Now that you are all setup, building a schedule each week will be easy! Start by making a copy of your schedule template (or last week’s schedule). Then begin to add employee names to each of the shifts that you have allocated.
Keep in mind
Your employee time-off requests and preferences
As you work on your schedule sheet, make sure you have your time-off request sheet in hand. If a time off request no longer applies, cross it out. Also reference your employee preferences, which should be held in the employee notes field of your information sheet.
A good schedule shares the best shifts
For waiters and bar employee , some days offer better tips. For other employees, some shifts are easier, and late shifts or busy days can be hard work. employees will handle this if the rewards and burdens are shared fairly between them.
Busy shifts need the best employee
Sometimes experienced employees or managers gravitate towards an easier, daytime schedule – maybe because they write the schedule (Yes, this could be you)! It may also be because management rewards are not connected to the performance of busy shifts e.g. when managers are cut out of tip sharing. All employee should know how the business works during days, nights, weekends and week days.
Everyone needs 2 days off per week
There will be times when you need someone to do double shifts, extra days or back-to-back. However, regular for more than 5 days per week (or long shifts with less than 6 hours in-between) leads to loss of performance and burnout. If you have someone requesting to work constant long hours, they may have financial problems that are being put ahead of the business – avoid this shortcut even if it seems convenient.
Costing schedules should be part of writing schedules
Traditionally, the functions have been separate, and the bad news about wage costs is only revealed after the week is finished. Online systems like Ento show wage costs as the schedule is written, giving accurate forecasts and budget control.
Once you have finished writing the schedule
When the schedule is written, print it out, label it and post it alongside the one for the previous week. Deal with any change requests as ‘last-minute shift changes’ (outlined near the start of this guide).
If you are using an online system like Ento, click the publish button and a shift summary will be sent to each of your employees via SMS or email; this will save them the inconvenience of having to drop-in or call up.
A final note from Aulay
Congratulations for making it to the end of the ‘Better employee for the hospitality industry’ guide; I hope you have taken some interesting tips and tricks from it. As you may have noticed, I mentioned our online tool, Ento, several times during the guide. By no means does this imply you NEED to use it to have great process, it will just help a lot! If you want to give it a go, head over to ento.com for a 14-day free trial.
Happy ! Aulay Macaulay – Ento Founder