Overview
The Schedule tool in WashStacks lets you build, review, and publish a weekly staff schedule for a single car wash location. You add a shift for each employee on each day they work, WashStacks automatically totals the assigned hours and labor cost, and once the week looks right you publish it so the team can see it.
This guide walks through the full process from opening the tool to publishing a finished week.
Key terms
Draft vs. Published — A schedule starts as a DRAFT (only you see it). When it is ready, you PUBLISH it so employees can view their shifts.
Open Shifts — A row at the top of the grid for shifts that are not yet assigned to a specific employee.
Assigned Hours — The row at the bottom that tallies scheduled hours and projected labor cost for each day and for the week.
Time-off blocks — Greyed-out cells such as UNAVAILABLE ALL DAY or APPROVED TIME-OFF appear automatically from approved requests so you do not schedule over them.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Open the Schedule tool
From the left-hand menu, click Talent to expand it, then click Schedules. (Talent also contains Counseling, Edit Time, Employees, Injuries, Payroll, Reviews, and Uniforms.)
Step 2: Get familiar with the schedule screen
The schedule opens on the current week. Before adding shifts, note these areas:
Week title and status — Shows the date range, the number of shifts, and a DRAFT or PUBLISHED badge.
Week navigation — Use the < and > arrows to move between weeks; TODAY jumps back to the current week.
Location selector — Top right. Confirm you are scheduling the correct site.
The grid — Employees are listed down the left side; the seven days of the week run across the top.
Step 3: Confirm the location and week
Check that the location dropdown shows the site you want to schedule, then use the > arrow to navigate to the week you are building. The title bar updates to the new date range and shows DRAFT if the week has not been published yet.
Step 4: (Optional) Reuse a previous week
If your weeks are similar, you don't have to start from scratch. On an empty draft week, click COPY PREVIOUS WEEK to bring every shift forward from the week before, then adjust as needed.
Step 5: Add a shift
Hover over the cell where an employee and a day intersect. A blue + button appears in the cell. Click it to open the Add Shift window for that employee and day.
Step 6: Fill out the shift details
Complete the Add Shift form:
Employee — Pre-filled from the cell you clicked; change it from the dropdown if needed.
Shift Hours — Enter a start and end time. You can type shorthand such as 7a, 730a, or 330p and WashStacks formats it (e.g., 7:00 am, 3:30 pm).
Unpaid Break Time (in Minutes) — Required. Enter the unpaid break length, or 0 if there is none.
Color — Optional. Pick a color to visually group shifts on the grid.
Shift Notes — Optional notes for the employee.
The Save button activates once the required fields are filled.
Step 7: (Optional) Save a shift as a template
For shifts you schedule often, check Save as a Template and give the template a name before saving. You can then reuse it later instead of re-entering the times.
Step 8: Repeat for every shift in the week
Click Save and the shift appears on the grid showing the employee's role and the time (for example, SITE MANAGER 7:00A – 3:30P). Repeat Steps 5–6 for each employee and day until the week is fully staffed. As you go, the Assigned Hours row and each employee's weekly total update automatically.
Step 9: Review hours and labor cost
Before publishing, scan the Assigned Hours row at the bottom to check daily and weekly hours and projected cost. Confirm any time-off blocks (such as UNAVAILABLE ALL DAY) are respected and that no one is double-booked.
Step 10: Publish the schedule
When the week is correct, click PUBLISH. The status badge changes from DRAFT to PUBLISHED and employees can now see their shifts. After publishing, the buttons change to UNPUBLISH and RE-PUBLISH — use RE-PUBLISH to push out any later edits.
Tips & Best Practices
Double-check the location and week before you start adding shifts — it is easy to build the right schedule on the wrong week.
Use Copy Previous Week as a starting point for recurring schedules, then tweak only what changed.
Create templates for your most common shifts to speed up future weeks.
Always set Unpaid Break Time — it is required and affects paid hours and labor cost.
Keep it a draft until the week is complete; only publish when you want the team to see it.
Use RE-PUBLISH whenever you edit an already-published week so employees see the latest version.
Quick Reference
Talent → Schedules — Opens the scheduling tool
< TODAY > — Move between weeks / jump to the current week
Location dropdown — Choose which site you are scheduling
Blue + in a cell — Add a shift for that employee and day
Shift Hours — Start/end times; accepts shorthand like 7a, 730a, 330p
Unpaid Break Time — Required minutes of unpaid break (enter 0 if none)
Save as a Template — Save a reusable shift with a name
Copy Previous Week — Duplicate the prior week's shifts into this week
Assigned Hours row — Daily and weekly totals for hours and labor cost
DRAFT / PUBLISHED — Whether employees can see the schedule yet
Publish / Re-Publish — Release the schedule or push out later edits