What is Restaurant Workforce Management Software & Why Do You Need It for Your Business?

Once you take away the front of food and drink,  at the core of it, the restaurant industry is a people driven business.  And where there are people, there needs to be a way to manage them.  Enter restaurant workforce management software.

In this article we’ll cover:

• What restaurant workforce management software is
• Why you need workforce management software
• How this software can help your restaurant succeed

What Is Restaurant Workforce Management Software?

Restaurant workforce management software was built to help restaurateurs manage, streamline, and automate complex people management tasks.  

These tasks typically span the entire employee life cycle, including, but not limited to, HR, scheduling, time tracking, budgeting, and payroll.

Restaurant workforce management software typically includes the following tools:

• Applicant tracking tools: To streamline the process of recruiting and hiring new workforce.
• Self-serve onboarding: To streamline the process of onboarding.
• Human resource information systems: To keep track of important employee information and documents. 
• Performance management tools: To assist employees in performing their jobs more efficiently.
• Retain resource planning: Helping employers match tasks to employees according to an employee’s skill set. 
• Employee time tracking: Allowing employees to clock into their shifts on their own,  using time tracking technology.
• Scheduling: Scheduling forecasting, scheduling templates, and automated schedules.
• Integrations with payroll software: Workforce management with integrated payroll means you can streamline employee hours directly from time clocks to payroll.
• Integrations with restaurant POS software: Integrations with POS systems mean you can measure employee labor against sales, improving labor effectiveness. 

This type of software can be offered in the form of a stand-alone solution to one aspect of workforce management, or offered as an integrated solution, where you would run and manage the entire operation from one connected platform.

Why Do You Need Restaurant Workforce Management Software?

At the end of the day, restaurant workforce management software helps you run a more efficient and effective business. 

As a business expands, so does the size of its staff. The more staff, the more difficult it is to ensure adequate and effective human resource management – hence the need for workforce management (WFM).

From staff recruitment to scheduling and time tracking, companies need a system that simplifies the work of managing staff, while increasing efficiency.

Although corporate industries routinely use software to navigate human resource management, companies who employ hourly labor employees – such as restaurants – require workforce management even more, as they traditionally have high turnover, shift schedling, and require employees to clock in using time tracking technology. 

How Restaurant Workforce Management Software Will Help Your Business Succeed

Workforce management is essential to restaurant operations of various staff strengths because it assists in maximizing employee productivity and ensures the adequate utilization of resources. It also helps your companies streamline their operations, manage their workforce, and grow their business.

It Will Help You Grow Your Business

You can’t grow if you can’t scale. Using restaurant workforce management software solves that with streamlined and integrated systems.

Some workforce management software also has the functionality that helps you manage chains, employees who work at different locations, and payroll across different platforms.  

It Will Save You Money

You can use WFM as an integrated solution to cut down costs and maximize profit. Save money on schedule, labor costs, staff hours, and onboarding employees while running payroll. 

One restaurant franchisee reported saving $91,200 in one year thanks to time clock technology that prevents staff from clocking in early, or clocking out late.

It Will Save You Time

With workforce management software’s integration and automation features, you can save hundreds of hours. For example, consider using HR software that provides employees with an automated tracking system for easy recruiting, and self-serve onboarding, so you don’t have to spend the time onboarding a new hire manually. 

Or scheduling tools that offer scheduling templates and suggestions that provide forecasts to help you make the best choices.  Typical users of workforce management software report that if they had to do the tasks manually, it would have taken them around 40 hours per week. 

It Will Help You Streamline and Systemize Your Business

WFM helps in creating a reliable system for the various processes required to ensure employee productivity – including forecasting, scheduling, training management, and HR management.

Using workforce management that integrates with other business processes is the key to streamlining your business, giving you more time to do what you love and invest in growing your business.

For example, a system that is integrated means that your employees can punch in, and their approved hours can be automatically streamlined to payroll – meaning payroll is done at the click of a button. 

Other benefits of using an integrated system also include the ability to manage multiple locations from the same easy-to-use platform, by toggling locations within the app.  This allows restaurateurs to manage and oversee the hours, payroll, and reports from multiple locations – without having to visit all the locations in person. It also allows for fast comparing and approving of hours – as well as a high-level view of your staff and the health of your business operations.

Businesses thrive when employees with the proper skills function at their optimal level to produce maximum productivity when demanded. 

And with proper restaurant workforce management software in place, restaurateurs can get back to focusing on what really matters. The people.

by Tommy Truong

Tommy is the Partnership Director at Push Operations, with a passion for helping entrepreneurs scale their business with technology. He loves hot sauce, fried chicken, and running with his Boston terriers.

Topics

Integrations Labor Technology