The rota.
It's important for everyone to know when they are working and especially when they aren't working!
Make sure that rotas are available for staff by Wednesday for the following week and the next 2 weeks after that, as
far as is reasonably possible, all Rota requests have been taken into account.
Depending on the size of the team, requests can be hard work but providing your staff know exactly what the
process is, it should be fairly straight forward.
Labour.
Labour is the largest single cost to the business, so it's essential to achieve the cost within budget.
By using base rotas, forecasting Rota costs in line with forecasted sales and sticking to the principles of good Labour
management (right people, right place at the right time) you should be able to achieve this.
To help us manage labour we use Fourth Hospitality Employee Management System package. Most EMS packages
work in the same way. Fourth is a web-based package which has three main modules - payroll, HR and rotas. Rotas
are loaded on the system weekly by the person creating the Rota and updated daily (end of day or next day for the
previous day). This process automatically populates the payroll module.
Rotas & forecasting.
The General Manager will forecast weekly and will give each department their target labour cost to achieve.
The fundamental rule of staffing our restaurants is to make sure you have the right people doing the right jobs. You
don't want to be paying a Sous Chef to do a CDP role or CDP to do Commis Chef role and so on.
Always think "Do I have the right people on shift for the number of guests I have coming in?" A good understanding
of business patterns is also essential - Christmas, half terms, Mother's Day etc should all be taken into account.
To ensure the team get paid for the time worked we have installed time and attendance (T&A) machines in our
restaurants, it uses a team member's finger print to clock them in and out. All BOH staff are to clock in and out
including the Head Chef, using Fourth hospitality's time and attendance solution allows managers to administer
employee's hours accurately, meaning that they will be paid fairly for exactly what they are working.
As well as writing efficient rotas, you should also be reacting to business levels as they
happen. Be proactive. If you are quieter than expected then send staff home early.
Never get caught out - especially at the beginning of the week.