Scheduling is one of the most important aspects of running a restaurant. An efficient and well-managed schedule can lead to increased profits and a more positive work environment for your restaurant. A poorly managed schedule can result in more work for your managers and less productivity for the restaurant.
Optimal employee scheduling can mean adequate staff to run your kitchens, shorter wait times for customers, and more efficient customer turn over rates. Scheduling is an important part of the business, but it shouldn’t overrun it. It should be a process that is able to flex to the employees while maintaining optimal performance for the business. If you are not taking the time to manage your restaurant’s employee scheduling, it could be costing you money and causing employee frustration. Here are five tips that will help you manage your restaurant’s employee scheduling.
1. Scheduling Software
Using scheduling software is a great way to keep your restaurant on track regarding employee scheduling. Restaurant staff scheduling software enables you to easily create and manage schedules, which ultimately allows you to spend more time working on planning rather than the manual labor involved with finding people to cover shifts.
Technology has advanced a lot in the past few years. The software you can implement to your business today can help simplify the scheduling nightmares of the past. You employees can use apps on their devices to quickly schedule time off, network with their coworkers to covers shifts, schedule PTO, and more. For you and your managers, you can quickly track employee progress throughout each quarter to find employees that deserve praise and hone in on who may need more training or discipline.
Additionally, restaurant software will help you simplify the employee scheduling process by allowing you to quickly print schedules and facilitates hour tracking when it comes to pay roll. This type of system helps eliminate errors and can become an automated process once employees learn how to work together to make sure all shifts are always covered.
An interconnected system of employee devices, customer scheduling, and point of sales systems can help elevate your employee and customer experience.
You can offer customer scheduling through your website. This can be extremely helpful when creating employee schedules. By encouraging your customers to make reservations in advance when dining in, you can have better assessment of any staffing issues that could arise on the dining floor or in the kitchens, and plan accordingly. You can even use this software to easily track hourly sale costs versus labor costs to get an accurate picture of how well your restaurant is doing.
Scheduling software can also help you better track labor-law compliance. You can easily see which employees are reaching overtime hours, and adjust the schedule accordingly. With biometric clocking, you can ensure that employees aren’t doing any favors for their coworkers by clocking in for them on time. With biometric scheduling, you can be sure that an employee is clocking in for work only if their mobile device is on the premises.
Software should be your preferred method of employee tracking. It’s often a very affordable, reliable solution to a very costly problem. However, if you choose not to implement a software solution to your business, there are ways to accomplish the same results with the rest of the tips on this list.
2. Create a Calendar
A calendar is another effective way of managing your employee scheduling. More importantly, using a calendar ensures that your employees are informed when they will be working and what they will be doing during their shift. This is crucial because it helps prevent several issues that may arise. For example, if your employees are given a vague schedule and are unsure when they will be working, they may not show up on time for their shift.
Additionally, if employees are given the wrong schedule, they may be unprepared for their shifts. This can lead to frustrated employees and lost productivity at the restaurant. This is why creating a calendar is essential in managing the employee’s scheduling, since it helps create greater transparency, which ultimately helps increase employee productivity.
Keep your calendars in a central, employee accessed area. Make sure the calendar is updated with any sudden changes to ensure that everyone is on the same page. You can use the calendar to incentivize employees with a metric system, show upcoming events and holidays, and to allow a place for employees to leave a note if they are trying to have any shifts covered by someone else.
3. Know Your Employees
Knowing your employees is also important in managing your employee scheduling. If you are not familiar with the employees’ interests and needs, it will be more difficult to find suitable shifts for them.
For example, if you need to schedule an employee who has young children and needs childcare during their shifts, but you do not know this information, they may be forced to turn down your shift because they cannot find a babysitter or afford childcare. Therefore, it is crucial to know your employees so you can place them in shifts that will benefit them. Also, if an employee has certain restrictions, it’s important to be aware of these to meet their needs when managing their scheduling.
Knowing your employees interests and hobbies will show them that you care about their needs. It will be more efficient for your managers to know for certain that individuals are or are not available during specific shifts. Learn what job duties appeal to which employee. If an employee likes kitchen duties, consider booking more of those duties on their schedule. By taking the time to know your employees, you’ll be able to better cultivate a positive work environment where all employees are looking out for the needs of the restaurant.
4. Create a Checklist
A checklist is another effective way of managing an employee’s schedule. This is because you can easily view who had skipped their shift, when they last worked, and whether they are working an extra shift. A checklist ensures that your employees are in proper working order and helps ensure that your business runs smoothly by keeping track of employees’ schedules and practices.
Additionally, a checklist will help you and your managers track employee attendance, which can aid with managing the employee’s scheduling. This is beneficial because it lets you know if your employees are showing up to work on time, which allows you to schedule them accordingly. Another benefit of creating a checklist is that it helps ensure your employees are knowledgeable and aware of their schedules to be productive at work.
Creating a checklist can be beneficial when creating an incentive program. Employees who routinely take on extra shifts and are ensuring productivity doesn’t wane will easily be spotted. These employees are dependable and should be rewarded for it. Set up a prize for top employees.
You’ll also be able to avoid scheduling certain employees when you keep track of how unreliable they are. If an employee is repeatedly causing you issues, a policy should be set in place to ensure they still want to work for you.
5. Create a Policy
Creating an employee policy is another effective way to manage your employees’ scheduling. This is because it gives you control over when your employees come in when they work, and how many hours they will work. When creating your policy, you should notify all of your employees of the rules and guidelines in place. This will ensure they know how to work their schedule and help you prevent unnecessary issues.
Set your policies up in writing and make them available to employees for reviews on their schedules and electronic devices. In addition, when creating a policy, you should also set up consequences for breaking company policies. This will ensure that your employees follow the rules and are more likely to work their scheduled hours.
If you are experiencing repeated issues with your employee scheduling, you may want to start looking to add more people to your pay roll. This not only solves the immediate problem of being understaffed, but also gives you more control over the rest of the employees. By hiring new faces, you’re showing other employees that the business will survive if they choose to quit or be let go.
Create a job hiring profile on a third party site like LinkedIn and include a section on your website where people can submit job applications. By having just a few prospects on had at any given moment, you can quickly make changes to your employee line up at the drop of a spatula.
Managing employee scheduling is not always an easy task. However, there are several things you can do to help make the process easier. For example, scheduling software, creating a calendar, and checking in with your employees can be extremely helpful. Also, employee policies are crucial because they will help ensure that your restaurant runs smoothly without any issues arising.
