Read about punching in and out (and payroll), and labor schedules before reading this post.  It will make more sense.

At the end of the week, time and attendance values will be collected to calculate wages and payroll for the normal “work week”. A side-by-side comparison of the actual schedule (time and attendance values) and the theoretical labor schedule will reveal a variety of metrics that can be used to manage the workforce. This practice of comparing the actual schedule against the theoretical labor schedule is commonly called “Actual vs Theoretical” or “AvT”. For example:

• Which employees routinely arrive for work on time? Consistently reliable employees are valued employees, arriving at work on time, and are the real workhorses of the business. Make sure to reward them for their efforts.

• Which employees are routinely late for work? This can cause a labor shortage during shift changes, and can disrupt other employees. These employees may need to be disciplined for routine tardiness.

• Which employees are routinely early for work? This increases the payroll expense, reducing profit for the business. Disciplinary actions may be required for these employees.

• Which employees do not show up for work, or routinely call in? These employees may need to be counseled and warned that they risk termination, as they are unpredictable in their work habits and lower morale for other staff members.

• Which employees are always available when another employee does not show up? These employees are willing to work on their days off – and should be rewarded for their efforts to keep the business running.

• Which positions are prone to high turnover? Turnover is extremely expensive to a business, and identifying areas with high turnover is the first step to take measures to reducing turnover.

• Which staff members are most tenured? Tenured staff are dedicated team members and should be rewarded for their efforts. Every effort should be made to increase the tenure of employees while reducing turnover and increasing profits.

• Which is more costly, the theoretical or actual schedule? How much difference exists between the two schedules?
  • If the theoretical schedule is more expensive, management is over-scheduling the work force and may be sending employees home without cause. This often indicates aggravated employees and increase turnover – decreasing profit for the business.
  • If the actual schedule is more expensive, management is not scheduling enough work in advance, and is then forced to call employees on their days off. This situation can also create aggravated employees and increase turnover. It often results in unnecessary over-time.

The ideal work environment has a 0% AvT ratio - employees worked when they were scheduled and management accurately identified the business requirements.

Labor, especially in retail and hospitality, is the largest expense which businesses directly control. Comparing metrics such as Actual vs. Theoretical allows management to maintain control of the business, thereby increasing profit. Many metrics can be compared manually using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, but sophisticated scheduling software such as TimeForge, can calculate many of these metrics quickly and easily.

Are complicated employee scheduling practices taking up precious time at your business? Are you making the best possible labor schedule? How much turnover is created because of bad, or late, schedules? Did you know that TimeForge can reduce turnover, improve retention and increase profits at your business? Sign up today for a free trial!

August 21, 2008 – Lubbock, TX – It happens on every Friday of every work week in hospitality, restaurant, and retail businesses around the world. Employees call and want to know when they are scheduled to work during the upcoming week, but the manager hasn’t posted the schedule. Staff members are not able to plan their personal lives without the work schedule which creates conflicts and leads to employee terminations and resignations as soon as the schedule is posted. With labor scheduling software tools, management can reduce schedule conflicts, minimize turnover, and improve profitability at their business.

Managing a labor force requires scheduling part-time and full-time employees properly before they are needed for work and also tracking when employees clock-in and clock-out. Good managers reduce the difference between the theoretical work schedule and the actual hours worked while maximizing sales at the business. Improper employee scheduling leads to one of two circumstances:

1. More employees are scheduled to work than are necessary - increasing payroll costs and reducing profits. Employees may be cut from the schedule without working their scheduled hours.
2. Not enough employees are scheduled to work - decreasing sales and reducing profits. Employees must be called in to work, creating frustration and high turnover among personnel.

Neither option is desirable and the key to avoiding both situations is to monitor and refine the schedule at your business. As experienced managers know, building an accurate schedule takes several hours a week and must consider all of the following items:

• Availability sheets
• Communication and request log books
• Shift swaps and trading
• Minor rules
• Scheduled breaks
• Lunches
• Employee notifications
• Training and certifications
• And many other factors …

Using TimeForge, a web-based labor management system, managers quickly build accurate schedules while reducing turnover, enhancing communication, and improving retention. The recently updated TimeForge provides more time saving features, new pricing plans, and now includes a powerful Daily Log.

With a comprehensive labor management tool, payroll expenses are reduced and employee turnover is continually monitored. TimeForge keeps managers out of the back office and puts them back on the floor where they can directly influence the profits of the business.

About TimeForge
TimeForge, www.TimeForge.com, develops easy-to-use software products to manage employee scheduling, time and attendance, and communication logs. TimeForge’s web-based product suite is designed to meet the demands of the retail and restaurant industries, providing solutions for both independent and chain operators.

New and existing TimeForge users received a major upgrade on Thursday night, as the TimeForge system was updated to provide more flexible scheduling, new time and attendance functionality, and brand new Communication Log features! Some of the new features include:

• Availability Requests have been upgraded and are now easier to use. Outstanding employee availability requests are presented as part of the schedule making process and employees are constantly informed of any changes to their availability.

• Never accidentally schedule staff before or after closing the store! Open and closing times can be configured while making the schedule, and warnings are displayed when staff are scheduled before the store is open or after the store is closed.

• Employees are automatically notified by text message when management approves a shift swap.

• Export punch-in and punch-out times to payroll for easy processing. TimeForge has partnered with CompuPay, a leading provider of payroll for small-to-medium retailers and restaurants. Hours can be exported to CompuPay with a single click!

• Easily identify which employees need to work in specific stations or sections, and schedule these positions with a single click. No more typing “Section 1” or “Pizza” or “Lane 3” when making schedules!

• In accordance with state and federal laws, each position (or job code) can have multiple pay rates, depending on the time of day. Always make sure that employees are paid appropriately!

• Employees can now search for a shift to pick up, or can pick up any shift that has been given up shift by another employee – if approved by management.

• Support for delivery drivers is now included! Drivers can enter tips and mileage for their shifts directly into the TimeForge Time and Attendance module.

• Support for break and meal periods has been enhanced, and managers can now create specific break and meal periods for each shift when building the labor schedule.

• Decisions about your business that include the weather can now be made directly from TimeForge. TimeForge includes weather forecasts on the “To Do Today” page.

• New reports! New TimeForge reports include summary reports for time and attendance, as well as several new scheduling reports.

• Are employees asking for the ability to print the schedule, or a copy of the request log? A setting inside of TimeForge will allow employees to print their own copy of the schedule, breaks, or requests.

• Does your shift need more information than TimeForge normally provides? You can now enter shift notes directly on to the schedule while building shifts!

• Significant improvements to TimeForge Attendance were made – time and attendance entries can be sorted a number of different ways, and a note can be entered for each attendance entry.

As always, feedback on the new TimeForge functionality is always appreciated!

We previously discussed that employee scheduling is hard, time consuming, and costly to a business. Where possible, businesses should use software tools to automate labor scheduling – saving time and money while improving profits makes a lot of sense! Once the employee schedule or the theoretical labor schedule, is complete, it is posted for all employees to see.

The time and attendance system is one crucial aspect of managing labor. This system tracks the “actual schedule” worked by staff members. Each employee should have their own “timecard”, although computer systems have improved these paper systems over the years. At a bare minimum, this can be a paper card which has the time and date the employee arrived and the time and date the employee left, printed or stamped on the card. At many businesses, the Point Of Sale (POS) system or Property Management System (PMS) has a built-in time and attendance system which may be sufficient. More sophisticated time and attendance systems are available from payroll vendors, Human Resource (HR) software vendors, and best-of-breed labor management providers like TimeForge.

As each day of the theoretical labor schedule progresses, the following cycle likely occurs:

• An employee arrives at the business

• Before beginning any work, the employee clocks-in (or punches-in) to a time and attendance system, and management must be mindful of early and late clock-ins, and buddy-punching.

• The employee performs their work

• The employee may be given break periods, or meal breaks, some of which may be paid or required by law. These breaks should be recorded for Labor & Industries Audits (L&I Audits), corporate compliance, and to secure against potential labor lawsuits.

• The employee clocks-out (or punches-out), declaring any tips (if necessary), from a time and attendance system

• The employee leaves the business

It is important to pay payroll expenses from the time and attendance system, and not the theoretical labor schedule. If management pays the employee directly from the theoretical labor schedule and the employee arrived later than scheduled, then the business is paying too much to the employee – reducing profit. If the employee arrived earlier than the theoretical labor schedule suggested, the business will not lose any money by paying from the schedule - however, a number of regulations are violated by not paying the employee for actual time worked. Employees, in all industries, are notorious for arriving to work 15-minutes earlier than scheduled, or leaving 10-minutes later than scheduled, requiring that employers pay appropriately for worked time. To ensure compliance with regulations and to reduce the loss in profits, the correct way to pay employees is with the clock in / clock out times from the time and attendance system.

Is employee scheduling complex at your business? Are you making the best possible labor schedule? How much time is thrown away while making a schedule every year? Did you know that TimeForge can reduce turnover, improve retention and increase profits through employee scheduling at your business? Sign up today for a free trial!

Although employee work schedules sometimes appear simple to create, building a “good” labor schedule is extremely difficult using traditional methods such as Microsoft Excel or pen-and-paper.  Managers must build a schedule so that qualified employees are available to meet the forecasted demand for service or goods.  And a good schedule accurately reflects projected sales for the upcoming week or month, providing adequate work hours for employees.

The employee schedule informs employees when to arrive at work, and in some cases, when to leave.  In other cases, employees are “cut” from the schedule based on demand (or volume) at the business.  In almost every case, the labor schedule is created by management staff in the back-office or at home after hours – a point of discontent for most managers who must work longer hours and weekend hours to build schedules.

The steps to create a labor schedule reads like a long list of tasks, occupying several hours of management time every week:

1. First review the manager’s log book and estimate or forecast upcoming sales and the demand for labor.
2. Next check the employee request log and availability sheets as well as individual work preferences while remembering which employees are minors or restricted in working.
3. Look-up required employee certifications; for example, an ABC license is required to serve alcohol at a restaurant or necessary certifications to dispense medications.
4. Identify trustworthy and experienced personnel to open or close the business.
5. Try to fairly distribute shifts while meeting employee minimum hour works, but do not exceed a maximum number of hours.
6. Make sure that employees are not likely to receive overtime if someone fails to show up on the schedule.
7. Identify convenient times to provide break and meal periods for staff members who are required to receive breaks.
8. Calculate the likely cost of payroll, being mindful of budgetary constraints – if the cost is too high, start over.

Juggling all of these factors to create a good schedule for the workforce is a complicated task that can consume more than ten-percent of a manager’s time throughout the week.  In many cases, especially in owner-operator businesses, this schedule is posted late in the week for the upcoming week.  Posting the schedule late causes problems with employees and creates higher turnover and reduces tenure at the business – reducing overall profits!

The final version of the labor schedule, which the manager has likely spent hours creating, may be bulk-emailed out to the employees (if the manager used a tool such as Microsoft Excel and a schedule template to build the schedule), or more commonly, printed and posted on a wall in the back of the business (inside the management office, store room, or kitchen).

This posted work schedule is the “theoretical labor schedule” - it is the necessary labor needed to operate the business and meet expected customer demand.  The posted work schedule will change throughout the week as employees fail to show up, swap shifts with other staff members, arrive early or late, or business requirements change and employees are cut or added to the schedule.  The posted schedule should be saved and archived (as it was created by management) for later comparison to worked hours, and for issues arriving from Labor & Industries audits, availability conflicts, labor disputes, or even lawsuits.

Is your scheduling complex?  Are you making the best possible schedule?  How many thousands of dollars do you spend making schedules every year?  Did you know that TimeForge can reduce turnover, increase retention and increase profits through employee scheduling at your business? Sign up today for a free trial!

The TimeForge team has been hard at work adding to the TimeForge software product, making employee scheduling simple, and time and attendance monitoring easier.  We now offer Biometric Fingerprint scanning to all TimeForge Max users.  We have partnered with M2SYS to offer an out-of-the-box and affordable solution to all users, and are proud to be listed on the M2SYS partners page.

A joint press release about our partnership was recently issued, and can be found on the M2SYS website in full.  The interesting tidbits for TimeForge users include:

According to Anthony Presley, Founder of TimeForge, “Our customers already schedule their employees online, but many continue to use traditional time clocks to track when employees punch in and out at their business. The M2SYS biometric product allows our customers to easily track time and attendance data and compare it to existing schedules — providing important and accurate payroll information. By eliminating the need for passwords and employee identification cards, it should significantly reduce buddy punching, which will save our customers up to 5-7% of their annual payroll expenses.”

“Companies in the retail and hospitality industry are quickly recognizing the benefits of using biometrics, including the reduction of buddy punching and an overall improvement in time and attendance data accuracy,” states Michael Trader, President of M2SYS Technology. “We are excited about being chosen by TimeForge, and look forward to a long-standing relationship with them and their customers.”

For more information about pricing, or how to get a Fingerprint scanner, contact the TimeForge sales department.

Can you build a schedule in less than 10 minutes? How many thousands of dollars do you spend making schedules every year? Did you know that TimeForge can minimize costs and increase profits through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, pizzeria, hotel, club, bar, or retail business. Sign up today for a free trial!

During economic booms, such as those witnessed during the last few years, many businesses focused on increasing sales while their operations lagged behind.  Operational aspects such as inventory control, portion sizing, reducing turnover, improving employee retention, and training are all import details of hospitality and retail businesses that can be swept under the rug in good times.

Jim Sullivan, the chief executive of Sullivision.com recently penned “In hard times, control costs instead of hiding your inefficiencies by just pumping up volume” at Nation’s Restaurant News.  Although his article is meant for restaurants, it is also applicable to retailers, hotels, and other similar businesses.  Jim covers a number of issues, including one aspect of running a business that is often forgotten in the day to day operations:

Remember, all money is not created equal: $100 in sales is $100 less taxes and expenses; $100 in savings is $100. Here are some fiscal fundamentals to review and execute with your team in both tough times and boom times.

Now is an excellent time to revisit your business’s operational procedures, making them be more efficient and cost conscience - immediately improving profit at your business.  A variety of tools, including TimeForge, are designed to improve cost controls at your business - producing schedules in minutes instead of not hours.

Can you build a schedule in less than 10 minutes?  How many thousands of dollars do you spend making schedules every year?  Did you know that TimeForge can minimize costs and increase profits through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, pizzeria, hotel, club, bar, or retail business. Sign up today for a free trial!

Do you own or operate a retail or restaurant company?  Perhaps your store sells collectibles, health food products, cell phone accessories or curtains and rugs.  Regardless of the goods being offered, tightly controlling your labor expenses in the current economic climate is crucial to generate a profit.  Relevant employee expenses including payroll costs, training, and turnover should be properly managed.  With the proper procedures and a set of tools to assist with the complex chore of managing labor, your business can increase profitability.

One key to managing a labor force properly is to schedule part-time and full-time employees before they are needed for work (a theoretical work schedule), and then track the scheduled work against when employees clock-in and clock-out (the actual worked hours), a process known actual vs. theoretical, or AvT.  Good managers reduce the difference (variance) between the Actual hours worked and the Theoretical schedule, while maximizing the sales for the business.

Improper labor scheduling will lead to one of two circumstances for your business:

1. Too many employees are scheduled to work, increasing payroll costs, and reducing profits.  Alternatively, employees are sent home (or cut from the schedule) without working hours they were promised on the schedule.
2. Too few employees are scheduled to work, decreasing the number of sales that are made, and reducing profits.

Neither option is desirable, and the key to avoiding both situations is to monitor and refine the AvT at your business.

Smart managers constantly balance employee satisfaction against the needs of the business in an effort to keep payroll costs down, reduce turnover, and increase profits.  Turnover is extremely expensive, and a 2004 study by the Employment Policy Foundation found that the average turnover cost of a single full-time employee is $13,355.  To recover from the effects of the turnover of a single full-time employee, a retail store would need to sell more than 3,000 pairs of khakis priced at $35 each.  A restaurant would need to sell more than 7,613 children’s combo meals at $2.50 each.

One way to reduce turnover at your store is to implement a labor scheduling tool such as TimeForge, an online employee scheduling solution.

Peter Edwards, owner of Zeb’s General Store in North Conway, New Hampshire knows that proper employee scheduling is key to managing a retail business, especially a seasonal business.  Peter chose TimeForge to help him manage full-time and part-time shift labor at his store. reducing employee turnover and lowering labor costs.  Peter uses templates in TimeForge to rapidly build schedules for his business, and TimeForge automatically emails and text messages the schedule to his employees on a daily basis – notifying employees of their upcoming work schedule and keeping his staff happy.

Peter had this to say about TimeForge:

I own a retail company.  We employ 15 full time employees, and between 5 and 15 part time employees depending upon our season.  I signed up for the 90 day trial period and have been using the TimeForge program for about 45 days.  I have found the program to be easy to use and it hits the mark with respect to our staff scheduling needs.  The email notification aspect of the program is a great feature that I am sure our employees will like.

The most important aspect of TimeForge is the incredible customer support.  Responses to the help menu item are emailed within 24 hours, and a live person actually answers the phone to respond to your questions.  I look forward to using TimeForge and would be pleased to talk with any prospective user of the scheduling program.

If you would like to see what TimeForge can do for your restaurant, hospitality, or retail business, then please sign up today for a free trial or contact our sales department for more information about TimeForge.

How long does it take to make an employee schedule for your employees? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can minimize costs and increase profits through effective employee scheduling at your pizza, restaurant, hotel, bar, club, or retail business. Sign up today for a free trial!

Additional highlights from our four days in Houston at the Texas Restaurant Show included:

Steve Green of Pizza Magazine Quarterly and PMQ.com had the US Pizza Team showing off their skills at the show. Steve stopped by on Tuesday and took a look at TimeForge – it is a perfect labor solution for pizzerias without a Point of Sale solution, and TimeForge is a great add-on to help control labor costs for those pizza shops that already have an existing POS program.

Dave Hwang from DinePoint was in the area attending the show, and we spent some time with him discussing plans for his above store reporting software package. He has had great success with a number of Point of Sale resellers, vendors, and major regional and national restaurant brands adopting his product.

David (also known as David_L) from FoodService.com was showing off the Digital Dining Point of Sale product, along with some girls from Hooters. He regularly posts on the FoodService.com food forums, and it was great to finally meet him in person.

Dominos Pizza had a corporate meeting at the Texas Restaurant Association, and we met with many franchisees about using TimeForge at their pizza business. Most operators and owners were surprised at how simple TimeForge is to use compared to doing things the “old fashioned” way.

Join us in Dallas for next years Texas Restaurant Show - we have already reserved our booth!

How long does it take to make an employee schedule for your employees? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can minimize costs and increase profits through effective employee scheduling at your pizza, restaurant, hotel, bar, club, or retail business. Sign up today for a free trial!

We just got back from four full days in sunny Houston, TX. We exhibited at the 2008 Southwest Food Expo, hosted by the Texas Restaurant Association. TimeForge occupied booth 1546 right next to the franchise pavilion and we had a great time in Houston! Throughout the show we became friends with many of our neighbors, dined on wonderful food, and spoke to a number of restaurateurs, hotel and retail owners – most need help with employee scheduling.

We really enjoyed spending time with our neighbors from Del Mar College and Ctuit.

• Del Mar is a wonderful establishment, and Chef Mark (heading their program) knows what he’s doing, with years of experience “on the floor”. Anyone looking to enter the hospitality industry – or needing to hire talented graduates – should contact Del Mar College.
• Ctuit is a leading provider of above-store reporting software that integrates with several different kinds of Point of Sale, Accounting / GL, Time and Attendance, and other software packages. Reports are sent to a central location and can be reviewed by corporate, regional, or district level managers. Thanks for demonstrating your product to us!

Next to us was the Franchise Pavilion, and it included reps from Boston’s Pizza Restaurants, Pollo Campero, Which Which, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Huddle House, and Franchise Times. It seemed to be a tough show for finding franchisees, but many of them kept the show very entertaining for us. If they (or their franchisees) need labor scheduling, they’ll know TimeForge can help!

Lance, Mike, and the rest of the Focus POS crew were on site, dressed down in their bright orange brand and ready to help restaurant owners find the right Point of Sale system. Of all of the Point of Sale vendors, Focus POS has one of the most full-featured labor scheduling systems. They understand that employee scheduling is hard - and try to make it easy for operators to build schedules. It was good to see them again.

Gary Peek, president of Intura stopped by and spoke with us about TimeForge and its applicability in international markets. I spent some time in the Intura booth on Tuesday learning about their mapping software and their ability to do sales analytics based on geographical sales locations. Very cool technology!

More TRA Expo highlights coming ….

How long does it take to make a labor schedule for your workforce? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can improve profits and minimize costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, hotel, bank, school, bar, club, or retail business.