Does your restaurant yo-yo between having too many or too few staff on shifts?
We’ve all been there as customers. The diner is crowded, staff are run ragged and it takes too long for food to arrive. The operation feels a bit shambolic and some of the orders are wrong too. This all casts a shadow over an evening out with friends.
At other times, it’s a different story. The restaurant is half full with too many staff are on duty. They stand around, seeming disengaged and bored. The service is lacklustre.
This is all from a customer perspective, of course. But incorrect staffing levels can also have a profound impact on employees and businesses – damaging the bottom line and the long-term future of a restaurant.
Here’s an analysis of the problem and how it can be solved.
Understaffing can lead to poor service quality as employees become overwhelmed and unable to provide adequate service. Customers vent their feelings to waiting staff in the diner and online. The whole pressure of the situation will impact morale and could cause some staff to quit – including managers. The business starts to gain a reputation for being a “stressful place to work”.
The scenario seems so avoidable. A few extra staff might have put those shifts on an even keel. But then a painful cycle ensues …
Any short-term labour savings are wiped out. Disappointed diners never return, reviews put off other customers, demand dips and revenue diminishes. The restaurant finds it hard to attract and retain quality staff. The business needs a reboot to get it back on track.
Overstaffing will inflate payroll costs as more employees are scheduled than is necessary – which takes an immediate bite out of profits.
As we mentioned earlier, overstaffing can also impact employee morale. They can feel disengaged and the hours drag. People can sense their skills are under-utilised and they’re just wasting their time. This can be a breeding ground for negativity in a workplace – and may prompt people into looking for a new job.
Restaurants then face the problem of recruiting, hiring and training costs as well as lost productivity during the transition and staff onboarding. A constantly-changing team can create a sense of defeat and instability too.
Managers are only too aware of staffing level issues. But it’s possible to attempt to solve the problems in the wrong way.
One tactic is to attempt to run a tight ship – with small crews scheduled for each shift – and then rely on using overtime whenever things get busy. But this is unsustainable. Overtime is expensive, which hits the bottom line.
What’s more, overworked employees can become less productive, morale can reduce and team/manager relationships can sour. This can lead to a decrease in overall restaurant performance. Over-reliance on overtime can result in businesses losing their best and most willing staff through burnout.
At the core, overstaffing and understaffing issues are about predicting customer demand – and getting it wrong. Labour costs are out of kilter with the money coming into the business.
You’ve got to have some sympathy with managers. Traditionally, scheduling processes and spreadsheets can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Setting staffing levels can often rely on gut feeling and guesswork. But there is a better way …
With the right technology, restaurants can understand customer demand patterns – breakfast, lunch and evenings; weekdays and weekends; month after month; season by season. Advanced analytics can take previous records and suggest the optimum staffing levels with a high degree of accuracy. You can then create your staff schedules with confidence.
This can result in significant benefits:
How else could you save money? Request a copy of our guide “Five effective ways for UK restaurants to reduce payroll costs”.
