Scheduling Staff - A Challenge For All Restaurants

Restaurant managers will tell you that hiring and retaining staff as well as scheduling workers are their biggest challenges. Anticipating the size of the crowd on any given night is tough enough and then you must try and match the number of workers to the size of the crowd. Add to that, the need to balance the number of shifts and workers requesting time off and it can be a real challenge.

Most restaurants have gone to a computer generated scheduling system. Workers can put in their requests for time off and managers can plug in the shifts that they need to fill as they work through the schedule. Computer programs can help managers make sure they are balancing out the hours and spreading around the shifts fairly. There is nothing that will cause discontent faster in the workplace than employees who feel like they are being slighted.

When workers feel like they are under appreciated or under used they are likely to start looking for another job and turnover is the number one enemy of the restaurant industry. Having to hire and train new employees takes valuable time away from managing day to day operations and managers need to do everything they can to retain people. It is extremely important to hold onto servers because of the relationships that they establish with your customers who come back again and again just to see them.

Any manager will tell you that a good server is difficult to find and can be a valuable asset to your operation. While you want to make sure that the best people are working at the busiest times, it is also critical not to overwork those servers to the point that they might become burned out. An occasional day off on a weekend is a nice treat for a restaurant employee who is accustomed to waiting on other people out enjoying themselves. Using a computer system will give employees a chance to put in their requests for time off well in advance to help the manager plan for coverage. This type of scheduling means that workers will not be trading shifts on their own which is always a recipe for problems.