Labor Management. NOW Simple.

Labor management is usually the largest single cost for both conveyor and self-service car wash operators. In a recession, efficient car wash employee scheduling and attendance monitoring can spell the difference between survival and success.

Unfortunately, as any experienced car wash operator knows, employee scheduling and attendance monitoring is not as easy as it looks. You’ve got to juggle employees with varying skill sets and availabilities, manage PTO accrual and time off requests, communicate a frequently changing schedule to employees that are rarely onsite at the same time, and field dozens of schedule questions or shift swap requests. You’ve got to stop employees from riding the clock or punching others in. You may even have to keep an eye on the hours of employees who are minors to avoid labor law violations, or shuffle shifts to be sure that every shift has an English speaker or an employee with particular training on hand.

And to be really successful in the car wash and detailing industry, you also have to balance your employees and your load level scheduling-having the staff   in place to handle the vehicles quickly during busy periods, but to not be overstaffed in slow times-and to effectively manage and anticipate labor costs.

It’s complex, it’s time consuming, and frankly, it’s a little tedious.

TimeForge allows operators to cut car wash scheduling and attendance monitoring time from hours to minutes. You can manage schedules at one or many locations, schedule to put those with particular skills or the most experience in the high volume time slots, notify employees of upcoming schedules and schedule changes by email or text message, monitor attendance from a remote location, and forecast your labor costs.

The hours you save with TimeForge will streamline your management time, freeing you to focus on the strategic decisions of running a successful car wash/detailing operation, rather than phone calls from disgruntled employees who didn’t realize their schedule had changed. The fine-tuning you can do with employee scheduling, the reduction in missed or late shifts, the decrease in unnecessary overtime, and the ability to forecast labor needs and costs will save you money. In fact, TimeForge can increase car wash profits by 3-5%.

With TimeForge Car Wash Software, You’ll Be Able To …

• Build employee schedules in seconds.
• Record staff member availability, employee time off   requests, and other key information
• Export payroll to many popular payroll providers with a single click.
• Inform employees of schedules or schedule changes by text message or email-eliminating employee confusion and missed shifts.
• Stop early clock ins and late clock outs or buddy punching to provide immediate labor cost controls
  Remotely check on employees that are clocked in – using the web, Facebook, or a cell phone.
• Provide remote access for employees to view work schedules, review time cards, request time off, change work availability, swap shifts with other staff members, and receive daily schedule alerts via email or text messages.
• Manage and forecast labor costs to decrease costs and increase profits
• And much more…

Read more about TimeForge Scheduling, TimeForge Attendance, and TimeForge Daily Log.

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Industry analysts say sales at auto supply retailers have been bolstered during the downturn by customers purchasing replacement parts as they maintain older vehicles rather than investing in new models, a cost-saving trend that is likely to continue as the economy recovers. That’s good news for the auto supply industry.

But that doesn’t mean that auto supply store managers can get sloppy about employee scheduling and attendance monitoring. In fact, dealing with an uptick in business in a downturn makes auto parts supply employee scheduling and attendance monitoring even trickier-you need to schedule enough employees to handle your customers, without over-staffing or watching your profits leach into unnecessary overtime. Without careful management, relatively small successes can lead to large failures.  

Even in more normal times, auto parts and supply employee scheduling and attendance monitoring can be a headache. The manager building the schedule has to consider employee abilities/skills, anticipated sales volume, employee availability, individual work requests, accrued PTO, labor laws for employees who are minors, overtime, and overall labor costs.

Make a mistake with any of these details, and the store can lose sales, employees, or be fined. Managers have to communicate the schedule (and every shift swap or schedule update) to all the employees. They have to keep an eye on late or missed shifts, early clock ins and late clock outs, or buddy time punching.

It’s tedious, it’s time-consuming, and it’s crucial.

These are dizzying times for auto parts and supply store managers. The industry-and key players-seem to be changing on a minute by minute basis. Efficient auto parts employee scheduling and attendance monitoring is essential, but there are plenty of other urgent issues vying for a manager’s attention.

That’s where a powerful employee scheduling and attendance software system like Time Forge comes in.

With TimeForge you can…

• Create a schedule in 30 seconds rather than hours.
• Manage schedules at one or many locations.
• Schedule those with particular skills or the most experience in the high volume time slots.
• Notify employees of upcoming schedules and schedule changes by email or text message – eliminating confusion and missed shifts
• Monitor attendance from a remote location using the web, a cell phone, or even Facebook.
• Stop early clock ins and late clock outs or buddy punching to provide immediate labor cost controls.
• Accurately forecast future scheduling needs and labor costs.
• Save hours every day that can be used to solve pressing problems not untangling scheduling snafus.
• Increase profits by 3-5%.
• And much more…

Read more about TimeForge Scheduling, TimeForge Attendance, and TimeForge Daily Log.

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One of the most frustrating aspects of labor management systems is the process of inputting all of the data needed to use a employee scheduling, time and attendance, or complete labor management system.

Almost all of the labor management systems on the market today (including TimeForge) require that users input and set up:

• Employee names
• Positions and job codes
• Base pay rates
• Basic labor rules (how many hours per week an employee can work, etc…)
• Email addresses
• Department names
• Phone numbers
• Usernames and passwords
• Specific pay rates for employees
• Hire dates
• Birth dates
• Payroll ID’s
• … And other data points that are relevant to labor systems.

Most frustrating is that most users already have much of this information living inside of other documents, such as the payroll system, point of sale system, or various Excel documents.   Re-inputting all of this data can be a huge waste of time.

TimeForge recently introduced an Employee, Position, and Department Import Tool, allowing users to import most of the above information directly from a CSV file or an Excel file.   The tool is very simple to use – simply collect the information together into a CSV file, and then upload the file to TimeForge.

You will have the ability to view the data before it is import, and TimeForge will automatically handle any necessary updates to your existing data.   The Import Tool can be found in the Setup menu.

TimeForge labor management software provides employee scheduling and attendance management for operators, managers, and owners of bars, clubs, retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses to improve profits, reduce turnover, and increase retention.

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Secrets for Hiring Success

Employee scheduling is an important function of human resources and operations at your business.   Good employee schedules will reduce turnover and increase retention, improving cash flow and profits.   Tracking time and attendance is also an important human resource task.   Other HR tasks include processing payroll, hiring, exit interviews, and employee onboarding, among many others.

Hiring is often one of the most complicated and difficult tasks for operations and human resources to perform.   This 7 Secrets for Hiring Success article from Success Performance Solutions is a great reference for hiring managers everywhere in all industries.

Twitter in Human Resources, According to Workforce.com

Twitter is a popular micro-blogging tool that is receiving a lot of press, and has grown significantly over the past 3 years.   A number of industries, including Hollywood, television, music, and others are using Twitter to help grow and keep fans “in the know”.   However, Twitter is also finding a number of uses in the Human Resources (HR) world, as reported by Workforce.com

Make sure to follow TimeForge on Twitter!

TimeForge provides powerful and easy-to-use employee scheduling and online labor management software for restaurant, retail, and other service industries. TimeForge software is used by restaurant owners and operators around the world to increase profits, reduce turnover, and improve retention.

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Because TimeForge tracks Time and Attendance (employee time cards, sick days, vacation time, and PTO requests), we try to keep current on the many issues surrounding employee work scheduling and payroll in the restaurant and retail industries.

The debate on mandatory paid sick days  resurfaced in Connecticut at the  end of March as legislators debated House Bill 6187 which would mandate six paid sick days per year to businesses with 50 or more employees.   Proponents of the bill are trying to drum up support for this bill as a health policy issue because sick food service and hospitality can spread illness to the public.   Sick employees can make the public sick, creating a public health concern.

The Connecticut Restaurant Association, as well as other organizations,  is tracking the issue. Whatever the eventual outcome of the bill, you can count on TimeForge to minimize the burden of accurately tracking  paid sick days and other requests for time off.

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

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The TimeForge product began life about 6 years ago, with the vision of a simple, easy to use, online employee scheduling product for the restaurant and retail industries.

We quickly realized that every business owner and manager has their own idea of what a “simple” employee scheduling system must do to help their business , labor scheduling requirements greatly vary by industry and location.   However, saving time and money is important to all business owners …

• Businesses in California, New York, and other areas need to schedule employee breaks (not very important in Texas, New Mexico, and other locales),
• Large organizations need to schedule multiple departments and supervisors (smaller groups only have one department),
• Labor costs need to be accurate, and account for overtime, multiple locations, positions, and job codes (many businesses fly by the seat of their pants, and don’t see the value in this information),
• Employee schedules need to be enforced, making sure employees do not arrive too early or leave too late (locations with full-time employees don’t worry about this requirement),
• And on, and on -.

Over the past several years, TimeForge has evolved to solve all of these problems , in an approachable manner for new and existing customers.

Multiple versions of the TimeForge service are now available, including:

• TimeForge Scheduling, the simple-to-use employee scheduling software, reduces labor scheduling from hours to seconds, improves employee communication (reducing frustration and turnover), and enables staff to check and receive schedules remotely.

• TimeForge Attendance, a full-featured time and attendance program, tracks when employees clock in / out, displays employee timecards, enforces the TimeForge Scheduling work schedule, and exports attendance for payroll calculations.

• TimeForge Daily Log, a powerful communications tool, records daily activities in an organized and searchable manner , removing the need for expensive physical log books.

Each TimeForge product can be used separately, or the products can be combined together to create a powerful labor management tool.   Managing labor with any of the TimeForge products will result in an immediate Return On Investment, but combining the products together will increase your profits in both good and bad economic climates.

The latest release of TimeForge continues to improve on our simple concepts, and continues to make life easy for managers and employees alike.   Read more about our latest release here…

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

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It has been almost six months since the last TimeForge Newsletter went out , and we apologize!   We have been so busy adding new functionality and improving TimeForge that we haven’t taken the time to inform you about all of the new TimeForge features.   As most of you know, we performed a massive update to TimeForge on Thursday and Friday, delivering enhanced functionality just in time for Halloween (or, if you keep up with football, in time for the Texas Tech vs. Texas game)!

We have officially split TimeForge into three distinct products, and each product can be combined together as needed for your business.   These three products include:

• TimeForge Scheduling, our flagship product continues to be the best labor scheduling tool available , fast, streamlined, and easy to use!

• TimeForge Attendance, a powerful time and attendance package that can enforce the labor schedule, provide detailed employee time cards, and directly export your payroll!

• TimeForge Daily Log, a valuable communications tool useful for recording notes and numbers about maintenance, employee problems, deposit logs, sales figures, and much more!

Some of the improvements to the TimeForge products are detailed in Part 2 and Part 3.

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

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Read about punching in and out (and payroll), and labor schedules before reading this post. Both posts contain information that will make this article make more sense.

Labor Metrics Help Control Payroll and Labor Costs

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!

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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.

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