Learn tips and tricks to better manage your labor costs Learn how to cut costs and improve service through tips on scheduling, time & attendance, shift management, work ergonomics and more. Simple but effective labor saving tips - Staff Scheduling Scheduling is a great way to reduce labor costs. Do you repeat the same schedule every week? Do you stagger shift start times? Do you have clear targets and cost as you build? These are essential questions you need to answer. - Time & Attendance Hundreds of hours are lost each year in incorrect shift times. These costs are the easiest to avoid through simple and actionable steps contained within the ebook. - Shift management Its amazing how effective small differences can be on reducing labor coats. Holding regular pre and post shift team briefings, smarter working schedules and identifying shift patterns can all help.

4. The Schedule
Okay lets get started. Always remember – control your labor costs through better scheduling, not lower wages.
New week, New schedule
Every week is different and your schedule
should reflect this. Don’t just recycle last weeks
schedule. Ensure you have checked the
availability of your staff for the coming week.
Check last weeks schedule to see where you
may have been overstaffed and look ahead to
any large events that may be planned.
Don’t leave yourself struggling to cover shifts at
the last minute.
Cost & build
Costing as you build allows you to really see
where you can save. If you wait until the end
then it becomes a mad dash to cut hours and
stay on budget, which always leads to inefficient
schedules.
Set clear targets
Without clear targets there is no way to ensure a
steady labor cost. Work out what your current
target labor cost is based on this weeks
schedule and see if you can reduce it by 5% for
next week.
Monitor targets
Target sales per labor hour (SPLH) is a great
key performance indicator (KPI) to track for your
business. If you have target sales of $2000 and
target hours of 40 then your SPLH is $50. Try
and maintain a steady SPLH throughout the
week and don’t let it fluctuate with sales
patterns. This will also ensure you have
adequate staff cover for each day.
Arriving together?
Do all your staff arrive at the same time for each
scheduled shift? Do you need all your staff to be
in at the same time? Most shifts require a bit of
prep work which usually only takes one or two
people. If you adjust your shifts to start in 15 or
30 minute increments then your staff will arrive
as you need them.

5. The Schedule
Okay lets get started. Always remember – control your labor costs through better scheduling, not lower wages.
Are labor patterns
reflecting sales?
When your sales increase your labor cost may
increase but when sales decrease do your labor
costs decrease? In order to achieve a reduction
in costs you have to schedule accordingly and
anticipate periods of low sales as well as high
sales.
Low service levels
and too many staff?
Remember sometimes service levels can be
affected by having too many staff. Too many
staff can often be worse than too few staff.
Remember the old saying “the devil makes work
for idle hands”.
End of week comparisons?
Before launching head first into another busy
week, it is important to reflect on what happened
last week. Try comparing scheduled labor costs
against actual labor costs at the end of every
week. You will quickly see if changes are
needed.

7. Time & Attendance
Most labor savings can be made at the start and end of each shift.
Have you got any
buddy punchers?
Buddy punching is when an employee has a co-
worker punch them in early or punch them out
after they leave. It is a common practice that is
extremely hard to detect. A common deterrent
for buddy punching is a clock in machine with a
fingerprint scanner. These however are
notoriously slow, easily broken in a fast paced
environment and can actually result in
employees being late for work.
We experienced this in our restaurant and
replaced them with our own iPad clock in app
called Timestation. This allows a quick picture to
be snapped each time someone clocks in or out,
a simple and effective solution.
Obviously there are other great apps out there
so find one that suits your business, but know
that eliminating buddy punching can
dramatically reduce labor costs.
Are you comparing actual against
scheduled times at the end of every
shift/day?
Is there a pattern emerging with staff leaving
later on certain days regardless of how busy you
are. It is important to emphasise to your
managers that they need to stick to the
schedule and ensure their teams finish on time.
Try to ensure that staff only sign in when in
uniform and sign out before changing.
Set clear times for
actual breaks
Your staff should know when their break is and
how long they are entitled to take. Allowing your
staff to take breaks “when we’re quiet” leads to
longer breaks as there is no pressure to get
back to work. Also for staff who smoke, this
should only be done on their actual break. Do
not offer
“Smoke Breaks” to staff.

9. Shift Management
Before, during and after service there are some practical things to do.
Pre & post service
team briefing
A quick meeting before and after every shift
gives you an opportunity to teach and listen. You
can also take the opportunity to share targets
with your employees at these shift meetings.
All hands on deck
Are all hands on deck at your busiest times.
There should never be anyone taking their break
or working in the office in the middle of service.
Ask yourself, are all your staff fully utilized – at
all times? If not what prep work could people be
doing.
Work smarter
Don’t just assume that your staff don’t have the
time to do the job. Sometimes it is just a case of
working smarter. Often the time it takes to do a
job is directly related to the time you have
available to do the job. Think about what every
job your staff members are doing. Are there
more efficient ways of doing the same job?
How many employees does
it take to change a light-bulb?
Watch out for tell tale signs of too many staff –
For example two people to clean a fridge. Write
a clear job description for each employee. A job
description is a detailed definition of a job and a
list of the specific tasks and duties the employee
is responsible for daily, weekly and monthly. The
more complete the job description, the simpler
the task of training.
Remember, staff with a confirmed list of duties
will be less inclined to “fill time.” Sample job
descriptions may be available from your HR
department. You could also get started with a
quick Google search.
Spot patterns
Ensure that there is an absenteeism policy and
take proactive steps when employees are
absent. Try to keep an absenteeism chart in
their office, to easily monitor patterns.

10. Shift Management
Before, during and after service there are some practical things to do.
You’re no angel...
As a manager you must examine your own work
practices too. Do you come to work grouchy?
Do you have sloppy or careless work habits? Is
your appearance unprofessional?
It is essential that you obey your own standards
and rules and do not avoid addressing problems
when they arise.
Are you showing respect? Mutual respect plays
and enormous role in good leadership. Share
your goals with your employees, remember lead
by example.

12. Ergonomics
Simple changes can increase productivity and reduce waste.
Eliminate clutter
A place for everything and everything in its place
– staff will not have to waste time looking for
anything.
Easy access
Can you rearrange work areas. The fewer steps
that people have to take, the faster they can do
the job. Create mini work stations where all
necessary food, utensils and prep spaces are
close at hand.
Workstations
Break the kitchen activities into self-contained
workstations where ingredients, tools,
equipment and supplies are within easy reach.
This will eliminate excessive bending, lifting and
reaching. Its also important to remember your
left-handed employees when setting up
workstations.
Problem equipment
Check that there are no equipment problems
that are affecting labor. Ensure knives are sharp,
and train your staff how to use them.
Clever Storage
Increase productivity by having 3 types of
storage. Active, back up and long-term. Active
storage is accessed repeatedly throughout the
day and should be near the work station.
Back up is used to refill bulk items and long term
should be out of reach and locked away.

14. The Menu
Where in the menu can we save time?
Hidden labor
Do we need to change the menu, is it too labor
intensive or are there too many offerings?
Always ask, are you selling enough of a specific
item to warrant the labor required to prep,
prepare and serve it.
Self serve options
Explore labor saving ideas of self service
restaurants – buffets, tea/coffee machines etc.
Could you make this work for your business,
perhaps with a unique twist?
Are the dishes
causing problems?
Always check how many dishes are returned
after each service. Know the reasons why each
was returned and how much it cost to comp or
replace meals. More often than not it is the
same one or two dishes that are causing
problems for your customers and obviously your
chefs. While the problem may lie with the cook,
you may also reduce wasted labor and food
costs by making some small changes to the
dishes or removing them from the menu entirely.
Better prep work
Can you do more prep in advance and perhaps
batch cook some dishes? This will allow the chef
to serve and observe portion control etc.
You may look at sous-vide cooking as
a labor saving option for your food prep.

16. Staff Training
You won’t do it better if you don’t know how to do it right.
It’s quicker when you know what
you’re doing
Do you invest in training? Ensure that the staff
are trained in the jobs they are doing. Allocate
time to properly train your employee. Regularly
review your current employee training needs.
Who’s the trainer?
Maybe you could appoint a trainer in your unit.
Untrained employees will cost you more in low
productivity, poor service, waste and
inefficiency.
A flexible workforce
Cross training staff and multi skilling. Teach your
employees how to do jobs other that their own
regular jobs. Employees can be moved around
and fill in while other staff are absent.
Supervisors could serve or do cash. Chefs could
man the counters if required.
A smarter workforce
Lack of training can lead to employees having
poor attitudes to various aspects of the business
and will most definitely lead to many staff
developing poor work habits. Proper training will
lead to greater employee productivity. It’s your
job to teach them how to work smarter, not
harder.

18. Staff Hiring
Hire once, hire right, retain.
Look for more
Remember your business success is based
upon your success at gathering together a group
of workers with different skills and experiences
to produce a quality product.
Search for the right person to fill the job. Look
beyond the basic skills for a person who will be
the face of the restaurant and will work well with
your team.
Hire on tasks, not on talk
Before you hire an employee – Keep in mind the
tasks the employee must accomplish. Is this
person suited to talking to important customers
all day or doing a lot of back office tasks?
Remember the cost of employing a worker is far
greater than his or her net pay, regardless of the
worker being salaried or hourly.
It is never the right time to hire the
wrong person
Resist the temptation to “panic hire.” Don’t in
desperation, hire the first person you interview.
Hold out for the right person.
Your current team has
great potential!
Try to promote from within your own business.
Develop a succession plan for your business if
you have not done so already.
ASK YOURSELF
What % of your budget comes from agency
workers?
What % of your budget comes from overtime?
What is your labor/sales ratio for every day...
better still by the hour?
Instead of looking to employment agencies, ask
your employees first if they can recommend
anyone.

19. Cut Staff Turnover
Hire once, hire right, retain.
High staff turnover costs more than
money!
High turnover of staff is very costly to the
business. Re-staffing and training costs your
business in productivity but also has a huge
impact on customer relations. Any relationships
fostered between your staff and your customers
will be hard to recover, should that team
member leave.
Other costs include lost uniforms and obviously
the time spent hiring in the first place.
Know why they leave so
you can improve
Remember exit interviews are valuable
information gathering opportunities. Make sure
that you get a chance to spend a few minutes
with any staff member leaving before they move
on.
This will be your only opportunity to hear their
honest opinion of their time with you and your
team.
Don’t throw money at the problem
While offering greater benefits and pay rises will
undoubtedly attract more potential employees
and help to retain existing employees, this will
not solve the underlying reasons for a high staff
turnover.
On a daily basis there are simple things you can
do to ensure the workplace is a supportive and
enjoyable environment.
Hardworking team members should be praised
for their work in front of their peers. This helps to
show others that you respond well to a job well
done.
After busy weeks or great team efforts small
gestures like a gift cards or movie passes can
be great to let your team know their efforts are
not going unnoticed.

20. Start controlling your labor costs today
Just go to bizimply.com and sign up. Simple.
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