The hospitality industry is oriented towards providing great customer experience but providing great employee experience can help that initiative. When employees feel valued and supported during their shifts, they work more efficiently.
Optimizing your hospitality schedule is one way to improve both customer and employee experience. By implementing a few changes, you can see increase productivity and reduced stress in your workplace.
Schedule Based on Demand
Business data is a valuable tool and utilizing that data to make your scheduling system work more efficiently can improve your workflow and staff morale. Creating a schedulebased on historic demand for services can reduce the total number of staff during times of low need and provide extra support when there is an increased need.
Scheduling based on demand not only helps provide adequate customer service but also ensures that staff members are actively engaged in their duties rather than watching the clock or performing subpar work due to inadequate staffing. Dig into your business data to pinpoint which times or days require additional or less staff support then create a schedule that reflects those changes.
Provide Standardized Training
Properly training new staff is the best way to keep new employees and ensure an optimized schedule. When staff members are well trained in their initial job and later cross-trained to help their co-workers, workplaces are united and staff satisfied. Setting up a standardized training schedule that allows adequate time for questions, shadowing, and training is essential to being able to optimize your hospitality scheduling system.
Create a training schedule that can be used for each position and every new employee that outlines orientation, on boarding, observation, and hands-on training. Detailing the specifics of when and with who each step will be completed can help engage new employees and provide guidance for trainers.
Monitor Staff Performance and Training
Much of the hospitality business occurs outside management oversight. Front desk staff work long into the night, activity staff flit around the premises keeping guests occupied, and housekeeping discretely clean rooms throughout the day. Keeping a pulse on staff performance and training is a challenge but imperative to improving your scheduling system.
With a solid understanding of each staff member’s strengths, weaknesses, and training, managers can create a more balanced schedule that addresses the needs of the employees and the business. Use your workforce management system to log training and accomplishments. Use annual reviews to discuss with employees where they excel and where they need additional training. Keeping track of performance and training can help managers create schedules and fill in gaps during absences.
Allow Instant Access
Circumstances can change in a moment and a static schedule simply doesn’t work for the hospitality industry. Staff and management need instantaneous access to their schedule to better optimize it. A workforce management system is one way for managers to optimize their schedule by allowing employees to online access from their computer or phone. Employees can request time off and managers can post open shifts all within the same platform, increasing overall productivity and customer satisfaction. By shifting your scheduling system to an online portal that allows immediate feedback and global scheduling, managers and employees can perform their jobs more effectively.
Optimizing your scheduling system can not only increase productivity and customer experience but also create a better environment for your employees. These four tips are just a few of the ways those in the hospitality industry can help improve scheduling using a workforce management system or time and attendance software to improve your workplace.
