Don’t Let Work Scheduling Become a Friction Between You and Your Staff

28 May, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Managers of hospitality establishments often face many challenges on a daily basis. Scheduling staff members for specific shifts and days can be one of the biggest challenges of all. Finding a happy medium between scheduling the correct people for certain shifts and jobs while also choosing the shift and days they are most happy with is an obstacle within itself. In many situations, work scheduling can cause animosity between managers and their staff when someone feels like they aren’t getting what they want.

Often times, staff members want to work a specific shift because of other commitments and would prefer to work certain days of the week. If too many employees request a specific day off, managers are stuck with the difficult job of deciding who has to work in order to have an appropriate number of employees working. Because of this, friction can arise because someone who originally wanted the day off will have to end up working. With scheduling software, managers can simply input information about which days an employee is requesting off and keep track of it on a first come, first serve basis. When the quota of eligible employees off on a certain day is exceeded, the system will inform the manager so no one else can request that day off.

Managers also have the ability to simply enter each employee’s availability into the system to simply and easily create upcoming schedules based on that information. Not only will the manager’s job become instantly easier, but any friction between managers and staff will be erased with the automatic scheduling of the system. If your company is looking for information on employee scheduling, visit www.whattimedoiwork.com.


Make Your Life Easier By Using Online Scheduling Software

20 May, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As the manager of a restaurant or retail store, you’re constantly busy. You are on your feet all day and always trying to guarantee that everyone, including employees and customers, are taken care of. Using some type of an online scheduling software can help.

It is not until that very rare free moment of the day that you can actually sit down to work on the employees schedules for the following week. At that time, you pull crinkled pieces of paper from your pocket with a variety of days that your staff needs off or shifts that they need to switch to. Keeping it all straight can be exhausting and can keep you away from what’s most important: your customers.

Managers can make their life easier by using online scheduling software. With web scheduling software from a company like WhatTimeDoIWork.com, a manager will have more time to do the things they need and want to be doing, and less time at a desk in the back of the business. Employees will be able to easily enter information about days they need to have off and shifts they would prefer without having to jot it down for their manager to remember. Employees can communicate with their manager and fellow employees in real time from any computer that has an internet connection.

Scheduling software truly makes life easier for everyone. Managers will have more time working on a better environment for their customers and employees will be able to simply enter their availability into a system instead of bothering someone to do it. You customers will benefit most of all because they will leave your business happy.


Employee Scheduling Software

24 Apr, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are you tired of creating employee schedules? Do you receive requests for time off that you need to keep track of? WhatTimeDoIWork.com’s employee scheduling software makes it simple for managers to schedule their employees easily and without frustration, but our newest features have only improved that ease.

One of WhatTimeDoIWork.com’s new features includes the ability to cut, copy and paste your shifts with our new Hot Keys feature! With the hot keys, managers will save time navigating through the schedule by using keyboard shortcuts. The hot keys include:

  • Ctrl+X to Cut
  • Ctrl+C to Copy
  • Ctrl+V to Paste

If you’ve had trouble with employees viewing other people’s schedules, WhatTimeDoIWork.com allows managers to limit employees to only see their own schedule. The new features from WhatTimeDoIWork.com also gives employees and managers the option of having their schedule sent to them. From the Options page, users can choose to have their weekly or daily schedule emailed to them.

Learn more about how WhatTimeDoIWork.com can help your business automate employee scheduling.


Why you need an Opening Checklist for Your Managers

23 Feb, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whether you are the manager responsible for opening the business every morning or you are the bar or restaurant owner wanting to ensure that the opening shift starts the business on the right foot for the day, you need to have a framework for what needs to be achieved before you welcome the first customer.

Having a checklist on hand each morning will allow you to focus on the key areas without forgetting anything while ensuring you keep your staff on task and focused on their goals for the day.

A set of standard operating procedures are essential for the consistency needed to achieve success in the bar. Furthermore, setting standards in place early on means you’ll have the ability to measure the performance of your staff against the standards set.

It’s easy for the opening shift to be distracted by deliveries, phone calls, staff issues but a framework for keeping them on track can only help. Have your manager fill this out every morning and keep it on file to review if something goes wrong.

Use an Opening Checklist to streamline the opening shift and to ensure consistency between different managers.

http://www.thebarblogger.com/why-you-need-an-opening-checklist-for-your-managers/


The Path to Integration – VSR Article

22 Jan, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leverage Partnerships to Enhance POS System Functionality and Your Value Proposition

The use of specialized technology applications within the hospitality industry is nothing new, but the recent evolution of web-friendly applications has made it easier for channel partners to seamlessly integrate third party add-ons to enhance the functionality of their clients’ current point of sale (POS) system. Historically, the primary function of a POS system was to support day-to-day restaurant operations by helping establishments perform basic tasks such as checking out customers, inventory management and customer marketing. However, today’s competitive environment demands that channel partners offer point of sale solutions that have the flexibility to evolve and provide added functionality that improves the operational efficiency and profitability of their customers business.

As Software-as-a-Service application use increases in the retail and hospitality markets, the integration of third party applications has also become more prevalent. By developing strategic partnerships with other application providers, resellers and independent software vendors can eliminate countless hours spent developing or integrating applications outside the scope of their core solution while enhancing the value of the solutions they provide. By providing consulting advice that empowers customers’ operational efficiency and profitability, channel partners can solidify their role as a trusted business advisor to their client base.

Here are a few applications that point of sale providers can leverage to improve their customers operations:

Scheduling

With labor being one of the biggest cost centers for hospitality businesses, online employee scheduling applications are rapidly gaining popularity. As establishments struggle to find reliable labor, they are turning to solutions that help them schedule, control and optimize labor. With the capability to easily communicate messages and schedules via email and text message to employees, management eliminates the need to call employees for scheduling changes or to find a replacement for a shift. Scheduling applications can also calculate labor dollars and help schedulers avoid overtime, lowering costs for the operation. Web-friendly scheduling applications can integrate with POS systems, or can be an embedded application within a company portal, providing seamless access along side other applications used by the organization.

Theft Control Monitoring

Help your customers more effectively manage their liquor inventory. Imagine you are a bar owner, and want to control inventory on your main product…what other way can this be done except for measuring bottle levels every night? Liquor inventory control solutions enable businesses to monitor pour levels via sensors placed on each bottle. These applications provide real-time data directly to the POS system, helping management correlate sales to actual output dispensed. This application integrates with the POS system easily, providing a bar or restaurant owner with real-time control and visibility over one of the biggest potential inventory category loss leaders.

Inventory Costing

 In restaurant management, cost control is a critical aspect of a successful business. Too often restaurants fail because they can’t effectively track how much each plate of food costs. By using inventory pricing applications that integrate with their POS system, owners can track ingredient costs for each of their dishes and price them accordingly, while the software also helps to determine the most efficient pricing and sourcing for ingredient acquisition. Sales figures can now be matched to the actual cost of the food prepared and combined with revenue dollars to provide the owner with the exact profit generated by the products sold.

As technology in the point of sale industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, today’s savvy channel companies are embracing change and leveraging partnerships as a means to close deals and create more stickiness with current customers. These channel partners are also reaping rewards by offering add-on solutions that improve their profitability and cement their role as trusted business advisor.

By: Matthew Iknoian is the Owner/Founder of WhatTimeDoIWork.com, hospitality manager, and General Manager for Tin Horn Flats and Lucy’s 51 in the Greater Los Angeles area.