What is restaurant labor management software?
Workforce management (WFM) is the way in which employers strategically allocate people and resources, track attendance, and comply with constantly changing workplace laws and regulations. Restaurant labor management software delivers tools for hiring, onboarding, scheduling, payroll, compliance, and benefits that increase productivity without incurring additional labor costs.
Why do I need restaurant labor management software?
The restaurant industry has some unique characteristics that make payroll and HR especially difficult. A high turnover rate, ever-shifting scheduling, and varying wage and tip income regulations, are just a few of the issues that demand a great deal of time and attention from operators; taking them away from fully concentrating on their customers’ experience.
How can restaurant labor management software make my job easier?
By using historical data and machine learning to predict future staffing needs, a workforce management solution automates many of the time-consuming and tedious tasks required to run the HR and payroll functions. It then creates schedules that best fit the forecasted model and automatically tracks employee time and attendance.
For a more-detailed look at the payroll process, check out our free guide on mastering restaurant payroll.
How can a restaurant labor management software boost my margins?
Labor is your most controllable cost – and tracking it daily helps you access, review, analyze, and adjust how it affects your bottom line. Having a few extra employees per shift or some employee overtime each week can significantly impact your bottom line over the course of a month or a quarter. Tracking labor costs during each shift and measuring them against your benchmarks allows you to adjust in real time, creating a healthier restaurant margin.
How can a restaurant labor management software help with recruiting new hires?
The restaurant industry is known for a high turnover rate. Repeatedly replacing employees can add up to a large cost for your business. A restaurant workforce control solution provides restaurant hiring managers with analytics about how attractive their job postings are to potential employees by calculating the percentage of how many people clicked on your postings versus how many of those people applied for jobs at your restaurant.
A restaurant workforce control solution can also help ensure all parties are on the same page by tracking applicants throughout the recruiting process. You can also rely on time-saving tools, such as multiple-site job postings and automatic alerts.
For more information on how to attract restaurant employees with your job postings, read the blog post, Tips for Optimizing Job Postings.
How can restaurant labor management software help with onboarding?
Once you’ve identified the right candidates to hire, the next step in your candidate’s journey should involve an effective and engaging onboarding process. A workforce control solution makes the entire onboarding process paperless, saving time for hiring managers and new hires, while reducing errors and increasing new hire engagement.
How can restaurant labor management software help with scheduling?
Properly scheduling your staff is one of the most important things your restaurant can do to control your costs, having a restaurant workforce control solution that’s data driven, mobile friendly, easy to use, and goal oriented can offer your restaurant a unique competitive advantage that bolsters your staff’s satisfaction, thereby improving your retention rate.
Building an effective schedule can improve your workplace morale while also improving the guest experience by aligning your staff’s individual tasks with a greater designated goal.
How can restaurant labor management software help with employee retention?
Providing employees with flexible scheduling to allow for educational, family, or personal commitments can help promote a healthy work/life balance. Similarly, it avoids scheduling mistakes such as split shifts or unpredictable scheduling that can keep employees from achieving a work/life balance. These simple scheduling strategies can improve morale and promote employee retention.
A restaurant workforce control solution makes schedules easily accessible for all stakeholders. Managers post schedules online and employees can switch shifts with co-workers from their phones with final approval by managers.
How can restaurant labor management software help with scheduling?
Properly scheduling your staff is one of the most important things your restaurant can do to control your costs, having a restaurant workforce control solution that’s data driven, mobile friendly, easy to use, and goal oriented can offer your restaurant a unique competitive advantage that bolsters your staff’s satisfaction, thereby improving your retention rate.
Building an effective schedule can improve your workplace morale while also improving the guest experience by aligning your staff’s individual tasks with a greater designated goal.
How can restaurant labor management software increase productivity?
Many restaurant workforce control solutions use labor productivity metrics to evaluate your employees’ performance. With metrics such as sales per labor hour (SLPH), labor cost by staff role, sales per server hour, labor productivity analysis by week, and more, you can identify areas in which your team and individuals need improvement. Establishing priorities and providing staff with productivity goals will help the team consistently deliver outstanding service.
How can restaurant labor management software solution help with compliance?
Since compliance is such an important factor to consider when onboarding your staff, having a system in place to properly organize and access your restaurant’s documentation is necessary when creating a simple and user-friendly onboarding process.
Additionally, if you’re looking to minimize new hire documentation errors, you should utilize a system that clearly explains to your staff how to accurately fill out important tax forms, such as their I-9 or W-4. Having such a system in place will not only reduce your risk for tax penalties, but it will also keep you and your managers from having to correct clerical errors, giving you valuable time back in your workday.
Conclusion
R365 Workforce is a restaurant labor management software that streamlines the entire employee lifecycle, from hire to retire, and enables managers to recruit, interview, hire, and onboard all-stars faster than ever, so they spend less time in front of the computer and more time on the floor interacting with guests, or training and supporting the next generation of leaders.
