Labor Management. NOW Simple.

Due to overwhelming demand, we released our new Today page for managers, providing an executive dashboard for labor management.   This new Today page includes all of the previous information (bar charts for who is working, labor costs for the day, which employees are clocked in, pending requests and shift swaps), as well as a number of new items to ease the burden of managing the employee schedule.

1. The first row of data shows how many employees are scheduled for the day (unique shifts), and if you click on this link you will get the bar chart that you are used to seeing, which can be printed, just like the old chart could be printed.

2. The second row of data shows any unconfirmed shifts from your staff members, providing you with some idea of how many employees have confirmed receipt of their schedule through TimeForge. Clicking on this link will allow you to further examine which shifts have been confirmed, or not confirmed.

3. The third row of data displays how many Pending Shift Swaps need to be approved for that day. Pending Shift Swaps are exactly the same as the Shift Swaps that were shown before on the Today page, and clicking on this link will take you to a screen to approve or deny the pending shift swaps. This functions exactly like it did on the old Today screen.

4. The fourth row of data displays how many Open Shifts occur on that day. An Open Shift is a shift that has been Given Up, but not yet Picked Up. Clicking on this link will take you to a page displaying more detail about the Open Shifts, as well as any Pending Shift Swaps.   Again, this functions exactly like it did on the old Today screen.

5. The fifth row of data displays today’s schedule in a bar chart format, very similar to the first row.

6. The sixth row of data will provide the day’s schedule in a Horizontal or Vertical format, allowing you to print the schedule and place it your pocket. Again, these links function exactly like they did on the old Today screen.

7. The seventh row of data will allow you to quickly see how many staff members are clocked in, and clicking on the link will send you to the “Clocked In” Employees page. This also functions exactly like it did on the old Today screen.

8. The eighth row of data displays the number of Daily Log entries for the day, and clicking on this link will take you to the Daily Log.

9. The ninth row of data displays the day’s scheduled labor costs, if any labor costs have been entered for staff members.

10. The tenth row of data displays the actual cost of employee’s who have clocked in and out for the day, and is the total of your day’s labor. This functions exactly like it did on the old Today screen.

11. The eleventh row of data displays the difference between the scheduled labor costs, and the actual attendance – if the number is in green, the actual labor costs for the day are less than what was scheduled (good job!), if they are in red, then the labor costs are higher than what was scheduled.

12. The last row of data displays the rolling labor cost for the day, and resets based on when your schedule starts. You can use this number to keep track of your labor costs for the week. This works just like the previous “Week To Date” cost did.

You can move forward and backwards in time, and have access to all of the data on this page that you had previously including:

• Shift swaps requiring approval,
• Requests that require approval,
• The bar chart describing the labor for the day,
• The labor costs for the day,
• The week to date labor costs,
• And much, much more.

In between the “Next Week” and the “Previous Week” are two links, “Approve or Deny Shift Swaps” and “Approve or Deny Pending Requests”, which will be shown if there are ANY shift swaps or pending requests to approve, regardless of which day the requests or shift swaps fall on.

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of hospitality, food-service, retail, and other service-oriented businesses around the world.   TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge Dashboard
• New Schedule Demo
• Enforce Scheduled Positions and Clock In Times
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 2)

Now available! Managing labor at your business just became even more simple.   TimeForge Mobile recently launched, providing managers and staff members the ability to review employee schedules, check timecards, send and receive online messages, and perform other labor management related items on an iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, or other smartphone.

TimeForge Mobile can be accessed by pointing your favorite web browser or RSS reader at the TimeForge website.   To ensure the confidentiality of the information that is available, the RSS reading program must be able to use both SSL (bank-level encryption and security) and authentication (username and password).   Some of our favorite RSS readers include:

• Viigo on the Blackberry
• NetNewswire and Pro RSS on the iPhone
• Others (mostly for the desktop) can be found here

Accessing TimeForge Mobile is very simple!   Just add the website or URL of:

http://www.TimeForge.com/Scheduler/rss.html

to your RSS program of choice – enter your username and password – and your schedule, timecard, availability, and messages will automatically load into your RSS program.

Managers and supervisors have additional capabilities, and multi-unit and multi-store operators can view additional information (such as which staff members are clocked in, the days labor costs, and gross sales for the day).   A full list of RSS URL’s can be found inside “My Settings” page within TimeForge.

TimeForge staff scheduling and labor management software is used by managers, owners, and operators of restaurants, retail stores, bars, clubs, and other service-oriented businesses to increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention.

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge.com Training Webinar – Learn How To Schedule Properly
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Our New Employee Scheduling System!
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• New Schedule Demo

Building employee schedules can be a time consuming and laborious task, and getting a schedule wrong means higher turnover and lower profits. With TimeForge, managers can quickly and easily review and post labor schedules, approve (or deny) time off, and manage employee shift swaps – all in a few seconds!

TimeForge Scheduling has been designed from the ground up to keep managers on the floor, not stuck in the back room working in Excel or on a clipboard!

TimeForge is a web-based employee scheduling and labor management system that ensures staff stay informed of any schedule changes with text messages, email messages, Facebook, and smart phone access (such as a Blackberry or iPhone) – automatically!

More than 2,500 businesses around the world have used TimeForge to manage their labor – retail stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, pharmacies, valet companies, doctors offices, children’s health clinics, child care centers, churches, and many other businesses!

Build a Schedule in Seconds!

• Ease to Use
  There is no software to install, and includes a fast web-based setup.
• Cost-Effective
  Weekly schedules can be created in under a minute.
• AutoScheduler
  Gives you and other managers more time “on the floor”.
• Balanced Schedules
  Balance staff requests and labor requirements to create a perfect schedule.
• Daily Reminders
  Staff members receive daily reminders about work schedules
• Reduce Turnover
  Automatic labor management keeps staff happy, reducing turnover!
• Automatic Notifications
  TimeForge automatically notifies staff of any schedule changes.
• Control Costs
  Control labor costs with sophisticated reporting
• Instant Return On Investment
  Instant ROI so you can focus on growing your business
• Affordable
  TimeForge provides plans that are affordable for businesses of all sizes!

Employee Scheduling Software is also known as Labor Scheduling Software, and some companies refer to this type of software as Enterprise Employee Scheduling Software. Whatever your organization calls it, TimeForge Scheduling is the most powerful tool available to manage labor and control profits at your business! Read more about the capabilities of TimeForge Scheduling, or Sign Up for a Free Trial.

Download a TimeForge Media Kit, which contains more information about TimeForge Scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)

Owners and operators in the retail and restaurant industries face a common problem with Point of Sale (POS) systems …. sophisticated POS systems can take some time to learn – and operators are too busy with day-to-day operations to learn the systems completely.

As David Scott Peters points out in a quick blog post over at FOHBOH (Front of House, Back of House), a deep understanding of your Point of Sale system is an absolute must.   David points out that in addition to being a cash register, POS systems can perform a number of additional tasks, such as locating ideal food costs, managing inventory, controlling labor costs, and much more.

However, one aspect that David did not touch upon is that there are often major capability differences between the various Point of Sale manufacturers.   Some systems do have built-in inventory, food costing, and labor management modules, but many others do not have these modules.

In many cases, it is preferable to identify and use a best-of-breed solution designed specifically for the task at hand.   For example, CostGuard continues to develop and maintain the best inventory managament system available for restaurants, bars, and clubs.   TimeForge labor management software is designed from the ground-up to make labor management and employee scheduling easy for restaurant and retail operators.

Related articles or pages

• Western Food Expo is a Wrap!
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Age and Brand Analysis of POS Systems in Foodservice
• Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo
• Restaurant, Bar, and Club Scheduling Options (Part 2 of 4)

Read Part 1 of the November newsletter here.

Some of the improvements to the TimeForge products are detailed below.

TimeForge Scheduling – Improvements for Employees
The employee side of TimeForge Labor Scheduling has received a number of improvements over the past few months, including some major improvements this past weekend.   These include:

• Employees can now delete their own pending requests, without requiring manager approval.   This allows employees to become “available” for work without needing to involve management.

• Searching for available shifts is now easier than ever.   Employees can view qualified “open” shifts with a single click , or they can search for specific shifts by date and time.   Once a potential shift is found, a shift swap request can be made directly through TimeForge, with a single click.

• The employee interface has been improved to show shift notes, sections, and make the screens more user friendly.

TimeForge Scheduling – Improvements for Managers
The management side of TimeForge Scheduling has received many improvements over the past few months, including some important improvements this past weekend.   These include:

• The Schedule Summary screen now includes a number of useful metrics, including the number of variable hours scheduled, non-variable (management) hours scheduled, as well as the hours, labor costs, and the costs of breaks.   A number of other important numbers are recorded on this screen as well!

• Many of our users have requested the ability to forecast , forecasting for sales, customer counts, inventory orders, schedules, or staffing levels.   Many of you want to be able to compare labor costs, labor hours, or scheduled shifts directly to the projected numbers to see how the schedule stacks up.   In Excel, this is very hard to do accurately.   It’s now available in TimeForge! Managers with TimeForge Scheduling Basic, Pro, and Max can enter daily, hourly, or quarter-hour manager projections (or actual values), and TimeForge will display and enforce labor percentages in the schedule.   Check the TimeForge Blog for an upcoming tutorial on the usage of the TimeForge Forecasting System.

• Adding and editing schedules has never been easier!   TimeForge automatically adds new shifts as you type, reducing the number of clicks that it takes to create a schedule.   Also, the schedules can now be sorted by position, start time, end time, or employee.

Other information about the TimeForge update can be found in Part 1 and Part 3 of this newsletter.

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!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 3)
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 1)
• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• In Hard Times, Retail and Restaurant Companies Should Control Costs
• Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!

Building employee schedules can be a time consuming and laborious task, and getting a schedule wrong means higher turnover and lower profits. With TimeForge, managers can quickly and easily review and post labor schedules, approve (or deny) time off, and manage employee shift swaps – all in a few seconds!

TimeForge Scheduling has been designed from the ground up to keep managers on the floor, not stuck in the back room working in Excel or on a clipboard!

TimeForge is a web-based employee scheduling and labor management system that ensures staff stay informed of any schedule changes with text messages, email messages, Facebook, and smart phone access (such as a Blackberry or iPhone) – automatically!

More than 2,500 businesses around the world have used TimeForge to manage their labor – retail stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, pharmacies, valet companies, doctors offices, children’s health clinics, child care centers, churches, and many other businesses!

Build a Schedule in Seconds!

• Ease to Use
  There is no software to install, and includes a fast web-based setup.
• Cost-Effective
  Weekly schedules can be created in under a minute.
• AutoScheduler
  Gives you and other managers more time “on the floor”.
• Balanced Schedules
  Balance staff requests and labor requirements to create a perfect schedule.
• Daily Reminders
  Staff members receive daily reminders about work schedules
• Reduce Turnover
  Automatic labor management keeps staff happy, reducing turnover!
• Automatic Notifications
  TimeForge automatically notifies staff of any schedule changes.
• Control Costs
  Control labor costs with sophisticated reporting
• Instant Return On Investment
  Instant ROI so you can focus on growing your business
• Affordable
  TimeForge provides plans that are affordable for businesses of all sizes!

Employee Scheduling Software is also known as Labor Scheduling Software, and some companies refer to this type of software as Enterprise Employee Scheduling Software or Enterprise Labor Scheduling Software. Whatever your organization calls it, TimeForge Scheduling is the most powerful tool available to manage labor and control profits at your business! Read more about the capabilities of TimeForge Scheduling, or Sign Up for a Free Trial.

Download a TimeForge Media Kit, which contains more information about TimeForge Scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)

We previously discussed the Wall Stree Journal article about Starbucks recent change in labor scheduling at most of their stores.   The change has been initiated by management to address issues of slower sales in the economy, save on labor costs, and to reduce turnover by providing more hours to (fewer) employees.

It seems that Starbucks baristas and others have written about the changes to the program on the Starbucks Gossip blog.   The first blog post / thread discusses the original WSJ article and its implications on the coffee shops and retail experience.   The second blog post / thread, discusses that a side effect of the new labor system is that baristas are allowed to make bad drinks – in order to save 5 seconds per drink.   That probably isn’t the desired side effect of an improved scheduling system.

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!

Related articles or pages

• Starbucks Employee Scheduling
• Why Schedule Labor Properly? – Part Two
• Western Food Expo is a Wrap!
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• TimeForge Service Restored – Better Than Ever

According to the Wall Street Journal, the largest coffee retailer, Starbucks, is changing its scheduling system to have fewer employees work longer hours at its various locations. The goal of the new scheduling program is to reduce labor costs for the chain, while improving sales through customer familiarization with the on duty staff members.

Will the plan work? It’s very possible. With smart and accurate labor scheduling, Starbucks should be able to reduce turnover and keep employees happy while lowering their labor costs.   However, if Starbucks begins over scheduling employees, the plan may actually backfire on them — creating higher levels of turnover, decreased profits, and lowering sales.

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!

Related articles or pages

• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 2)

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!

Related articles or pages

• Restaurant Business Article on Workforce Problems
• Updates to Employee Scheduling and Time and Attendance Software
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Increase Profits with Improved Cost Controls

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!

Related articles or pages

• Labor Scheduling at the TRA Show – 2008
• Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is Wrapped Up…
• Accuvia, Labor Scheduling Systems
• Western Food Expo is a Wrap!
• Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs