Labor Management. NOW Simple.

Whew!   We are done with our whirlwind through the NRA 2009 trade show in Chicago, IL – what a great two days.

We are a technology company with a focus on operations and human resources for restaurants, retailers, and other businesses that hire part-time employees – we spent a lot of time examining the trade show and looking for improvements in technology for operations or human resources.

Some of the very neat technology at the show included:

• Dinerware POS is a phenomenal Point of Sale system, and one of our valued partners.   Several sales staff and other partners were on site to show off their latest version.
• Silverware POS recently debuted and released a best-of-breed restaurant POS product, Avrio, which was onsite at the show.   What a wonderful group of individuals, and a great product!
• MonkeyMedia Software displayed their rocking catering software outside of the Technology Pavilion.   They caused a bit of a commotion by handing out bananas!
• QuandraNet is similar to OpenTable, but with a very, very smart table management software program that increases table turns in addition to handling reservations.
• Corvirtus was showing off their products that take the guesswork out of hiring. Very neat algorithms, and years of research create a great hiring tool.   Wonderful stuff.

Overall, the show attendance seemed to be down compared to last year, which seems to be the general consensus.

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

Related articles or pages

• Labor Scheduling Software Article at Nation’s Restaurant News
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• Support for Salaried Employees from within Dinerware
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Dinerware and TimeForge Labor Management Improvements

• Communication between staff members is the key to a good schedule. Shift swaps, staffing minimums, requests for days off, changes in availability, upcoming business requirements (private parties, birthdays, etc…) will all demand more from the staff than any one person will know.   Coordination is key to ensuring a smooth workday.

• Ensure that staff members have any necessary certifications, and that the certifications are current. An employee working without the right certifications can cost your business thousands in fines by various policing authorities, and in some locales, can land the manager on-duty in jail.

• Copying a schedule from the previous week is a quick way to make a schedule for the upcoming week. But this method of employee schedule creation assumes that the previous schedule was “good“. How would you know?   Use various metrics to identify whether the schedule worked for your business – actual vs. theoretical, how many shifts changed, were employees satisfied, how many no-shows occurred, was the actual payroll within an acceptable margin of the actual sales (or customer throughput)?

• Cross training is an excellent management technique to ensure that when the unexpected happens, your business is prepared.   Employees who have been cross trained are able to perform more than one job duty.   When staff members fail to show up to work, or an emergency happens at the business, the workforce is prepared to handle the situation.

• Early clockins and late clockouts can drain the profits from your business. Every employee that clocks in early, or clocks out late is using up precious profits that could be going to fund expansion, provide raises, and pay bills. Watch out for employees who ride the clock by monitoring the employee schedules, and comparing clock in and clock out times to scheduled work times.

• Managers spend hours messing with and creating the work schedule every week. Keep staff members happy and use TimeForge to make the employee schedules.   Employees stay happy because employee’s know what is going on, and managers are content because they can build an employee schedule in seconds.

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

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge Attendance Improvements
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Workforce Scheduling is Now Listed in FindApps.com
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business

At TimeForge we are continuing to innovate employee scheduling and labor management – always making employee schedules easier to build and maintain.   And we recently introduced Employee Schedule Snapshots … a new and easy way to save, restore, and perform “What If” scenarios on your employee work schedule.

What can you use Employee Schedule Snapshots for?

Schedule Snapshots are useful for performing point-in-time saves. TimeForge schedules are automatically saved anytime any field is modified, but sometimes it is useful to save the current schedule before making any modifications – so that you may come back to it if necessary.   Schedule Snapshots allow you to archive the current version of the schedule, along with some quick stats about the number of shifts, and the cost of the schedule.

At any point in time, a previous Schedule Snapshot can easily be restored.   Simply choose which snapshot you’d like to restore, and your employee work schedule will immediately roll back to the previously saved Schedule Snapshot.

Employee Schedule Snapshots are available on the Schedule Detail page, and are very useful for:

• Integrating newly hired staff members (Identifying which shifts can be moved around to accommodate the new employees)
• Locating shifts that can be removed or modified to reduce labor costs
• Viewing the effects of a shift swap or drastic schedule change prior to actually “doing it”
• Rolling back to a previous version of the current employee schedule
• And other “What If?” scenarios with the work schedule and staff members

What do you think of our Employee Schedule Snapshots?   We’d love to hear from you!

TimeForge labor management software (employee scheduling software, attendance software, and others) is used by owners and operators of restaurants, retail stores, bars, grills, and other service-oriented businesses to increase profits, reduce turnover, and improve retention.

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 2)

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.

Related articles or pages

• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Workforce Scheduling is Now Listed in FindApps.com
• Restaurant Business Article on Workforce Problems
• Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is Wrapped Up…

Still trying to figure out what social media is, and how it’s going to help your retail or restaurant business?   Not quite sure what Twitter may be, why you need a Facebook page, or what you need a blog for?   You are not alone!

Starbucks Coffee is still trying to figure out social media, and how to make it work from a business perspective.   So far, they’ve managed to rack up more than 1 million facebook fans, more than 81,000 Twitter followers, and are now ranked number 6 on the Top 100 Social Brands list for 2008.   Read more about this article at Nation’s Restaurant News ….

• You can follow TimeForge on Twitter, and read all about restaurant and retail labor scheduling.
• TimeForge has a Facebook application, so that you and your staff can receive schedules, shift swap notices, requests for time off, timecards, messages, and more with your facebook account!

How complicated is the employee schedule at your restaurant?   Are you making the best possible work schedule, or are you wasting precious labor resources?   How much of the turnover at your business is created because of bad (or late) employee schedules?

Did you know that TimeForge can reduce turnover, improve retention, and increase profits at your restaurant? Sign up today for a free trial!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge Labor Management, A Quick Background
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Managing Employee Schedules is Important for Restaurants
• Gyms / Health Clubs
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 2)

Want to  apply TimeForge’s forecasting to recession-proof your business? Peter Navarro published an article titled Recession-Proofing Your Organization in this Spring’s  MIT Sloan Management Review. Navarro outlines a strategy to anticipate the downturns in the business cycle and steps to take competitive advantage of downturns.

Among his suggestions, trim the workforce and inventories to cut costs when leading into a recession. As the economy expands in good economic times, cherry-pick new hires before your competitors and boost inventory.   There is no need to to be an economist to become  your own business-cycle forecast;  Navarro  provides a simple forecasting formula and points you to Moody’s Economy.com website for data.

Moody’s won’t forecast your business’s sales or inventory, but TimeForge’s forecasting system provide additional insight into  your business.   Manager’s can track actual sales and theoretical projections made by staff members, and projections can be forecast with TimeForge to predict staffing levels, upcoming schedule needs, and are useful for tracking inventory turnover.

Visit TimeForge to sign up for a free trial of the most powerful labor scheduling system on the market!

Related articles or pages

• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 2)
• TimeForge Labor Management, A Quick Background
• Social Media and Labor Scheduling

In addition to the many other updates on TimeForge, detailed in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 – the monthly TimeForge pricing also received an update over the weekend, providing a more level field for all of our customers.

The current pricing is published on the TimeForge website, and existing customers (and trial users) are free to use the new pricing, or stay with the old pricing.

For some customers, the new pricing will be slightly more expensive, significantly cheaper, or just about the same.   If you want to switch to the new pricing model, feel free to contact TimeForge support and let us know!

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

• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 3)
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 2)
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 1)
• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the November newsletter here.

The TimeForge Daily Log, our newest product offering has received many recent improvements, including:

• Numeric Analysis is available in the Daily Log, transforming the Daily Log into an extremely powerful trend analysis tool for your business.   Enter values for deposits, sales, or other relevant information, and compare these values for any dates, or date range.   Say goodbye to Excel! Watch the TimeForge Blog for an upcoming tutorial, detailing how to use the TimeForge Daily Log.

• Weather is automatically recorded on a daily basis for each store location, and is archived in the TimeForge Daily Log.   You can now include weather activity in your day-to-day comparisons of the Daily Log as part of the Numeric Analysis.

Other improvements to the TimeForge products are detailed in Part 1 and Part 2.

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 2)
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 1)
• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• Pricing
• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!

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!

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!

Related articles or pages

• Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 3)
• TimeForge Newsletter, November Edition (Part 2)
• Employee Scheduling Done Right – The Newest Version of TimeForge
• Congratulations TimeForge!