Labor Management. NOW Simple.

Lately, everyone has been going crazy for “going green“. While some business owners are dismissing the rapidly growing trend as a fad, many savvy business owners are learning how to capitalize on the environmentally-conscious movement among younger workers. It is important for businesses to recognize that Generation Y is particularly sensitive to Green efforts, and (as our Marketing to Generation Y blog mentioned) is spending $150 billion dollars annually on expenses such as food, drinks, and entertainment.

Changes to make your business more environmentally friendly will:

• Improve your employee retention rate of environmentally-conscious Gen Y (and older generations’) staff members
• Allow you to capitalize on the 70 million individuals looking to spend their money in “Green” establishments. According to a recent study by Forrester Research, nearly 40% of Gen Y-ers are willing to pay more for products or services that are environmentally friendly.

When you are ready to take the next steps to make your business Green, the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) is a national non-profit organization that provides a convenient and cost-effective way for restaurants, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers to become more environmentally responsible. According to case studies by the GRA, businesses that they have assisted have had the following savings:

• After only one year since their GRA certification, The Draft House reported a 54% water reduction and a trash reduction of 50%.
• GustOrganics, the first certified Organic restaurant in New York State received free publicity from The Today Show, Telemundo, CNN, The New York Times, Financial Times and more after becoming GRA certified.
• Boston restaurant Taranta eliminated almost all garbage with recycling and composting program, and enjoyed savings of $1,300 per year by switching from paper towels to an energy-efficient hand dryer.
• “I realized about a 45% return on my investment in one year and cut approximately $1200 off my annual operating costs. Not only am I pleased with the financial results of my decision, I also know that my association with the GRA has inspired employee morale.” – Jim Solomon, Fireplace Restaurant.

Going Green will help your business save money, reduce employee turnover, generate positive publicity and increase your sales. For more information on going Green or getting your restaurant GRA certified, click here.

TimeForge can help your business take the first step to  becoming  green with our online labor management products.   Our software will help you dramatically reduce the amount of paper required for you to run your business by removing the paperwork overhead needed for common HR needs.

Related articles or pages

• Part Two: Recruiting and Retaining Gen Y Employees
• Generation Y Part One: Marketing
• Updates to Employee Scheduling and Time and Attendance Software
• Track Staff Certifications and Qualifications
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants

Lubbock, TX , May 28, 2008 , Making a great work schedule week after week is often a painful managerial chore for businesses of all sizes. However, the increased store profits, lower turnover, and improved employee morale make employee scheduling software a worthwhile investment. Many operators in the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries create labor schedules by hand using pen-and-paper methods that can consume up to seven hours a week in managerial time , an expense of more than $12,000 per year in manager time building and managing the labor schedule! Operators using spreadsheets still spend at least two hours a week scheduling labor.

Well-chosen software solutions can help operators control labor and increase profits, without incurring great expense. For example, TimeForge, a web-based labor scheduling product tightly controls employee labor costs and reduces turnover by providing a simple-to-use solution for scheduling employees. The TimeForge software program, available at http://www.TimeForge.com, ensures that managers spend more time “on the floor” and less time in the back office scheduling employees.

The most recent version, released on May 27, 2008 includes a number of improvements to the software and continues to build on TimeForge’s success as a quick, simple, and affordable scheduling solution for businesses of all sizes. According to Michael, the proprietor of Tiara Cafe in California, “The TimeForge scheduling system has not only increased our efficiency tremendously; decreased the errors in what is normally an error prone environment; it has also saved us ten times what it costs us each month.”

TimeForge turns employee scheduling into an automated task that can be performed in a few minutes every week , improving store profits by thousands of dollars every year for the store. Some advantages of the new TimeForge include:

• TimeForge now includes the ability to track employee tips, which can be entered when an employee clocks out, or later by management!
• Schedules and templates can be organized into departments (similar to folders) to easily differentiate between “Front of House” and “Back of House” schedules.
• New attendance reports are available for supervisors and managers.
• Managers can easily see why an employee cannot be scheduled , regardless if the employee is already scheduled at another location or in a conflicting shift, or if the employee is unavailable.
• Locations / stores / units can be organized into a Corporate Hierarchy so that managers can monitor scheduling practices for groups of locations.
• Many other improvements!

Independent and chain operators alike can benefit from the many time saving and profit improving features of labor scheduling systems such as TimeForge. Get back on the floor today!

About TimeForge
TimeForge is the premier employee scheduling software, designed to provide fast ROI benefits to the business, and to meet the growing demands of the work force. TimeForge.com is affordable software that works with both independent and chain operations in retail, hospitality, and many other industries. For more information about TimeForge, and to sign up for a free trial, visit the website at http://www.TimeForge.com

Related articles or pages

• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley
• TimeForge Labor Management, a quick background ….
• Reduce Turnover with Shift Scheduling Software
• Increase Profits with Improved Cost Controls

Save Thousands Through Better Scheduling of Labor , Reduce Turnover and Headaches

Lubbock, TX , April 20, 2008 , The slowing United States economy is having a negative impact on sales within the restaurant and retail industries and operators are seeking creative methods to improve profit margins at their companies. In the absence of growing sales, a common strategy is to focus on stronger inventory and labor controls to increase profits. It’s a strategy that will not only pay during tough economic times, but will continue to reap returns when the good times return. Well-chosen technology can help operators manage both cost centers without incurring great expense or time. One such example is TimeForge, a labor scheduling product that tightly controls employee labor costs by providing a simple-to-use solution for scheduling employees.

The TimeForge software program, available at http://www.TimeForge.com, ensures that managers spend more time “on the floor” and less time in the back office scheduling employees. The most recent version, released on April 20th, 2008 includes a number of improvements to the software and continues to build on TimeForge’s success as a quick, simple, and affordable scheduling solution for businesses of all sizes.

In many cases the new version of TimeForge can drastically increase operator efficiency and reduce the errors caused by ineffective scheduling techniques. Managers without labor scheduling tools, such as TimeForge, commonly spend more than $12,000 a year in management time (based on a national salary average of $62,500) building and managing the labor schedule! The latest version of TimeForge.com turns employee scheduling into an automated task that can be performed in a few minutes every week , improving store profits by thousands of dollars every year for the store.

Some advantages of the new TimeForge include:

• TimeForge can manage meal and break periods for the schedule, and now includes break worksheets!
• Costs for schedules now include overtime, including 1.5x, 2.0x, and California Overtime and exemptions!
• TimeForge can be integrated with a number of software packages, reducing operator data entry
• New multi-location reports
• Many other improvements!

Making a great schedule every week is often a painful managerial chore for businesses of all sizes. The increased store profits, lower turnover, and improved employee morale make employee scheduling software a worthwhile investment. Many hospitality and retail owners have discovered how properly managing labor saves time and money for the business with a free trail of TimeForge.

About TimeForge.com
TimeForge.com is the premier employee scheduling software, designed to provide fast ROI benefits to the business, and to meet the growing demands of the work force. TimeForge.com is affordable software that works with both independent and chain operations in retail, hospitality, and many other industries. For more information about TimeForge.com, and to sign up for a Free Trial, visit the website at http://www.TimeForge.com

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 streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your motel, bank, school, restaurant, bar, club, or retail business.

Related articles or pages

• Why Schedule Labor Properly? – Part Two
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• TimeForge v1.9.2 , Scheduling is Simplified and Graphical!
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Reduce Turnover with Shift Scheduling Software

In a recent entry, we discussed where improper labor scheduling led to very poor customer experience at a local Taco Bell store. In addition to upsetting their guests, the labor shortage caused several other problems within their store , many of which will have long-term negative consequences for the restaurant.

What did the labor shortage cost them?

1. Guests were unhappy. This includes myself and the man in front of me, at a minimum. The guests inside were not very happy either. Will they come back? There is no way to know, but Taco Bell has two direct competitor’s (Mexican QSR food) less than two blocks away.
2. Employee Satisfaction. There is no doubt that the employees were upset because of the increased workload, pressure, and the guest dissatisfaction. The labor shortage was likely a management decision, which has directly affected the employee morale.
3. Increased Turnover. Most QSR employees have prospective jobs within a few yards, and this fast-food concept is no different. While sitting in the drive-thru, I could spot at least six other businesses that would readily hire any of the Taco Bell employees.
4. Reduction in sales. One customer every six minutes? Assuming that this restaurant concept averages $1.00 in net profit per customer, they are making only $10 per hour in profit. How did we calculate their profit? 60 minutes / 6 minutes per customer = 10 customers served. $1 per customer = $10 in profit per hour. By improving their serving time to 1 customer per minute, they could have made $60 per hour!

What could they have done to properly allocate their work-force?

1. Could they have chosen a more skilled cook to work alone as the line cook? A skilled worker may be hundreds of times faster than an un-skilled worker. (TimeForge can assign employees to shifts using skill levels!)
2. Could the drive-thru order processing and the front-counter clerk duties been merged to one person? This would have put a second body in the kitchen, potentially more than doubling their kitchen output. (TimeForge can track labor costs, helping managers decide which job functions can be combined)
3. Could they have scheduled a fourth employee? This would have increased their labor cost, but the extra worked could be sent home after their sales and labor peak passed. (TimeForge can schedule additional employees with a single click).
4. And many other options!

It might be time for the management of the store to look for a cost-effective scheduling tool, such as TimeForge!

How long does it take to make your labor schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, club, or business.

Related articles or pages

• Increase Profits with Improved Cost Controls
• Reduce Turnover with Shift Scheduling Software
• TimeForge.com Version 1.4 — Release Soon
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• TimeForge Newsletter , November Edition (Part 2)