# Building the weekly schedule

Build a location's week on the web — add, move, copy and edit shifts, add open shifts, and keep an eye on time off, availability and labor cost while you work.

For: Managers, Admins · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling) · Last updated October 10, 2026 · Mays Team

Build each location's week on the web under **Scheduling → Schedule**. Everything you add is a draft that only managers see until you publish it.

The page shows the location picked at the bottom of the sidebar. Each person is a row, each day a column, and unassigned shifts sit in the **Open shifts** row at the top.

![The Scheduling page for South, week of Oct 5 – Oct 11, 2026: the Scheduled labor card at $1677 for 113.5h, Labor %, Weekly budget, and OT warnings 2 — Owen South 5h, Olivia South 3.5h; a banner reading 5 scheduling conflicts — review before publishing; the Events and Open shifts rows; and rows for Emma North (15h · $240.00), Olivia South (43.5h · $724.00) and Owen South (45h · $712.50) with coloured shifts and NO-SHOW attendance marks. Emma and Owen have a red TIME OFF cell on Thursday, Owen's Thursday shift is outlined in red with Time off, Olivia's Thursday to Saturday cells read PENDING TIME OFF in amber and her shifts on those days carry an amber Pending time off mark; an Overlaps shift on Saturday and an Unavailable shift on Sunday](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__build-the-schedule__01-week-grid.80a67bbd22.png)

## Find your way around the page

- **Employees view / Roles view** — one row per person, or grouped by position.
- **Day / Week / Month** — the week grid; one day as a timeline; or a month calendar with the number of shifts, staff, open shifts and people off each day. Click a day header to open that day.
- The arrows move between weeks, and **This week** jumps back.
- A department filter (**All departments**) appears when the location's positions belong to departments. Picking one shows only the shifts whose position is in that department — a shift with no position is hidden — and the hours and cost above the names add up just the rows you see. Hover over them for the whole location's week.
- While a department filter is on, a chip above the grid names it and counts the shifts it hides, for example *Kitchen only · 15 shifts hidden*. Click its **✕** to see every department again.
- **Manage staff** picks who has a row — see [Setting up scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-up-scheduling).

The week starts on the location's **Schedule week start** day. The layout and the department filter you pick are remembered: the page opens that way next time.

![The Scheduling page for Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2026 with Kitchen picked in the department filter: under the labor cards, the chip Kitchen only · 15 shifts hidden with its ✕ sits above the grid, whose rows for Alex Kim, Casey Brooks and Maya Ortiz show only their Kitchen shifts](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__build-the-schedule__04-department-filter-chip.6dfe45d6a2.png)

### Refresh, bookmarks and links

The page's address keeps the week you're on, **Employees view** or **Roles view**, the department filter and the location. Refreshing the page, a bookmark, or a link you copy from the address bar and send to another manager opens exactly that view. The browser's **Back** button steps back through the weeks you looked at.

- A link to a location the person opening it can't see opens their own location instead, and a department that location doesn't use shows all departments.
- Opening someone's link doesn't change the layout and filter your own schedule opens to.

## Add a shift

1. Hover over the cell for the person and day, and click the **+** that appears (**Add shift**). Use the **Open shifts** row for a shift nobody has yet.
2. In **New shift**, check the **Employee** and **Date**, and set **Start** and **End**. The length shows underneath; an end time before the start means the shift ends the next day.
3. Check the **Position** and enter the unpaid **Break (min)**. The **Position** starts on the position of the **Roles view** row you clicked, or else on the person's own position (their only one, or their main one). Pick another one, or **None**, if this shift is different.
4. Optionally add a **Label** (such as *Opener*), a **Station**, a **Late grace (min)** and **Notes**. The employee sees the label and the notes in the app.
5. Click **Add shift**.

![The New shift dialog for Owen South on 10/05/2026 from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM, 8 hrs, Position Cashier, Break 30, Label Closer and the note Count the drawer before you leave](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__build-the-schedule__02-new-shift.fc817cb5c5.png)

**Common shifts** at the top offers start and end times you've used often at this location — pick one to fill in the times and break.

A new shift is a **draft**: it has a dashed outline and the word *draft*, and nobody on your team sees it until you publish. See [Publishing the schedule and notifying staff](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/publish-the-schedule).

If the department filter hides a shift you've just added or saved — a shift with no position, or one in another department — a message says so, for example *Shift added — hidden by the Kitchen filter.* Click **Show all** to clear the filter; the shift is highlighted on the grid. In **Roles view**, a shift that lands under a different position than the row you added it from says where it went, for example *Shift added — it's in the No position group.*, and **Show** takes you to it.

![The Scheduling page filtered to Kitchen, with the message Shift added — hidden by the Kitchen filter and its Show all button at the top right, and the chip Kitchen only · 16 shifts hidden above the grid; the rows for Alex Kim (32h · $528.00), Casey Brooks (16h · $288.00) and Maya Ortiz (40h · $770.67) add up to the 88h · $1,586.67 above the names](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__build-the-schedule__03-hidden-by-filter.3aad992d56.png)

## Move, copy and edit shifts

- **Edit:** double-click a shift (or press **Enter** on it). Change it and click **Save**.
- **Move:** click a shift once to pick it up, then click another cell. It keeps its times. Press **Esc** to put it down.
- **Copy:** hold **Option** (Mac) or **Ctrl** while you click the new cell.
- **Drag and drop** works too — hold **⌘**, **Ctrl** or **Option** as you start dragging to copy instead of move.
- **Delete:** open the shift and click **Delete**. There's no confirmation.

Dragging a shift onto the **Open shifts** row unassigns it; dragging an open shift onto a person assigns it.

Changes to a shift that's already published don't reach your team straight away: the shift gets an amber *edited* mark, a deleted one stays on the grid struck through as *removed*, and both go live when you publish.

## Open shifts

An open shift has no one on it yet. Once published, everyone at the location can see it in the app and claim it, and you approve the claim — see [Open shifts and dropping a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/open-shifts). To make one, click **+** in the **Open shifts** row, or pick **Open shift (unassigned)** as the **Employee**.

## Time off, availability and double-booking

Mays warns you; it never stops you.

- A shift on a day the person has **approved time off** is outlined in red with **Time off**, and the cell is marked **TIME OFF**.
- A day the person has asked for but you haven't decided yet is marked **PENDING TIME OFF** in amber, on every day of the request — hover it to see the category and dates. It's a hint while you build the week, not a block: you can still add a shift there, and that shift gets an amber **Pending time off** mark (not the red **Time off** one) until the request is approved or declined. The **Day** view shows the same mark next to the person's name, and the **Month** view counts them separately, for example **2 off · 1 pending**. Decide the request on **Scheduling → Time Off** — see [Time-off requests](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests).
- A shift that clashes with their **availability** shows **Unavailable**, **Not available** or **Outside hours**. A small triangle in the corner of a cell means the person has limited or no availability that day — hover to see it.
- These also appear in the warnings banner before you publish. So does a **PREMIUM** row, where Labor law compliance's **Premiums** is on, when someone's day creates a spread of hours or a split shift under your location's premium rules, with what it costs, for example *"Ava Chen's day on Tue, Sep 22 spans 11 h (9am–8pm): New York's spread-of-hours rule adds 1 hour at the $17.00 minimum wage (+$17.00)."* The **Scheduled labor** card doesn't include premiums.

Mays doesn't stop you from giving someone two overlapping shifts — staffing is your call — but it warns you: the shift is outlined in red with **Overlaps** (hover it to see who and when), and the warnings banner lists the clash, naming the other location when the second shift is somewhere else. Overlaps are also flagged when you approve a claim or a trade — see [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox).

At a location with Labor law compliance's **Minors (under 18)** on, a shift that breaks a minor's limits is outlined in red with **Minor rule**, and the row of anyone under 18 shows their age and the week's hours against their weekly limit, for example *Minor · 15* and *16.5 / 15 h*. See [Scheduling minors](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-minors).

## Labor, budget and overtime

The four cards above the grid:

| Card | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Scheduled labor** | The week's labor cost and hours, from people's wages plus the overtime the shifts carry — see [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages). |
| **Labor %** | Labor as a share of the week's Square sales. Without Square it reads **Labor % (no sales data)**, and a future week shows **—**. |
| **Weekly budget** | Click **Set** to enter a budget for this week. The card turns amber when you're over. |
| **OT warnings** | Everyone whose shifts that week run into overtime, with their overtime hours: weekly overtime (past 40 hours unless an admin changed it in **Scheduling → Settings**), and daily, double-time or 7th-day overtime where your overtime settings have it or, with Labor law compliance's **Overtime law** on, the law at the location's address does (see [Labor & compliance](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/labor-compliance)). If an admin unticks **Overtime warnings enabled** there, the card stays empty — overtime pay isn't affected. |

The cards refresh when you change weeks or reload the page; the totals above the grid and next to each name update as you work; they include overtime, so a 45-hour week at $11.00 shows $522.50. Admins and managers see the money; your team never sees wages.

At a location that has positions, a shift with no position says **No position** under its time. It's costed at the person's own hourly wage, or else their main position's wage — double-click it to set the right position. See [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages).

Where Labor law compliance's **Minimum wage** is on, a line under the cards says how many wages are below the legal minimum at the location and when the next increase is — see [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages).

## More tools

- **Notes for managers:** the note icon next to a name (**Add a scheduling note**) keeps a reminder like *no car — mornings hard*. Only managers see it.
- **Events:** the **+** in the **Events** row adds something happening that day, like a catering order. That day's scheduled staff get a reminder that morning, and birthdays show in the same row. See [Schedule events and birthdays](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-events-and-birthdays).
- **Parse photo** turns a photo of a paper or whiteboard schedule into draft shifts. See [Import a paper schedule from a photo](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-from-a-photo).
- **Print** and **Download** are in the wrench menu (**Schedule tools**). **Print only scheduled employees** leaves out empty rows; **Download** saves the week as a spreadsheet (CSV).
- **Copy week** (the copy icon) copies **Last week**, or **A specific week** from the last ten, into this week as drafts. Shifts already in this week and shifts marked *removed* aren't copied, and the banner says how many were left out. See [Copy a week and reuse common shifts](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/copy-week-and-common-shifts).

## Good to know

- **Shifts copied from 7shifts** show a **7shifts** badge when you open them. Editing one in Mays stops 7shifts from updating it.
- Managers can also add and edit shifts from the app — **Manage schedule** on iPhone, **Manager Schedule** on Android — but the grid, labor cards, warnings and copy tools are web only.
- Only **Scheduled** people can be picked for a shift here; tick someone in **Manage staff** if they're missing.

## Related articles

- Scheduling: [Setting up scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-up-scheduling) — Get a location ready to schedule in Mays — choose Mays or 7shifts as its schedule, set the day its week starts, and pick who appears on the schedule.
- Scheduling: [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — Create the jobs people work — Barista, Cashier, Line Cook — with a colour and a default hourly wage, give people their positions and pay, and see where Mays uses them.
- Scheduling: [Publishing the schedule and notifying staff](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/publish-the-schedule) — Your team only sees a week once you publish it. Check the warnings, choose who gets notified, publish — and republish, undo or clear a week when plans change.
- Scheduling: [Open shifts and dropping a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/open-shifts) — Pick up extra shifts from Open shifts in the app, or drop a shift so a coworker can take it — your manager approves every claim.
- Scheduling: [Requesting and approving time off](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests) — Ask for days off in the app, pick a category like Vacation or Sick, and follow your request. Managers approve or decline on the web or in the app.
- Scheduling: [Setting your availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-your-availability) — Tell your manager which days and hours you can work — as a weekly pattern, or for a date range — from the Availability screen in the Mays app.
- Scheduling: [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox) — One place for everything your team is waiting on you for — shift claims, trades, the shift pool, time off and availability.
- Scheduling: [Copy a week and reuse common shifts](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/copy-week-and-common-shifts) — Start a new week from last week's shifts in one click, and fill in shift times you use all the time from the Common shifts list.
- Scheduling: [Auto-schedule with AI](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/auto-scheduler) — Let Mays build a week's draft schedule from last week — working around time off, availability, notes and weekly hours — then fine-tune it by chatting with the assistant.
- Scheduling: [Managing the schedule from your phone](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/manage-schedule-on-mobile) — Check who's working today, see who's on the clock, and add, change, cover and publish shifts from the Schedule tab of the Mays app.
- Scheduling: [Schedule events and birthdays](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-events-and-birthdays) — Mark catering orders, inspections and other one-off days on the schedule, with a morning reminder for that day's staff. Birthdays show on the schedule too.
- Scheduling: [Import a paper schedule from a photo](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-from-a-photo) — Upload a photo of a paper or whiteboard schedule and the AI turns it into draft shifts. Check who's working what, create the shifts and publish as usual.
- Time clock: [Labor & compliance (per location)](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/labor-compliance) — Where: Locations & Users → Locations → a location → Scheduling tab → Labor & compliance card.
- Scheduling: [Scheduling minors](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-minors) — Turn on work rules for minors at a location (part of Labor law compliance), and Mays checks the hours and times of anyone under 18 against federal and state law. You get warnings on the schedule, and the auto-scheduler stays inside the limits. Nothing is ever blocked.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule