Common Employee Scheduling Mistakes That You Can Easily Avoid

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Introduction

When creating a weekly employee schedule, it's good to be transparent and schedule each individual according to his and her availability. Furthermore, your scheduling practices should be fair to everyone.

People rely on these schedules for income, as well as gauge what their workweek will look like, so they can better plan and organize their personal lives. Therefore, any mistakes on your end could hurt morale and instill distrust in management as a whole.

These mistakes can also lead to poor customer service, as your employees who feel as if they are being forced to work will likely not be in high spirits while working.

When you continue to make these errors, you will hurt your restaurant's reputation and bottom line.

You can eliminate or reduce these faulty errors by using a reliable time planner.

When managing your business and creating weekly schedules, it is important to make sure that you are using the best resources and tools. In doing so, you are utilizing a workforce management system that is designed to fully optimize your restaurant's scheduling procedures, which will have a direct impact on the betterment of your business.

Here are some of the common scheduling mistakes that restaurants make.

Forgetting to Schedule a Shift

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It can go without saying, but restaurant managers and owners tend to be very busy with a broad range of activities, including, tracking inventory, business promotions, and perfecting customer services to name a few.

As a result, it may not be an uncommon occurrence to forget scheduling for certain shift windows, or conversely, double-scheduling for the same shift.

To avoid this from happening, you should always check and verify that multiple employees have not been scheduled for the same shift or that an employee's name appears twice on the same day, which would indicate that they were scheduled twice.

As previously mentioned, you are busy with a list of responsibilities, so double-checking may be easier said than done. So, the best way to ensure this mistake of double-scheduling does not occur while also saving on time is to install a reliable employee scheduling software for your business.

This type of software is error-proof and prevents employees from being scheduled at the same time or twice a day.

Playing Favorites When Scheduling

Showing favoritism is a prevalent scheduling mistake in restaurants. The truth of the matter is that some individuals in your restaurant perform better than others. It's a fact.

While it is a wise move to include your best employees in particular shifts, it's important to avoid awarding these same employees the most favorable working shifts only.

Review employee performance regularly so that no one will feel unfairly left out. The exercise will help you to identify the areas in which your employees are struggling and offer relevant training where needed.

Some scheduling tools allow you to carry out performance management on a real-time basis. You will turn what you observe into reports to identify the top performers in your restaurant and which employees need help.

The system will help you to eliminate favoritism because all the workers will be well-supported and equipped to excel in their roles.

Creating Last-Minute Schedules

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Procrastinated scheduling in a restaurant will increase stress for both you and your employees.

It is wise to prepare your restaurant schedules at least two weeks in advance to give your employees time to plan ahead. Scheduling in the final hour will only cause unnecessary errors and unnecessary headaches for all parties involved.

Last-minute scheduling can also create severe financial and legal consequences for your business.

These scheduling mistakes can be costly if your restaurant falls short of labor law regulations. Get to understand what your state laws say about employee scheduling so you can avoid hefty fines.

You can overcome this limitation by using a time planner, as it will assist in creating employee schedules well in advance. You also have the option to recycle the previous week's schedules, which will cut down on schedule creation time greatly.

The tool will inform your employees that you value their time. It will help you to create all your schedules in advance.

Misplacing Important Drafts & Documents

Typically, you have to retain hardcopy paperwork for your restaurant, whether these documents are written employee availability or the coming week's work schedule. You should store this information in a secure and confidential place to protect your employees' privacy.

With a non-reliable scheduling system, like the pen and paper method, you can easily lose or misplace these relevant documents.

With reliable time planner software, there is no risk of misplacing the crucial documents of your employees, because everything is digital.

This will eliminate the need for paperwork and provide a safe and secure place to store all important documents.

Failure to Account for Different Skill Levels

Your restaurant should have enough employees who possess the right type of skills to perform their work effectively.

Failure to consider the level of skills that you require for various shifts can lead to frustration and embarrassment among your team so be sure to schedule all employees accordingly based on their proper skillsets.

For example, when using scheduling software, you will not be able to schedule a bartender for a host's shift and vice versa. The system is fully equipped to prevent silly errors like this from happening.

With these resources, you can also enter additional relevant notes or skills that your various employees possess. This will help you create employee schedules according to the capabilities of your employees.

As a result, your customers will get the best experience because most qualified people will be attending to their needs.

Once you understand these common mistakes, you will do your best to avoid them. One thing that comes out is that employee scheduling software will help you to reduce or even eliminate these errors.

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