This article was last updated on July 2, 2025.
Welcome to Sling! Together, Sling and Toast simplify employee scheduling and time tracking, improve internal communication, drive team engagement, and save restaurateurs time and money.
Table of contents
What we sync
Employee data
Send employee names, along with their assigned positions, locations, and wages, created on Toast to Sling, and keep the changes up-to-date.
Timesheets
Send timecards created on one platform to the other, from Toast to Sling or Sling to Toast. Compare the scheduled and actual hours and costs, analyze discrepancies, and export timesheets for processing payroll.
Sales
Send sales data straight from your Toast POS to Sling. Compare projected sales, actual sales, and labor %, and optimize the cost of labor by building better schedules that respect the margins you are after.
Schedules
Send shift data from Sling to Toast so you can enforce scheduling as employees use the time clock on Toast POS and prevent time theft.
Creating your Sling account
STEP 1
First, navigate from your Toast dashboard to the tab labeled ‘Scheduling’ to create a new Sling account.
STEP 2
When you click on ‘Try Now,’ a new page will appear directing you to select one or multiple Toast locations you want to connect to this Sling account.
(You can have separate Sling accounts for each location, just repeat the steps for the 2nd, 3rd, etc. account, selecting the individual locations.)
STEP 3
A new tab will open up (please ensure pop-ups are enabled for best results) with the adjacent window to create a new Sling account or connect an already existing one to the selected Toast Location.
STEP 4-A
If you are selecting “Connect to an existing Sling account,” then you would sign in with your Sling email and password and the associated Sling accounts would appear as applicable for you to select one.
STEP 4-B
If you are selecting Create a new Sling account, you will be prompted to enter an email address and create a password. The password must consist of at least eight characters, a capital letter, a lowercase letter, a symbol, and a number.
STEP 5
Once this is done, you will see the Sling account load and prompt you with a pop-up showing that the integration is complete.
🎉 Congratulations, your two accounts should be connected now. 🎉
Sling will start importing employees with their email, job(s), location, and wages, as well as timesheets and sales. Sales data up to 30 days in the past can be synced. New employees added in Toast will be automatically synced with the next update. Beyond the initial integration sync, updates to wages, timesheets, and sales in Toast will also be updated in Sling with the next sync. However, note that deleting an employee on Toast will not remove them from Sling.
A few other things to note about imported data:
Changes to an employee’s email address on Toast are not updated automatically. This will also need to be updated in Sling.
Updated wages will currently show today’s date as the effective date. The integration is not able to determine a “planned” effective date as set in Toast.
In case of a refund or voided payment, we will update previously imported sales.
Jobs in Toast = Positions in Sling. These are imported and applied to employee profiles during the initial setup. Jobs will need to be added to employee profiles on Toast, and those changes will sync over to Sling.
Schedule enforcement
Your schedule data in Sling will be exported to Toast to allow you to prevent early clock-ins on your Toast POS, if you choose.
STEP 1
To set up schedule enforcement, go to your Toast account and look for "UI Options" under "Other Setup." You can also search for "UI Options" in the search bar at the top of the screen.
STEP 2
Next, scroll down to the "Time Clock" section and enable the "Enforce Scheduling" option. Publish your changes.
How to adjust schedule enforcement settings
Go back to the main page on Toast and then go to "Employees" and select "Schedule Enforcement."
From there, you can adjust your preferences in terms of early clock-in/out and late clock-in/out. The limit for these grace periods is 90 minutes.
You will also need to ensure that the early clock in setting matches the data on Sling’s Time Clock Settings page.
Even if the Sling mobile time clock or kiosk is not going to be used for your account, you will need to enable the tool at least temporarily in order to access the full suite of settings.
See this article on schedule enforcement for more details.
After the initial integration, Sling will automatically sync data every 15 minutes, but you can also manually sync new info as often as every 5 minutes. To do this, access the integrations tab in your settings and click the options button under Toast.
Verifying the imported data
After connecting Sling and Toast, you can check to see that information is being synced properly.
Employees
Go to the Employees tab on Sling to review the imported profiles and check for accuracy. Their names, contact info, including email and phone number, assigned positions (“jobs” on Toast), locations, and wages will be imported and assigned on Sling.
Positions
Any Jobs that were listed in your Toast account will also be added to Sling under the positions tab, in addition to being added within employee profiles. New positions added on Toast will be imported to Sling with the next sync. Positions created on Sling are not exported to Toast.
Locations
Locations from your Toast account will also be imported and listed on Sling under the locations tab. New locations added on Toast after the initial integration will be imported to Sling, and will prompt the locations mapping tool, so you can be sure the locations in Sling are properly connected to the ones in Toast. Locations created in Sling are not exported to Toast. Shifts scheduled for a Location or Position originating on Sling will affect your Toast POS schedule enforcement.
Wages
Any wages assigned to your employees on Toast will also be carried over to Sling. To verify that their wages have been imported and applied properly, check the Labor Cost tab.
You can also confirm wages on the Sling in an employee's profile page by selecting the wages tab. There is a drop-down menu that will confirm if the employee is set to an Hourly wage or a Salary.
Timesheets
Any clock in and clock out activity recorded on Toast will sync to Sling and can be reviewed under the Time Clock tab:
By horizontally scrolling to the right on the timesheets page, you will be able to see extra data, including the source of the entry - whether it originates from Toast as a clock in, from Sling as a scheduled shift, or a clock in from the Sling mobile time clock or kiosk. Sling clock ins can show as Toast for the source when they sync over to Toast.
The timesheet data rolls up into the payroll report, where you can review total hours and gross wages for the pay period.
Sales
Your actual sales data from Toast is imported to Sling and will be populated in the sales report under the “actual sales” column. This data automatically updates every 15 minutes with the integration sync.
Note that anyone assigned to the manager role in Sling will need to be given access to labor cost data by an admin in order to see wage info and sales data, and access the labor, payroll, and sales reports. An admin can grant access under the labor cost settings tab.
Creating schedules
Once you have ensured that your employees, wages, positions, and locations have been synced to Sling, you can get started scheduling. The shifts you add here are sent to Toast so you can make sure employees are adhering to their schedules.
Using the full schedule view lets you see all schedule data. You can add a new shift by clicking the blue 'create shift' button near the top right of the screen.
You can also hover over the calendar to see an add [+] button appear.
Depending on where you click (specific employee’s row, specific date, under a grouping for a location or position, etc), some information may pre-populate into the shift for you.
A time, location, and position are required to create a shift, while all other details are optional.
If you leave the employee field blank, this will create an unassigned shift, which helps you plan out the coverage you need. Unassigned shifts can be assigned later or made available for employees to apply for.
Unassigned shifts (blue row) are only visible to Admins/Managers; Available shifts (green row) are visible to employees assigned to that position and location.
There are many scheduling features and options, but this video overview can help you understand all the functions that are available and how to use them:
If you’d like even more info on scheduling, you can also check out this collection of articles from our Help Center: ✏️ Schedules
Reviewing and editing timesheets
Before you begin: For best results, it's important to understand that Sling and Toast’s bi-directional time sync has adjustable settings on both Sling’s Settings -> Time Clock page AND on Toast’s Employee Management -> Schedule Enforcement page.
Then, to ensure that you want employees to only be able to clock in and out based on their schedule unless they have manager approval, you'll need to enable "Enforce Scheduling".
To enable this setting, look for "UI Options" under "Other Setup." You can also search for "UI Options" in the search bar at the top of the screen. Next, scroll down to the "Time Clock" section and enable the "Enforce Scheduling" option. Publish your changes.
Any hours recorded in Toast will be synced to Sling, allowing you to review the data and pull reports. Changes to timesheets on the Toast side will be imported with the next sync and overwrite anything that was previously imported.
Under the Time Clock tab, you can select the range you wish to review.
You can also apply filters to focus on specific information like locations, positions, or groups.
You can use Filters > Columns to confirm when employees have duplicate entries for a single date by enabling “scheduled” time in/out as well as “clock” in/out time.
For example, the duplicate recordings on June 18 show a scheduled in/out time from Sling and an actual Clock in/out from Toast POS that is not in line with the scheduled shift.
Timesheets can be printed or exported as well.
The data recorded here will also populate the payroll report for easy processing in your payroll software.
At this time, Sling does not directly integrate with Toast Payroll. This data will be accessible on Toastweb through the Sling/Toast integration, and your Toast account itself will integrate from there to Toast Payroll if available.
Running payroll
Once hours are logged via timesheets, you can review and export the data using the payroll report.
Filters can be applied here, just like on the timesheets page.
You can also choose which columns show on the report, in case there is any data that isn’t relevant to you.
Then, export the data in a .csv or .xls file for easy processing in your company’s payroll application.
Adjusting company settings
Before fully implementing Sling, you should double-check these settings. They allow you to make sure your schedule is laid out in a way that matches your business needs and that your employees are only seeing the information you want them to see. Note that company and schedule settings can only be adjusted by an admin on the Sling account.
Your company settings apply to everyone within your company, and they allow you to define which features and information are available to your employees. This includes access to coworkers’ information and the messaging, newsfeed, and tasks features. Scheduling Lite includes private messaging. Scheduling Pro offers both private and group messaging.
Adjusting schedule settings
Your schedule settings also apply to everyone in the company and allow you to adjust the appearance of the schedule as well as which scheduling features are accessible.
These settings include hours of operation*, the first day of the work week, schedule visibility for employees, breaks, and more.
*For End of Day purposes, Toast POS/web automatically uses 4 AM as the cutoff between dates; on Sling, this is adjustable.
Breaks
The breaks feature now has a lot of flexibility
Shy of outright disabling breaks, at its minimum, you can set the Break Type- Standard Break and choose if these breaks are paid or unpaid, and how long these breaks are: 10/15/30 minutes, etc.
If you choose to set Automated Breaks, a whole suite of features is now open to you, including whether it's a meal or a rest break, if these are both paid, unpaid, one of each, etc. How long one vs the other lasts, if employees can waive their break, etc.
Setting up labor cost functions
In addition to the company and schedule settings, you also want to make sure your labor cost settings match your business needs. These will dictate how estimated wages are calculated and help keep you within your labor budget.
In Settings > Labor cost, you can define your pay periods, set overtime rules, define labor cost % goals, and provide labor cost access to managers.
The pay period setting will designate the dates that populate when you use the “payroll” date range within timesheets and reports.
Sling offers weekly, daily, and daily double overtime options, so you can be sure you’re keeping track of hours accurately and scheduling within your budgets.
If you offer extra pay for holidays on which your business is open, you can enable the holiday pay setting and define the extra rate.
The spread of hours setting on Sling allows businesses to keep track of total hours worked, and apply an extra hour of wages, at minimum wage, for any hours exceeding 10 in one day. This includes any working time, plus time off for meals, plus intervals of time spent off-duty.
Then, mark any holidays on your schedule, and Sling will calculate the extra pay for any hours logged* via the time clock.
*This wage rate applies to shifts scheduled and worked on a date marked as a holiday and is not an automated bonus applied to employees.
Enable the labor % goal to set the maximum labor as a percentage of sales that you want to spend, and get alerts for exceeding it when scheduling.
By default, only admins can view labor cost data on the schedule and in reports. If any managers need to have access to the information, you can add them here. Managers will only see data related to employees assigned to the same location, and they will never see wage info for other managers or admins. You can spot any managers who have access, as they will have an “x” next to their name, so they can be removed. Admins cannot be removed from having access.
Projected Sales
Toast integration customers with a Scheduling Pro subscription can import projected sales to Sling. Using seasonal data, historical trends, and industry trends, Sling is able to provide forecasting with fewer steps.
From the Schedule page, when you are in the Week view, there is an icon in the top right that allows you to sync projected sales from your Toastweb account:
Projected Sales and other Labor Cost data can be viewed on the schedule page in week mode and with filters selected so that only one location is on the screen at a time.
The projected sales numbers can still be manually edited to best reflect your estimations as the algorithm continues to learn and become more accurate over time.
Setting preferences and notifications
In addition to all these company-wide settings, you also have some options to customize the appearance of your own account. These settings will not affect other users.
In Settings > Preferences, you can choose the time format, name format, appearance of shifts on the schedule, and more.
The notifications tab is where you will choose which alerts you want to receive and how to receive them.
Please note that there is not a master setting to enable alerts company-wide on behalf of your staff. It will be their responsibility to enable their reminders as they see fit.
Shift alarms will send up to three reminders of an upcoming shift, and can be set to arrive via email, push (mobile) notifications, or SMS (text) message. Shift alarms are the only notification type available via SMS.
Dashboard notifications include the most important account updates like schedules, time off requests, time clock reminders and activity, and more. These notifications always appear on your Sling dashboard, but choosing another delivery method ensures you aren’t missing important changes.
Message notifications can also keep you on top of important details, but even if they are not enabled, you will see new message badges in your Sling account. If enabled, you can choose whether you are notified always, or only when mentioned or directly messaged.
Like message notifications, Newsfeed notifications help you stay in the loop with communication, and you can choose whether you are always notified of activity on pages you follow, or only when you’re mentioned.
Admins have the option to enable or disable employee activity notifications.
Removing the integration
If at any point you want to disable the integration, you can do so from Sling or from Toast. Disabling the integration will not remove any existing data from Toast or Sling; it will just prevent further syncing. You can reestablish the integration to pick right up where you left off, as well.
On Sling, go to Settings > Integrations, then click the options button next to Toast and disconnect.
On Toast, go to the Scheduling tab, then click on the 3-dot option for the location > Disconnect.
F.A.Q.s and Helpful Hints
-The data sync between Toast and Sling automatically occurs every 15 minutes, but can be manually done every 5 minutes. This article details how to manually sync the integration.
-If the button for the Toast sync on Sling says "Queued," the data sync is backlogged, and a manual sync will resolve this.
-When employees map over from Toast (or another integration) to Sling, these user profiles cannot be deleted; they can, however, be deactivated, which will function the same way with the caveat that they can be reactivated at a later date.
-If an employee was pre-existing on Sling before the Toast integration, then a duplicate of this employee originating from Toast may exist. These two profiles can be merged. The duplicate profile may be on the deactivated user list.
-When an employee is added to Sling, admins and managers will have the ability to adjust the user’s email address until the email is verified. Once verified, the email can be updated by the user by logging in and accessing their profile page.
-PTO does not sync between Sling and Toast. Additionally, sick callouts and no-shows do not sync from Sling to Toast.
-The Sling mobile app is free to download on the Apple iOS App Store and Google Play Store, titled Sling: Employee Scheduling app.
-When a user is mapped from Toast onto Sling, the default is for them to be imported as an Employee system role. This will need to be adjusted by an Admin or a Manager and is not the same as the job/position that they are assigned on the schedule.
-A Full Demo overview is also available in the support articles.