Everyone knows what’s going on in the front of the restaurant — people eat and drink, laugh and talk! But the action in back is shrouded in some mystery, as new technology has changed how restaurants run; even people who worked in a restaurant just a few years ago may be surprised.
Read on to learn about how employee scheduling software is changing how restaurants across North America are running behind the scenes.
Schedules Everyone Loves, Faster
As the name suggests, employee scheduling software creates responsive schedules that meet everybody’s needs in up to 80% less time than it would otherwise take. It enables you to plan your shifts with an app that frees up a tie for restaurant employees — now, they can let their manager know when they’re free to work without having to physically be in the restaurant.
They can send their manager a request for time off the instant they know it’s needed, and the manager can approve it remotely too. This way, a process that used to take days can be wrapped up in minutes.
Restaurant staff will love having tighter control over their social life, as well as a work schedule that responds so effortlessly and flexibly to their needs. On the flip side, the restaurant will enjoy having their staffing needs sorted out well in advance.
Efficiencies Found
Faster schedules don’t only mean fewer headaches each week as employees have an easier time completing a frustrating task. The significant amount of time saved keeps employees working where they’re most effective — usually serving customers or cooking the food.
This leads to direct savings in labor costs of up to 3%, traditionally one of the largest economic burdens a restaurant faces.
Total Data, Total Knowledge
Employee scheduling software connects to all modern POS systems, and it gathers all the data restaurant owners or managers could ever want before making tactical business decisions. Right out of the box, the manager-facing dashboard presents vital economic indicators, such as: total sales, labor costs, labor as a percentage, and more.
Even weather for that day is posted there, to give context to the raw economic numbers. It can also track whatever other statistics a manager decides are important.
But sometimes the numbers don’t reveal the entire picture; that’s why employee scheduling software also has a special feature that prompts employees to rate each shift and describe how they think it went in their own words. This way, little problems can be raised and solved before they blow up into crises.
Because the software allows employees to submit comments anonymously, if they prefer, they’ll be more comfortable relaying their true feelings without fear of repercussions. The hard data and statistics gathered by the software complement the ground-level view, allowing managers to know their restaurant inside and out.
People come to restaurants to see (and eat!) the food, but those curious to peek behind the scenes now see that employee scheduling software has new, powerful features that let restaurant businesses not only survive but thrive.