Catering people are often hard-working and passionate about what they do. However, how you manage your workforce can be one of the more unpredictable, time-consuming, and challenging aspects of the business. The varying sizes and locations of catered events mean that your staff can include everyone from well-trusted full-timers to freshly minted professionals. Fortunately, catering staffing software (CSS) can help you manage fluctuations in staff and location by simplifying many managerial tasks. Here's how to easily manage your workforce.
Using spreadsheets to track employee availability is labor-intensive and confusing. For one, you have to account for every absence manually. Forgetting to add a Post-it from one staff member that reads, “Can’t work two weeks from next Tuesday,” can make scheduling an onerous task. By the time you realize you are short-staffed, you will be scrambling to recover.
Fortunately, good catering software allows employees to input their own availability and requests for time off. The staff shows up on the program in a sidebar or window, so that managers can just drag and drop individuals into a schedule template. Conflicts will show immediately without having to scrutinize each staff member’s workable hours.
CSS not only helps you complete a schedule in record time, but it also sends assignments to the appropriate staff immediately. This means you don’t have to contact individuals or wait for busy employees to check in to make sure that everything is a go.
Schedule swaps and approvals can also be managed within these applications. If you come up short-handed, you can post a notice that alerts all your employees about the additional hours.
A wedding planner once said, “The problems of time and personality multiply every ten feet.” That certainly applies to the catering business.
Well-designed staffing software instructs your crew to clock in with their phones. They will also send out ready-to-work notifications. That way, you know who is there and won’t have to track them down to accurately record their hours.
This virtual time clock can usually be personalized to monitor staggered breaks. One quick check, and you can see whether an employee is scheduled for that cigarette. It's a great tool to simplify how you manage your workforce.
Of course, these time clock features only work because of geo-fencing. Using GPS technology, CSSs make sure that employees are in their targeted area during working hours.
Finally, good software includes a dedicated line for mass or individual communication. If a location changes or you need to pull someone for a specific task, you just push a button.
At the end of the day, it pays to have employees’ hours downloaded directly to a payroll software. What’s more, any performance reviews given, such as “made guests smile” or “took an extra break,” will also be saved in that individual’s file.
Catering an event is hard. Managing the people who work for you shouldn’t be. Using a well-designed catering staff software to manage your workforce can take some of those people's problems off your plate, so you can get back to serving your guests.
