Labor forecasting lets you see how many people you need before you assign them. Instead of guessing or finding out too late, you can plan manpower across your schedule and avoid stacking too much work on the same days.
This is especially useful when you are managing multiple crews and overlapping jobs.
How to Turn On Labor Forecast
Follow these steps as an account admin.
- Go to Settings
- Open Scheduling
- Enable Labor Forecast
Once this is turned on, the feature is active but no forecast types exist yet. You must create them before it can be used.
How to Create Labor Forecast Types
Forecast types are the labor roles you want to track. You can name them based on how your crews are structured.
Common examples include foreman, employees, and staff.
- Click the plus button
- Type the name of the role
- Press the check mark
- Click Save
You can create as many forecast types as you need.
How to Add Labor Requirements to a Job
Labor forecasting works at the job level. Each job on the calendar can have its own manpower requirements.
- Go to the Schedule page
- Add a job to the calendar
- Click into the job
- Enter how many people are needed for each forecast type
- Press Save
For example, you might set one foreman and three employees for a job.
This defines what the job needs, not who is assigned yet.
Scheduling Your Crew Normally
After labor is set on the job, you schedule people the same way you always have. Assign a specific foreman, then add employees or laborers to the job.
The difference is that Crew Console now compares what you need versus how your calendar is stacked.
Viewing Your Labor Forecast
Open the Labor Forecast tab on the schedule. This view shows total manpower needed across your jobs.
You can:
- See weekly totals by role
- Click a specific day to see daily counts
- Quickly understand if you are overbooked
For example, the system may show that you need seven foremen, thirty six employees, and six staff for the week.
Using Labor Forecast to Reduce Overlap
This is where labor forecasting becomes powerful.
When jobs overlap on the same days, labor counts increase because more crews are needed at the same time. If you move a job to a different day where it does not overlap other work, the forecast updates instantly and the required manpower drops.
This shows you that you can reuse existing crews instead of needing more people.
Forecasting by Week, Month, and Year
You can switch between week, month, and year views to forecast labor ahead of time. This helps you plan workloads, balance your calendar, and make better hiring or subcontracting decisions.
Why Labor Forecasting Matters
Labor forecasting helps you see staffing problems before they happen. You can spread jobs out, avoid crew conflicts, and make smarter decisions with real numbers instead of assumptions.