As a chef, you don’t have time to waste being bogged down in admin. Getting staff management right is vital to getting a busy kitchen to run smoothly, and tech solutions can help with that.
There are apps and software out there that can help you spend far less time on things like scheduling, attendance tracking, and team management by automating a lot of the manual processes involved. They can even help you improve things like recruitment and retention by supporting a positive employee experience and making your, and your team’s, working lives as easy as possible.
Here are some of the admin tasks you can use tech to help you with:
• Scheduling and rota planning: Software like RotaCloud can you help create schedules that are editable and viewable from anywhere, manage staff availability ensuring adequate coverage at all times, and communicate any changes to the rota to your staff quickly and easily — reducing errors and no shows.
• Absence management: These types of tools are also great for tracking and managing sickness, absence, and time off requests, so you'll always know who's in or off at any given time.
• Shift swapping: If staff are off, giving them the tools to manage their own shift swaps means one less thing for you to sort out. You can also set it so that you can have as much or as little input as you need. Got an open shift you need to fill? You can do that too. Just add it to the app and your team will be automatically notified that there’s a shift up for grabs. No more chasing people over WhatsApp!
• Time and attendance: These systems allow staff to clock in and out digitally and can automate the process of tracking staff hours and overtime, eliminating the need for manual record keeping and reducing the risk of mistakes. They can also help ensure that labour costs are kept within budget and that staff are being paid correctly.
• Labour budgeting and cost analysis: Software that helps create a budget for labour costs, taking into account factors such as staff salaries, benefits, and overtime is vital, especially for busy periods. It can also be used to identify trends, and give guidance for corrective actions to control staffing costs as needed.
• Managing documentation: Apps can help with HR basics, like managing and storing paperwork, for example. You need to keep records of things like right-to-work documentation, contracts, evaluations etc, and ensure that all staff are notified and informed of health and safety policies, updates and procedures.
Chefs who automate their admin tasks typically save up to three hours a week, and with these tech solutions you can streamline your kitchen's operations, reduce errors, and increase staff retention. You can find solutions that do these things individually, a combination of the tools you need, or a one-stop shop like RotaCloud — whichever is right for you. Visit rotacloud.com to try it free for 30 days.
