Building a Schedule - Common FAQs

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What features does Homebase offer for employee scheduling?

• Customize overtime & break preferences
• Manage availability & time off requests
• Allow employees to trade, cover and claim open shifts
• Enable location-based clock in with the mobile time clock
• Capture team member photos when they clock in on tablets & POS devices
• Automate real-time reminders & notifications to employees

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Where can I see preferred availability on the schedule?

You are able to view preferred availability in two (2) places on Homebase:

1. All preferred availability and unavailability can be seen under Shifts > Team Availability
2. You can also see preferred availability by hovering over each day directly on the schedule, on the employee week view. It will also show in the shift builder when you click on a day that has preferred availability.

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How can I make a split shift for an employee?

The best way for you to schedule a split shift for an employee is by assigning 2 shifts for the employee on the same day. 

Example: An employee has a split shift, and is scheduled to work from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and return at 4:00 p.m. to work the dinner shift to work until 8:00 p.m. Assign a the first shift by creating one shift for the employee from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and add another shift on the same day from 4:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.

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How do I schedule my team by department?

Departments & roles are a great way to help keep your employees organized by teams. Departments would be known as the team, and roles can be assigned to those departments. 

Example: A Department could be labeled as the Front of the House, and a Role in this department could be a Host or Server.

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How can I delete the entire schedule?

You are able to clear the entire schedule in the week view of the schedule builder by going to Tools > Clear > Entire Schedule

Note: If you are clearing a schedule with published shifts, you will need to publish the schedule again after clearing to save your changes.

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 How do I repeat the schedule?

There are 3 ways to repeat schedules in Homebase:

• Copy: The Copy feature in the top right of the Schedule Builder allows you to copy your schedule to a future week.
• Templates: Create a template by going to Tools > Templates.
• Repeat: After you publish a schedule, Homebase will ask if you would like to repeat this schedule up to 4 weeks in advance.

Note: For more information on applying templates, see here.

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Why can't I see my employee on the schedule?

There are 2 reasons why you many not be seeing your employee on the schedule:

1. The employee's settings may not have "Show In Schedule" turned on.
   • Go to Team > Roster > Employee Profile > Click the Blue Pencil Icon > Check "Show In Schedule > Save Changes
2. You may have the "Scheduled Only" setting turned on in the schedule builder. 
   • In the top left under the date range, select "Scheduled Only" and toggle to "All Employees"

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How do I stop my team from requesting time off on a specific day?

You can add time-off restriction/blackout day in the schedule by going to Tools > Add > Limited Time Off.

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How can I restore a schedule that was accidentally deleted?

You can restore a deleted schedule by going to Shifts > Schedule > Tools > Delete > Unpublished Changes.

Note: You can only restore deleted shifts if the changes were not published. Once deleted shifts have been published, they cannot be restored.

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How do I schedule shifts so they show in each employee’s local time zone?

Currently, Homebase does not automatically adjust shifts for different time zones. Shifts are shown based on the manager’s time zone settings.

For example: if a manager schedules a shift for 10:00 AM CST, an employee in EST will see it as 11:00 AM EST.

Note: If your team works across multiple time zones, managers will need to manually account for the time difference when scheduling shifts.

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Why can't I edit one of my employee's availability?

If your employee worked at another company that uses Homebase, you may restricted from editing availability that could potentially impact their previous employer's schedule.

In order for changes to take effect, your employee must adjust their own availability in their own Homebase account on the Mobile app or web.