Workforce management: "It’s the ease of having everything at your fingertips"

Effective workforce management software is a game-changer in the hospitality industry, offering several ways to streamline operations. For example, some suppliers are now deploying artificial intelligence to predict demand, even claiming they can accurately predict what dishes are going to sell and when to sell them.

 

Having a more accurate picture of what your sales are looking like over the next two to three weeks enables you to schedule your labour more efficiently. This is why closely aligning inventory and labour management functions is so important.

 

For many hospitality businesses, staff shortages are a fact of life. The effects can be wide-ranging – from the inability to operate at full capacity to added pressure on those working. Streamlining operations and deploying people more efficiently can help.

 

Providing tangible benefits that address wellbeing and foster a sense of belonging can also play a significant role in employee satisfaction and retention, as highlighted in the Sodexo case study below.

 

With Covid and now the cost of living crisis, it’s been a challenging time for hospitality HR professionals. Businesses need systems that are flexible enough to accommodate the unexpected and integrate easily with existing software.

 

Resident Hotels consolidates all its documents with Fourth Hospitality

 

Resident Hotels operates in London and Liverpool, and will soon open its largest property in Edinburgh. It’s been a busy time for the HR team, not least because the company took over the management of the Sleeperz (Dundee, Newcastle and Cardiff sites) and Cityroomz brands (Edinburgh) in September 2022.

 

The group currently employs 230 team members, and head of people and culture Jennifer Watts says: “We have obviously been so busy onboarding the new teams.”

 

The company started using a Fourth Hospitality workforce management platform in 2019. Previously, the company used manual processes.

 

“It was transformational,” says Watts, “We use it for payroll and storage of HR files, and we use Engage, a team-facing social media platform that looks like Facebook, where we post updates, such as birthdays and anniversaries within the team.”

 

 

Payslips, holiday requests and employee documents are also accessible. “We’re trying to consolidate everything so it’s available in one or two places,” she says.

 

Watts looked at other solutions that were not necessarily hospitality-focused, so she says Fourth was a relatively easy choice to make. There was a one-off implementation fee and then monthly payments and in addition to the workforce management platform, Fourth also provides Resident Hotels with a biometric system for clocking in and out.

 

Fourth has been responsive to change, says Watts. “For example, during Covid when we were furloughing team members, which was something that didn’t exist before, Fourth was quick to develop the system so we could organise the payroll, with training available on its website,” she says.

 

Watts appreciates having information readily available and the ability to run reports that summarise data in a digestible manner. “It’s the ease of having everything at your fingertips. Before, if we wanted a document, we’d have to walk to the hotel or ask for it to be emailed, whereas now, it’s there – audits, spot-checks, contracts, salary increase letters. There’s a huge amount we can report on: labour turnover, retention, 90-day quit rate, absence reports – we can pull the information off the systems and turn it into something digestible.”

 

On the recruitment front, Resident Hotels has signed up with Recruit Genie, an applicant tracking system (ATS) that integrates with the Fourth platform. Recruitment requests will go straight into the ATS and then be advertised and when a new team member is recruited, the paperwork will upload automatically.

 

The company’s Learning Hub, provided by Talent LMS, includes content created by team members, and continuous professional development is encouraged via multiple links to the Learning Hub from Engage.

 

Barworks takes on the task of scheduling with Deputy

 

Tanja Sonja Schönberger started as a waitress at Barworks 15 years ago. Today, she is an operations and HR manager for the east London-based independent pub, bar and restaurant group.

 

“We don’t hire managers externally. We build our general managers from the ground up. Ideally, we want our people climbing the ranks here,” she says.

 

Barworks was founded in 1995 by entrepreneurs Andreas Akerlund, Patrik Franzen and Marc Francis-Baum. Mare Street Market in Hackney is its flagship venue and the group operates a further three London venues. Francis-Baum is also the co-founder of Camden Hells and Camden Town Brewery.

 

Schönberger says: “We know how hard it is mentally and physically to work behind a bar, and so the support systems we have in place come from a deep understanding of how the industry works.”

 

With a commitment to nurturing a dynamic, healthy, upwardly mobile work culture, Barworks has harnessed the power of technology to elevate its operations.

 

 

Software from Deputy supports Barworks’ focus on employee wellbeing. Schönberger explains: “One of the exciting aspects of Deputy is its capacity to create tailored schedules that factor in each employee’s availability and preferences. This flexibility enhances our staff’s work-life balance and boosts their morale and engagement.”

 

Deputy streamlines scheduling and time tracking but also facilitates transparent and effective communication. Schönberger appreciates how Deputy reduces frustrations by keeping all communication and tasks on one platform.

 

“Deputy enables us to connect with our staff, ensuring they are informed about their schedules and tasks without feeling overwhelmed by WhatsApps and emails. This leads to a calmer, more collaborative and synchronised team,” she says.

 

The intuitive interface offers employees a comprehensive view of their accrued leave, pending requests and utilised time off.

 

“We had lots of problems with leave management and holiday accrual, but now there’s a straightforward and transparent holiday approval process. Staff can see the status of their requests, there’s less confusion and accruals are automatically calculated,” she says.

 

Deputy also looks after payroll processes, reducing the three hours managers used to spend on payroll every first day of the month. With a fourth site scheduled to open in King’s Cross, Schönberger says: “We want to maintain our unique identity, straddling the line between restaurant, bar and event space. We want to open more spaces and explore opportunities.”

 

In addition to workforce management, Deputy provides an applicant tracking system (ATS), onboarding and document management. By automating parts of the hiring process, Deputy is streamlining Barworks’ efforts to scale.

 

Sodexo UK & Ireland promotes wellbeing with YuLife

 

Sodexo employs 35,000 people in the UK and Ireland, and client contract agreements mean that around 43% of employees are either on the National Living Wage or the Real Living Wage. Although Mark Goodyer, HR director at Sodexo UK & Ireland, acknowledges that many of his colleagues continue to face challenges during the cost of living crisis, internal surveys show an increase in job satisfaction and staff engagement over the past few years.

 

How has Sodexo achieved this? Through extra effort to make employees feel valued, says Goodyer: “Our role is to understand what makes individuals feel truly valued at work, so they can deliver value for the business but also for themselves.”

 

To help in this respect, Sodexo is offering tangible benefits to employees. YuLife is a health and wellbeing app that encourages daily wellbeing activities, such as walks, meditation, and physical and mental exercises. In return, users accrue Yucoins, which can be exchanged for rewards with a range of retailers including Amazon, Aldi, Tesco and Argos. The app also includes access to a 24/7 GP and the ability to book up to three days paid volunteering.

 

In addition, Sodexo has implemented a discount scheme that allows employees and their friends and families to save on their shopping, delivered via Perks at Work. Goodyer says: “We’ve deployed a discount programme not only for our employees but also for up to 10 of their family and friends. We’ve just ticked over £5m saved through that programme, and it means we can impact communities, not just our employees.”

 

 

To create a further measure to alleviate financial stress, Sodexo teamed up with Salary Finance, a new financial wellbeing online platform that provides free financial education, including videos, life guides and webinars, as well as tips and tools, such as savings calculators, budgeting tools and access to credit scores.

 

No account is needed to access the platform and Sodexo employees can also apply for affordable loans that are repaid through their salary. The loans are aimed at helping people to consolidate debt through affordable lending as an alternative to credit cards, payday loans and overdrafts.

 

Most of Sodexo’s learning and development can be carried out online via a platform delivered in partnership with Ingenium.

 

“At Sodexo, 80% of our managers are promoted internally, and this is because we are passionate about supporting career development and facilitating talent deployment,” says Goodyer. “Whereas previously there was a lot of manual learning, now employees can digitally access learning programmes from the same place they go for their payslips, their benefits, and their recognition. We’re seeing 80% usage of that programme.”

 

Josie’s organises staff shifts and what to prep with Nory

 

Josie’s is a family-run group of independent coffee shops in Hampshire. The chain has five locations – with plans for more in the future – and employs more than 130 staff. Each coffee shop is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and coffee.

 

Josie’s was struggling to have true visibility on its business performance. Its operations systems were split between software for workforce management and inventory management. Using two separate systems made it difficult to match rostering and inventory to meet fluctuating demand.

 

Addressing these concerns, Josie’s switched to Nory for both workforce and inventory management in 2023. Since then, operations have been streamlined and business performance has improved.

 

Previously, Josie’s used a templated roster for each of its venues, which led to inefficiencies that the team were keen to address. Since implementing Nory’s integrated workforce solution, Josie’s has been able to drive improvements in efficiency, reducing cost of labour by 23% in just four months. Coupled with a rise in sales, Josie’s has seen an increase in productivity, with sales per labour hour increasing by 20.5% in a short space of time.

 

 

Nory transforms data insights into performance recommendations, such as what to order and prep or who to schedule and when, to make sure each location is performing at its best.

 

Overall, Josie’s has seen impressive net profit increases using Nory. The inventory management system has also helped manage stock efficiently and reduce waste and time spent dealing with suppliers through the system’s in-built ordering tool.

 

Access to a dedicated customer success manager within Nory also allows Josie’s to stay in the loop on all new product developments and keep a finger on the pulse of ever-changing industry trends.

 

All in all, embracing Nory has been transformative for the team at Josie’s, with a dedicated implementation plan and team making the transition from previous tools seamless. Josie’s management team now has real-time insight into labour efficiency metrics and the ability to engage staff en masse through Nory’s messaging tools, alongside better visibility on inventory performance across all locations. And the Josie’s management team has regained free time to focus on the bigger picture: growing the business.