Nory gives you everything you need to build a great schedule and stay on top of your labor costs all in one place. Add a shift and your Cost of Labor (COL) updates instantly, so you always know where you stand before the schedule goes live.
This guide walks through everything from setting up your first schedule to using the data inside it to run a more efficient operation.
Getting Started
Where to find the schedule
Go to Schedule & Workforce in the left navigation, then select the Schedule tab. Use the location selector in the top left to choose which site you're building for.
💡 Schedules are built on desktop. Managers can view the published schedule and handle requests on the Nory mobile app.
Choosing your view
At the top of the schedule, you can switch between four views depending on how you want to organize your schedule:
People: a list of all employees at that location.
Departments: grouped by department (e.g. Front of House, Back of House, Management).
Positions: grouped by role (e.g. General Manager, Bartender, Chef).
Stations: useful for complex kitchens or venues with multiple service areas (e.g. Bar 1, Bar 2, Prep).
You can also customize the order employees appear in by clicking the three dots at the top right of the schedule and selecting Edit employee list.
Understanding the Labor Header
Before you add a single shift, take a look at the header bar at the top of the schedule. This shows:
Projected Sales: Nory's forecast for the week based on your sales history
Target COL: your Cost of Labor target % (set in Location Settings)
Projected COL: what your labor will cost based on the shifts you've built so far
As you add shifts, the Projected COL updates in real time. A color indicator tells you where you stand:
🟥 Red: significantly over target
🟧 Yellow: slightly over target
🟩 Green: on target
⚙️ Your COL target is set per location in Settings → Location Settings → Labor Targets. The default is 28%, which reflects industry benchmarks for most restaurants, but you can update it to match your own targets.
Adding Shifts
Adding a shift directly
Hover over the relevant cell (the intersection of an employee row and a day column)
Click the purple + that appears
Fill in the shift details:
Position: if the employee has multiple positions, choose the right one for this shift
Station: optional, assign to a specific area if relevant
Shift type: Regular, Training, Holiday, or any custom types you've created
Start and end time: enter the shift times
Shift notes: optional, visible to the employee when the schedule is published
Click Save
Adding a shift from the clock bank
On the right-hand side of the schedule there is a clock icon. Click it to reveal a panel of preset shift times.
You can drag any of these directly onto an employee's row. This is faster once you have a standard set of shift patterns.
Copying and moving shifts
Duplicate a shift to the next day by clicking the shift and using the copy icon
Drag and drop a shift to move it to a different day or a different employee
When reassigning to a different employee, Nory will automatically apply their correct position
Viewing shift history
Click on any shift to see its full edit history: who changed it and when. This is useful if something unexpected appears on a schedule.
Open Shifts
If you want to create a shift without immediately assigning it to a specific person, add it to a position rather than an employee. It will appear under Open Shifts in the schedule.
Your team will see open shifts in the Nory app and can request to claim them. You approve or decline requests from Schedule & Workforce → Requests.
Filling open shifts automatically: Click the three dots in the top-right corner of the schedule and select Fill Open Shifts. Nory will allocate shifts across available employees based on availability. Any shift it can't auto-fill will remain as open shifts for the team to claim manually.
Schedule Templates
Templates let you save a completed schedule and reuse it in future weeks. Once you've figured out what a good week looks like for your business, you shouldn't have to rebuild it from scratch every time, and Nory makes this easy!
Saving a template
Build and finalize your schedule for the week
Click Templates in the top right of the schedule view
Select Save as template
Give it a clear name (e.g. "$20k week" or "Busy Summer Saturday")
Nory will show the forecasted sales and planned labor cost at the time of saving. This makes it easy to compare templates later
⚠️ Templates require a sales forecast to exist for every day of the week before they can be saved.
Applying a template
Navigate to the week you want to schedule
Click Templates. Nory will recommend a template based on similar historical weeks
Scroll through your saved templates and click Use this template
This will override any shifts already placed for that week
💡 Best practice: the revenue band approach: Build a schedule for a typical $20k week and save it. Build another for a $25k week and save that too. When the next week's forecast comes in, apply whichever template most closely matches. This keeps your scheduling fast without sacrificing quality.
Copying the previous week
If you want to carry forward the exact schedule from last week rather than using a template:
Click the three dots in the top right of the schedule
Select Copy schedule to next week
This is the fastest option for businesses where week-to-week patterns are consistent. You can then make individual adjustments from there.
Publishing the Schedule
When your schedule is ready:
If you are an Admin: Click Publish directly. All employees on the schedule will be notified immediately via the Nory app.
If you are a Manager or Supervisor without publish permissions: Click Submit for approval. Select the approver from the list, add any notes, and submit. The approver will review and publish.
💡 If you make changes to an already-published schedule, Nory will only notify the employees whose shifts were actually changed.
Approving Schedules (If Approval Is Required)
If your business requires schedules to be approved before publishing:
The manager submits the schedule for approval
The approver receives a notification and reviews it under Schedule & Workforce → Requests → Schedule Approvals
They can approve or reject, and add notes
Once approved, the schedule can be published and the team is notified
Next Steps: Understanding & Actioning on Insights
Schedule Metrics: Tracking Performance
The top bar of the schedule shows live metrics as you build and after you've published. These are your key numbers:
Metric | What it shows |
COL % | Actual cost of labor vs. planned |
SPLH | Sales per labor hour — actual vs. forecast |
Sales | Actual sales vs. forecast |
SPLH benchmarks by restaurant type:
Quick service / QSR: 70–100+ per labor hour
Traditional restaurant / casual dining: 50–60 per labor hour
The goal isn't necessarily hitting a specific SPLH number — it's consistency. If your SPLH is 60 on a Tuesday and 14 on a Saturday, that gap is where the conversation starts.
Updating the Sales Forecast
Nory generates a sales forecast automatically using your historical data from your POS. For most weeks this is accurate, but if you know something Nory doesn't (i.e., if there’s an upcoming street fair that will drive a larger than usual amount of foot traffic to your restaurant on a certain day), you can override it.
To update the forecast for a specific day:
In the schedule view, click the sales figure shown under the relevant day in the header
Enter your revised forecast amount
Press Enter to save
To reset it back to Nory's original prediction, click the three dots at the top right of the schedule and select Reset sales forecast.
⚠️ Updating the forecast matters because your COL % is calculated as a percentage of forecast sales. If you're expecting a much busier day than Nory predicts, your labor target should reflect that.
Department & Shift Type Breakdown (Daily View)
For a deeper look at where your labor spend is going, switch to the Departments view in the schedule and collapse each department section. This lets you compare COL % side by side. For example, Front of House at 7.8% vs. Back of House at 12.43%.
Combined with the daily hour-by-hour view, this helps you spot outliers: a department that's suddenly spending 30% when its weekly average is 20% is a signal worth investigating before you approve the schedule.
Using the Daily View Drawer
This is one of the most valuable features for building accurate schedules.
Hover your mouse to the right of any day and click the Daily View icon that appears to open the details of the day on the right side of your screen. It shows:
Hourly projected sales and projected orders for that day
Labor benchmarks from the last 6 weeks for that same day of the week
Cost of Labor % and SPLH (Sales Per Labor Hour) broken down by hour
Use this before you build the day's schedule. If the drawer shows a sharp sales spike between 12–2pm, that's where you should concentrate your strongest staff. If sales are forecast to drop off after 4pm, that's your signal to stagger shift endings rather than keeping a full team on.
💡 Best practice: Open the daily view for each day before placing shifts. Match the shape of your staffing to the shape of your forecast; this is what separates a data-driven schedule from a guesswork schedule.
Best Practices for Labor Management
1. Build from your forecast, not from memory
Open the daily drawer before placing any shifts. Use the hourly sales and order projections to shape your staffing: heavier coverage during peak hours, leaner coverage during slow periods.
2. Check your COL % before you publish
If the header is showing yellow or red when you're ready to publish, review your schedule by department. The department breakdown view will usually show quickly where the overspend is coming from.
3. Keep timecard hygiene tight
The "Actual" COL in Labor Insights only includes approved timecards. If managers aren't approving timecards daily, your actuals will lag behind reality and your Labor Insights won't reflect true costs.
4. Review last week before building this week
Use Labor Insights to check SPLH and COL % for the prior week before building the next schedule. If Thursday was overstaffed, adjust Thursday this week. Patterns repeat, use them!
5. Update the forecast when you know something Nory doesn't
Local events, private bookings, bad weather, or anything that will meaningfully affect sales should be reflected in a manual forecast update. Your labor planning is only as good as your forecast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can managers build the schedule on their phone in the Nory app?
Schedules are only built through the desktop app (app.nory.ai/schedule). Managers and employees can view the published schedule and manage requests (time off, shift swaps, open shifts) on the Nory mobile app.
How do employees know when the schedule is published?
They receive a push notification in the Nory app as soon as the schedule is published.
Can I publish a schedule without notifying employees?
Not currently. All employees on the schedule are notified when it's published. If you edit an already-published schedule, only the affected employees are notified.
What's the difference between copying last week's schedule and using a template?
"Copy to next week" carries over the exact schedule from the previous week. Templates are saved snapshots you can reuse at any time; useful for managing different revenue levels or seasonal patterns.
What if I need someone to cover a shift at short notice?
Post an open shift. The team will see it in their apps and can request to claim it. You can also use Fill Open Shifts (three dots → Fill Open Shifts) to let Nory auto-allocate based on availability.
Can I set a different COL target for different locations?
Yes. Labor targets are set per location in Settings → Location Settings → Labor Targets. Each site can have a different target %.
My COL % looked fine, but I know the team was stretched—why was that?
A good COL % can sometimes mean the team was understaffed rather than efficient. Check your SPLH (Sales Per Labor Hour) and OPLH (Orders Per Labor Hour) in Labor Insights. If those were unusually high, the team delivered more than expected, and it's worth asking whether service quality held up.