🔓 Access level in Planday: Administrator.
🌐 Subscription plan: Any.
⏱️ Reading time: 4 min.
✅ Required steps: How to organise your Planday workspace
Getting started with Planday is easy. Before scheduling, you’ll need to set up core areas: Departments, Employee groups, and Employees. This guide walks you through those essential steps. Once complete, you can explore time tracking, payroll, and more.
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Create Departments
Departments typically represent your business locations or divisions (e.g., Front of House or Back of House). Each Department has its own schedule.
Note: A new Planday workspace comes with one default department. On the Starter plan, you’re limited to one department.
To create or edit a Department:
Go to Planday web > People > Departments > Create Department.
You can also rename or edit your existing departments.
Name the Department, assign employees if needed, then press Done.
Create Employee groups
Employee groups define what employees do (e.g., Bartender, Server). While Departments define where they work.
Note: Employees can belong to multiple Employee groups.
To create or edit an Employee group:
Go to Planday web > People > Employee groups > Create employee group.
Name the group, add employees if ready, and assign a default wage.
Click Done to save.
Create and invite Employees
Now you’re ready to add your team and assign them to the right Departments and Employee groups.
Go to People > Employees > and press the Create employee button.
To create employees:
Go to People > Employees > Create employee.
Fill out their name, email (which becomes their username), and other details.
Assign to one or more Departments and Employee groups.
Press Save.
Note: Send login details right away, or later via Tools > Send invitations. You can also import employees in bulk with Tools > Employee import.
Start scheduling
Once you’ve set up Departments, Employee groups, and Employees, you can begin scheduling.
Go to Schedule > Schedule and click where you want to add a shift.
Create shifts
Click in the Schedule to create a shift. You can also create Open shifts if you don’t yet know who will cover it.
Move shifts with drag and drop
To move a shift, drag and drop it to wherever you want. This feature is especially useful if you assign Open shifts from the Employees view or if you want to move a scheduled shift to another day.
Copy shifts
If you have the same shift on multiple days, copy the shift by holding down Alt/Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows), then drag and drop a copy of the shift until a small green plus icon appears.
Delete shifts
Shifts can be deleted individually, or bulk delete all shifts in a week.
Delete a single shift: In the dropdown below the shift, select Delete shift.
Delete all shifts in a week: Go to Tools in the top right corner and select Delete this week.
Use Schedule templates
Templates help save time once you’ve built your ideal schedule. You can reuse templates week after week.
Set up Punch Clock and approve timesheets
Track when employees start and end shifts using the Planday app. Review and approve timesheets in Planday and compare scheduled vs. actual hours.
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