Labour Scheduler + SPLH Tracker

Core metric (SPLH)

📧

SPLH = total sales ÷ total labour hours

SPLH too low → overstaffed (or demand issue)
SPLH too high → understaffed (service + speed suffers)

How to use (weekly)

Fill last week’s actuals (sales + labour hours).
Set your target SPLH band for next week.
Build the schedule to hit that band (with a coverage floor).
Review variance and adjust.

Weekly planner (fill-in)

Day	Forecast sales	Target SPLH	Hours allowed (Forecast ÷ SPLH)	Hours scheduled	Notes (events/weather/promos)
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

Actuals + variance (end of week)

Day	Actual sales	Actual labour hours	Actual SPLH	Variance notes (why)
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

Decision for next week

🧠

Where we were overstaffed:

Where we were understaffed:
One scheduling change for next week:

Start here (2 minutes)

🎯

Objective: match labour hours to demand using sales per labour hour (SPLH). Stop overstaffing slow shifts. Stop understaffing peaks. Hit a consistent SPLH band that protects service and margin at the same time.

⏱️

Reading time: 10 minutes. Weekly rhythm: 20 minutes Sunday evening to plan, 10 minutes Friday to review variance.

📌

The principle: a roster built from "what we've always done" wastes labour on slow shifts and burns out staff on busy ones. A roster built from SPLH targets gives every shift a coverage logic you can defend, adjust and improve.

Reading the variance (premium)

If actual SPLH is consistently BELOW target (overstaffed)

Look at the slowest 2-hour window in each shift. Cut hours there first.
Check if you are double-covering FOH and BOH on shoulder shifts.
Move from fixed start times to staggered starts (15 to 45 minute offsets).
If a shift is structurally slow, change opening hours rather than keep paying for empty seats.

If actual SPLH is consistently ABOVE target (understaffed)

Check ticket times, service complaints and review scores. Speed is a margin lever only until guests notice.
Add a half-shift cover for the peak 90 minutes rather than a full shift.
If overtime is the gap-filler, the roster itself is too lean.
Cross-train so one absence doesn't collapse the line.

If SPLH swings wildly day to day

Forecast accuracy is the problem, not the roster. Improve the forecast first.
Bring in a 2-week rolling average for forecasting, not last week's number.
Tag weeks with promos, events, weather and public holidays to learn the patterns.