Articles on: Schedules

AI Scheduling: Automatically Schedule Your Team for Peak Labor Efficiency

Save hours of manual planning by using Easyteam’s AI Scheduling to automatically assign the right staff to open shifts based on your business goals, labor laws, and employee preferences.


Managing a retail schedule involves balancing a dozen variables at once: employee availability, labor costs, fair hour distribution, and compliance with rest laws



You can use Easyteam's AI Scheduler to automatically assign the right staff to open shifts. Instead of building the schedule manually, the AI analyzes thousands of possible combinations and creates an optimized schedule in seconds.


The AI Scheduler is available to admins and managers on the weekly view of the Schedules screen.



On this page




Before you begin


To get the best results from the AI Scheduler, make sure the following are set up:


  • Open Shifts — create unassigned open shifts that represent the roles, times, and number of staff you need each day. The AI assigns staff to these open shifts. For more information, refer to Create and manage open shifts.


  • Staff profiles — verify that all staff have current compensation rates, assigned job positions, and accurate location assignments in the Staff screen.


  • Time off — approve or reject pending time-off requests so the AI knows who is unavailable.


  • Create essential shifts — before using the AI Scheduler, make sure any shifts that must always be present (for example, a manager who always works Tuesdays) are already on the schedule as open shifts. The AI will then take these into account.




Open the AI Scheduler


The AI Scheduler works directly within your existing scheduling workflow.


Schedules screen with open shifts and the AI Scheduler button on the top-right


Steps:


  1. Go to the Schedules screen and navigate to the week you want to schedule.
  2. Make sure the week has Open Shifts in the top row. These define what the AI will try to fill.
  3. Click the AI Scheduler button in the top-right header, next to the Publish button.
  4. Select the locations to include in AI scheduling. You can select multiple locations at once, but only if they are in the same jurisdiction.


The AI works alongside your existing schedule. Any shift you have already assigned manually is treated as locked, and the AI builds around those assignments.



Configure required rules


Required rules are constraints the AI will never break. They help you stay compliant with labor laws and operational limits.


Steps:


  1. In the AI Scheduler panel, choose the locations you want to schedule. You can schedule multiple locations in the same jurisdiction at once.
  2. Under Required rules, toggle on and adjust the constraints that apply to your store:
  • Minimum Rest Gaps — set the required hours between shifts to prevent back-to-back close-then-open scheduling.
  • Maximum Weekly Hours — prevent anyone from being scheduled beyond a weekly limit, for example 40 hours.
  • Maximum Daily Hours — prevent anyone from being scheduled beyond a daily limit, for example 8 hours.
  • Maximum Work Days — set the maximum number of days a staff member can work in one week.


Rules the AI Scheduler must follow


The AI Scheduler remembers your last-used rule configuration, so you only need to set this up once and adjust as needed.



Choose optimization presets


Optimization presets tell the AI what to prioritize when choosing who to assign. Every week is different, so you can choose the presets that match your current goal.


Select up to three of the following presets:


  • Fair hour distribution — gives everyone a fair share of hours.
  • Respect open shift preferences — considers staff requests and preferred shifts when assigning.
  • Minimize overtime — reduces hours beyond standard work time to keep labor costs down.
  • Cost-to-sales ratio — assigns shifts based on total compensation (wages and commissions) compared to actual sales performance.
  • Maximize sales — 💡 places staff with the highest historical sales per labor hour during peak times. Recommended for Shopify POS stores.


Optimization presets for your schedule


When you select more than one preset, use the points system to set the relative importance of each one. For example, a ratio of Minimize overtime 5, Cost-to-sales ratio 10, Maximize sales 10 means the AI gives roughly equal priority to cost efficiency and sales performance, with less weight on overtime reduction.



For Shopify POS stores, the AI uses actual sales data from your Shopify orders and staff attribution data from Easyteam to determine who performs best during which hours.



Run the AI Scheduler and review the draft


Steps:


  1. Click Create Schedule to start the AI Scheduler.
  2. Wait for the AI to find an optimal schedule. This can take around a minute per location.


AI Scheduling in progress


Once an optimal schedule is found, the AI creates a draft schedule. The assigned shifts appear on the calendar as draft shifts that are not visible to your team until you publish.


After the AI assigns shifts, you can hover over the magic-wand icon on any AI-assigned draft shift to see the reasoning behind the assignment. You can also make manual adjustments to the draft before publishing.


Publish the final schedule


When you are satisfied with the result, click Publish Schedule to finalize the schedule and notify your team. For more information about publishing, refer to Create and manage employee schedules.


If you are not happy with the result


You have two options:


  • Click Undo on the toast message that appears after the AI finishes.
  • Click Actions > Revert to published to return the week to its last published version.




Troubleshoot the AI Scheduler


The AI Scheduler failed to create a schedule


This usually happens when required rules conflict with each other or with the available staff. For example, if every qualified staff member has already reached their weekly hour limit or has approved time off on a specific day, the AI cannot fill the remaining shifts.


When this happens, a panel shows which constraints were violated so you can resolve them manually.

Click Show Recommendations to see specific action items you can take to resolve the violations.


Adjust the required rules or the open shifts, then try again.



Can I protect shifts I've already assigned?

Yes. Any shift or draft you assign manually before running the AI is considered "Locked" by default. The AI will build the rest of the week around those assignments.


Does the AI know who is best at sales?

If you are using Easyteam for Shopify POS, yes! The AI pulls Sales data directly from your Shopify orders and staff attribution data from Easyteam. When you choose the 'Maximize Sales' preset, it automatically places your top-performing staff during your busiest historical hours.


The AI ignored a staff member


Check the following:


  • The staff member does not have approved time off during the scheduled period.
  • The staff member's job positions match the positions required by the open shifts.
  • The staff member is assigned to the correct location.


The AI assigned unexpected staff


The AI follows the optimization presets you selected. If you chose Maximize sales, the AI prioritizes staff with the highest historical sales performance, which may not match who you would choose manually. Review your preset selection and point weights to make sure they reflect your goal for the week.


The AI Scheduler button is not available


The AI Scheduler is available only to admins and managers, and only on the weekly view. Make sure you are on the weekly view and that there are open shifts on the week you are viewing.



Questions or need help with setup? Use the 💬 chat bubble in the bottom right corner or schedule a 1-1 free setup meeting with our team.


View all Schedules articles


Updated on: 29/03/2026