Google Docs, Google Sheets, and their kin (MS Word and Excel) were designed for the written word and accounting respectively. All of these options, though they may sound or look good in theory, all have a tendency to fall short because they weren’t designed with scheduling multiple employees in mind. Other “off-the-shelf” options include apps like Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.
#RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE SCHEDULING SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#
We’ve already mentioned a few of the “off-the-shelf” tools like word-processing and spreadsheet software (including online versions of Google Docs and Google Sheets) that are available for scheduling. And then there’s the fact that more and more young people-the majority of your workforce-don’t use email frequently, if at all. When you send multiple versions of a schedule, the likelihood of confusion grows with each new version. But there’s still the problem of redistributing it when changes need to be made. Yes, this is an easy way to get it into everyone’s hands quickly. You could choose to share the schedule via email. How can you be sure that everyone sees it again? And then what happens when changes need to be made? Your employees may not know that a new schedule has been made. You can post your schedule anywhere you like, but that doesn’t guarantee that all your employees are going to see it and will be able to notify you of conflicts in time to avoid problems. Posting your schedule on the wall has been around for a long time. If the methods used to create the schedule weren’t difficult enough, then comes the challenge of sharing with the team. Even cloud-based documents and spreadsheets, like Google Docs and Sheets, still possess many of the same problems. But the spreadsheet still faces problems with distribution (which we’ll talk about below) as well as the potential for errors. Yes, digital documents (like the Excel spreadsheet) are much easier to change when the need arises. Though a word-processing document and an Excel spreadsheet are computer-based, they’re really only a small step up from the pen-and-paper method on which they’re based. This is where more modern methods come in.Ĭomputers have made the process easier, but they’re still not being utilized to their potential. So even though it’s been around for many, many, many years, pen and paper is quickly (some might say finally) becoming outdated and impractical. Did you forget a time-off request? Did you double book an employee? Did you make the right change after an employee called in sick? Pen and paper do nothing to alleviate these problems. And let’s not forget the fact that the potential for errors with the pen-and-paper method is always high. Sure, you probably have a form you fill in, but it still requires a lot of time that could be better spent elsewhere if you just used a more modern method. When you create a schedule on paper, it can’t be altered without creating an entirely new document. One of the main problems with the pen-and-paper method is that it’s permanent.
Truth be told, pen-and-paper scheduling is likely what gave the job the awful reputation with which it currently struggles. But that doesn’t automatically make it the best choice. Sure, pen and paper has been the default scheduling option for…basically, forever. As basic as this method is, it is also the most difficult to use and really does very little to make your life as a manager any easier. Pen and paper is the most basic work schedule system available today. Planning, sharing with your team, and off-the-shelf tools that fall short are three of the biggest. There are many scheduling challenges faced by restaurant managers. Then we’ll look at some best practices that help to solve these problems. Before we look at the solution in detail, let’s look deeper into the challenges restaurants face when it comes to scheduling. Effective, problem-free employee scheduling for restaurants is possible. They don’t really solve the problems and may actually introduce more.īut there is hope. That’s because the traditional computer-based methods for scheduling-Excel spreadsheets and email-are just small steps up from the pen-and-paper method.
Often, their method of distribution-tacking the schedule to a wall-is equally as low-tech.Įven the introduction of computers into the scheduling process hasn’t helped much. This is partly due to the fact that many restaurants still rely on the pen-and-paper method for schedule creation. And getting it into the hands of employees in plenty of time.
If you’ve ever managed a restaurant, you’ve probably experienced the pain associated with employee scheduling.
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