Efficient Scheduling For The Non-Traditional: Staffing In The Service Industry
May 08, 2017
Efficient Scheduling For The Non-Traditional: Staffing In The Service Industry
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with HotSchedules
We utilize HotSchedules for managing and maintaining our front of the house staff (Servers, Bartenders, Floor Managers, etc). HotSchedules allows for the easy dissemination of the schedule to the staff, while providing the flexibility for them to request time off, swap shifts, pickup/release shifts, and set/change availability. With the advent of smart devices and the app, I have my entire front of the house staffs information available to me at fingertips to include email, phone & text, full roster, and the ability to address everyone as a whole or as an individual. As a manager I not only have control over the approvals, but I also have the ability to justify the with the individual why a request off or swap would not be approved, which keeps an open dialog with the employee reducing confusion and workplace conflict. HotSchedules also allows management to track employee hours, so as schedules change due to swaps and pickups we are able to better control and determine labor.
- Dissemination of schedule to all individuals on staff using HotSchedules.
- Allows staff to have flexibility in their schedule while ensuring that shifts are covered.
- As changes/approvals are made the system updates, allowing for everyone to look at the schedule as it is in its current form.
- As far as my experience with the system goes, it does not have a backlog of who does approvals. This would be helpful as, with a management team that also has approval authority, it would allow you to see who is authorizing changes to the schedule.
- Having the ability to send attachments through the email system would help greatly in being able to spread much needed information to the staff (new menus, upcoming event information, picture attachments, etc.).
- Being able to set [parameters] for things like the maximum number of approvals reached would be helpful and give employees an immediate feedback letting them know that max number of staff has been reached that can request off for a particular day. It would help both ways by stopping someone with approval authority from accidentally approving too many request offs.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Escalation required |
Prior to HotSchedules we utilized an old school traditional Excel based scheduling system that was put out via email. The system was obviously time intensive and required constant updating, so when approached via HotSchedules Marketing we decided to give it a try and haven't looked back. If possible we are looking into incorporating it into use with our back of the house staff. One of the only limiting factors to HotSchedules and any similar scheduling system is that it is smart device based (cell phone/computer/tablet/etc.) and therefore the staff member must have access to these in order to use the service. Unfortunately even in 2017 not everyone has these/want and/or are willing to work with these devices. This can force a company into making decisions to not hire a potential employee do to incompatibility with how daily operations are run via scheduling.