Setting up job scheduling in Homebase is a great way to streamline managing an hourly workforce. Homebase uses a drag-and-drop interface and automatically calculates labor costs as you build your shifts, saving you a lot of manual math.
Here is a straightforward, step-by-step guide to getting your schedule up and running.
Step 1: Add Your Team Members
Before you can schedule anyone, they need to be in the system.
- Navigate to the Team tab on the left-hand menu.
- Click Add Team Member.
- Enter their basic information (Name, Email, Phone Number).
- Assign their Access Level (e.g., Employee, Manager).
- Crucial step: Add their Wage and Role (e.g., Bartender, Cashier). This allows Homebase to calculate your labor costs and organize the schedule by job duty.
Step 2: Set Up Roles and Departments
Organizing your schedule by roles makes it much easier to ensure you have the right coverage.
- Go to Settings and then Roles/Departments.
- Create specific roles for your business. Color-coding these roles will make your schedule visually easy to scan (e.g., making all kitchen staff red and front-of-house staff blue).
Step 3: Input Employee Availability and Time-Off
One of the biggest benefits of Homebase is that employees can manage their own availability via the mobile app, but you can also set it manually.
- Instruct your team to download the Homebase app and input their recurring availability (e.g., “Cannot work Tuesdays before 2 PM”).
- Approve any pending Time Off Requests in the system before building the schedule to avoid double-booking someone who is on vacation.
Step 4: Build the Schedule
Now you are ready to create the actual shifts.
- Click on the Schedule tab.
- Choose your preferred view at the top (View by Employee or View by Role).
- Click on a blank cell under a specific day and employee (or role).
- Select the start and end time. Add the designated Role.
- Click Add or press Enter. You can now drag and drop this shift, copy it, or paste it onto other days.
Step 5: Utilize “Open Shifts” (Optional)
If you have shifts that need coverage but you aren’t sure who should take them, you can create an Open Shift.
- Create a shift in the “Open Shifts” row at the top of the schedule.
- When you publish the schedule, eligible employees can claim this shift through their app on a first-come, first-served basis (or subject to your approval).
Step 6: Review Labor Costs and Overtime
Before finalizing, check the bottom of the schedule builder.
- Homebase will automatically display your projected total labor cost for the week based on the shifts and wages you entered.
- Look out for red warning icons on shifts. Homebase will automatically flag if a scheduled shift will push an employee into overtime or if it conflicts with their availability.
Step 7: Publish and Notify
Once the schedule looks perfect, it’s time to share it with the team.
- Click the Publish button in the top right corner.
- Choose how you want to notify your team (Email, Text Message, or App Push Notification).
- Your employees will immediately receive their schedules and can view them right from their phones.
Pro-Tip: Save as a Template
If your schedule looks relatively the same from week to week, you don’t need to rebuild it from scratch. Click the Tools menu in the top right of the schedule builder and select Save as Template. Next week, you can simply load that template and make minor tweaks.
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