Surging to a  39% increase over the last decade, it’s no surprise that rising labour costs correlate with lower profit and higher failure rates for hospitality businesses. 

Staff are our greatest assets, but also our highest costs in hospitality. And how we manage that cost is the key to ongoing success. 

Below is the first in a series of three guides on how to improve your profitability, through one of the most crucial elements of your business; Wage Cost.

1. Utilise rostering software with built in award recognition. 
   • Excel spreadsheets cannot be easily read on smart phones
   • staff often don’t have personal computers, and awards are complex and ever-changing. 
   • Rostering software has communication channels directly to staff, and some have intuitive rostering which offers suggestions, reducing the time spent when rostering.
     
     
2. Approve completed shifts in the rostering solution after every shift. 
   • Do not leave completed shifts to be approved by managers that did not work that shift, or for the following day.
     
     
3. Roster no more than two weeks in advance, adjust the second week as required.
   
   
4. Roster start times in 15-minute windows. 
   • Instead of staff either starting at 5pm or 5:30pm, include 5:15pm.
     
     
5. Include all add-ons in a costed roster. 
   • A roster must include super and annual leave expenses (for PT and FT staff)
   • workers compensation and payroll tax (if applicable) are optional, and can be managed as OpEx
     
     
6. Roster based upon a dollar value, represented as a percentage and not based upon the number of people required each shift.
   
   
7. Consider the weather of the upcoming week
   
   
8. When changes are made to a roster, ensure the staff member replacing is of the same skill set and hourly rate.
   
   
9. When changes are made to the roster DURING the week, make sure they are published in the rostering software
   
   
10. Schedule controllable work, such as cleaning, or receiving a beverage supplier delivery deliberately. 
    • Consider when these things can be completed and their impact.

Look out for our next 10 Steps next month!