department icon:
   
   

Daily Labor Overages and Shortages

(+) indicates you have scheduled too much labor (more than optimal)

(-)  indicates you have scheduled too little labor (less than optimal)

When your scheduled labor is within 5% of your target, the number will be green. When your scheduled labor is more than 5% above your target, the number will be red. 

Hover over any day and hour to view Projected Sales, Optimal Labor, and Scheduled Labor hourly.

You will be able to see any discrepancies between the total employee hours and total optimal labor hours.

For example, at 1 pm on Monday, September 9th above:

Optimal Labor = 3 hours

Scheduled Labor = 3.75 hours

This indicates an overage of .75 hours (+.75)

Optimal Labor by Hour

You can view the overages and shortages hour by hour for each day by clicking on the specific day of the Week or Day.

Looking at the Hourly Variance row totals will tell you how many hours you have scheduled, and how much that varies from the number of hours that we suggest should be scheduled. As you adjust your scheduled shifts, you'll see these numbers adjust accordingly.



Let's look at 1 pm from the Daily View:

Hovering over the variance number will show you what role you are under or overstaffed based on your historical schedules and your Projected Sales. 

Set Labor Percentage Targets

1. Head to the Schedules page > the tool icon > Optimal Labor:

2. Click on Edit Targets for your Location.

3. Set labor targets for each Department.

4. Click on Save.

Edit Hourly Sales Projections

1. On the Schedules page, you can edit your hourly sales projections by clicking on the 'Pencil' icon next to 'Projected Sales.'

2. To edit one time period, click the pencil icon next to the amount.

To edit multiple time periods, hold the 'Shift' key and select the period, then click the pencil icon.

3. Edit the values by entering a 'New Value,' or change by '% Offset' or '$ Offset.'

4. Once you set the new values, the cells will be marked with a red corner and will show the information when you hover over them.

Troubleshooting

Here are common reasons why you might find that projections appear to be greyed out for a specific day:

• Scheduling hours for that day are set to close within the Location settings. These settings can only be managed by the Admin of the Account.
• Insufficient data if the following requirements are not met:
  
  • Integrate your POS
  • Have at least 15+ weeks of integrated sales data
  • Have at least 15+ weeks of scheduling data
  • Have at least 50 receipts per day
  • Set your labor percentage targets in the Optimal Labor Tab
• Proper configuration for the Optimal Labor Tool paired with Department-Based Budgeting. Accurate projections require correct sales category/revenue centre selection during your integration setup.
• Sync discrepancy between 7shifts and the POS. Attempt to push a sync by clicking the green recycle icon next to Projected Sales.
• Labor % Targets. Editing the labor % target and re-saving the changes can sometimes force a sync and resolve projections.

Issue Unresolved

Login to your Account and start a chat with our Support team. To expedite the process, please provide the following in your message:

• the affected Location
• the affected date
• a screenshot of your Optimal Labor Tool