Overview
When I Work schedules, positions, and job sites are powerful tools that make scheduling fast and easy. Using these tools to their full potential is key to getting the most out of When I Work for your business.
In the following sections, we’ll go through our recommendations for a food truck, small restaurant, large restaurant, and multi-restaurant group.
Terms to know
Schedules
A feature that allows you to group users into separate schedules. You might want to set up multiple schedules if your business operates out of different physical locations/regions or you want to build separate schedules for different teams/departments. If you use multiple schedules, supervisors can build their schedules independently (managers have access to view and edit all schedules).
Positions
A position identifies a particular job, duty, or skill that is performed at your workplace. For example, a restaurant shop might have cook, server, and host positions. Use positions to make sure you’ve scheduled the right people for the right shifts. You can also allow users to swap/drop shifts based on their qualified positions.
Job sites
A job site identifies a location where shifts take place. You can use job sites for shifts that take place off-site from your normal place of business, or to designate specific locations inside your place of business. For example, you might add a job site for an event space or a particular room at your restaurant. Job sites are optional; shifts without job sites take place at the normal schedule location.
Food truck
In this example, we’ll explain how to use When I Work to schedule a standalone food truck that has 5 staff members.
The following table summarizes some key details about the food truck and our recommendations for When I Work.
| Key Items | Physical locations |
| Details | Prep Kitchen |
| Recommendation | Use the default schedule (a) to cover the prep kitchen and food truck. Multiple schedules aren’t needed for a small number of users. |
| Key Items | Skills/jobs |
| Details | Cook, Driver, Cashier |
| Recommendation | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Key Items | Truck parking spots |
| Details | Loring Park, Downtown, Lowertown, Hennepin Island |
| Recommendation | Add a job site (c) for each parking spot. Add job sites to shifts to let the driver know where to go. |
| Key Items | Details | Recommendation |
| Physical locations | Prep Kitchen | Use the default schedule (a) to cover the prep kitchen and food truck. Multiple schedules aren’t needed for a small number of users. |
| Skills/jobs | Cook, Driver, Cashier | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Truck parking spots | Loring Park, Downtown, Lowertown, Hennepin Island | Add a job site (c) for each parking spot. Add job sites to shifts to let the driver know where to go. |
Small restaurant
In this example, we’ll explain how to use When I Work to schedule a small restaurant that has 22 staff members.
The following table summarizes some key details about the restaurant and our recommendations for When I Work.
| Key Items | Physical locations |
| Details | Restaurant |
| Recommendations | Because the restaurant has a large number of users, we recommend setting up separate schedules (a) for each team. |
| Key Items | Teams |
| Details | Front of House, Back of House |
| Recommendations | Set up a separate schedules (a) for each team to keep each schedule easier to manage and let supervisors build their own schedules. |
| Key Items | Skills/jobs |
| Details | Host, Server, Cook, Manager |
| Recommendations | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Key Items | Details | Recommendations |
| Physical locations | Restaurant | Because the restaurant has a large number of users, we recommend setting up separate schedules (a) for each team. |
| Teams | Front of House, Back of House | Set up a separate schedules (a) for each team to keep each schedule easier to manage and let supervisors build their own schedules. |
| Skills/jobs | Host, Server, Cook, Manager | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
Large restaurant with catering
In this example, we’ll explain how to use When I Work to schedule a large restaurant that has 57 staff members and provides catering for off-site event spaces.
The following table summarizes some key details about the restaurant and our recommendations for When I Work.
| Key Items | Physical locations |
| Details | Restaurant |
| Recommendations | Even though there’s only one location, we recommend setting up separate schedules (a) for each team. |
| Key Items | Teams |
| Details | Front of House, Back of House, Catering |
| Recommendations | Set up a separate schedules (a) for each team to keep each schedule easier to manage and let supervisors build their own schedules. |
| Key Items | Skills/jobs |
| Details | Busser, Host, Server, Manager, Cook, Dishwasher |
| Recommendations | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Key Items | Event spaces |
| Details | Northtown Event Center, Crystal Ballroom, Smith Convention Center |
| Recommendations | Add a job site (c) for each event space where the catering team operates. A shift with a job site lets the user know where to go. |
| Key Items | Details | Recommendations |
| Physical locations | Restaurant | Even though there’s only one location, we recommend setting up separate schedules (a) for each team. |
| Teams | Front of House, Back of House, Catering | Set up a separate schedules (a) for each team to keep each schedule easier to manage and let supervisors build their own schedules. |
| Skills/jobs | Busser, Host, Server, Manager, Cook, Dishwasher | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Event spaces | Northtown Event Center, Crystal Ballroom, Smith Convention Center | Add a job site (c) for each event space where the catering team operates. A shift with a job site lets the user know where to go. |
Multi-restaurant group
In this example, we’ll explain how use When I Work to schedule a group of restaurants with multiple locations and 103 staff members.
The following table summarizes some key details about the restaurant chain and our recommendations for When I Work.
| Key Items | Physical locations |
| Details | Uptown, Downtown, Northeast, Lowertown |
| Recommendations | Set up a separate schedule (a) for each restaurant so that the local managers can handle scheduling individually and keep their users separate. You can share users between schedules if they work at multiple restaurants. |
| Key Items | Teams |
| Details | Front of House, Back of House |
| Recommendations | Combine teams on a shared schedule for each restaurant. If each restaurant has a large number of users, you could consider making 8 schedules—one for each team/restaurant combination. |
| Key Items | Skills/jobs |
| Details | Busser, Host, Server, Manager, Cook, Dishwasher |
| Recommendations | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
| Key Items | Details | Recommendations |
| Physical locations | Uptown, Downtown, Northeast, Lowertown | Set up a separate schedule (a) for each restaurant so that the local managers can handle scheduling individually and keep their users separate. You can share users between schedules if they work at multiple restaurants. |
| Teams | Front of House, Back of House | Combine teams on a shared schedule for each restaurant. If each restaurant has a large number of users, you could consider making 8 schedules—one for each team/restaurant combination. |
| Skills/jobs | Busser, Host, Server, Manager, Cook, Dishwasher | Add a position (b) for each job to make sure that you’re scheduling qualified users for the right shifts. |
Still have questions?
Contact us if you still have questions about how to use When I Work at your food service business.