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!

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.

Labor Schedules Take Time to Create

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).

Theoretical Labor Schedules are Important for Staff

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!

We are previewing several brand new TimeForge features at this years Texas Restaurant Association Expo in Houston, Texas. The show is June 22 - 24, 2008. Some of the new items (now already in TimeForge) include our Daily Log (a very powerful Manager’s Log – similar to a Red Book, Kitchen Log, Bar Log, etc…), Biometric Capabilities (employees can clock in and out using their fingerprints), and payroll exports, among others!

We are also debuting TempForge, a time and temperature tool that complies with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) programs – making sure that temperature sensitive products are kept safe at restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs, and other hospitality related businesses. If you are interesting in seeing what this amazing product has to offer, please drop us a line at info@TimeForge.com.

Come join us at the George R Brown Convention Center, booth #1546, directly across from Ctuit – above store reporting and back-office software, and right next to the Franchise Pavilion.

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.

Never again worry about scheduling minors to work! The TimeForge labor scheduling software includes an Age Rule module that tracks age appropriate rules for all employees, including minimum and maximum hours per week or day, and times that employees are allowed to work (such as weekends during the school year, and weekdays during summer or holiday breaks). TimeForge automatically calculate when these employees can or cannot work - and your management staff can set them one time, and not worry about it ever again!

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 restaurant, hotel, bank, school, bar, club, or retail business.

In many areas (such as California, New York, Florida, parts of Canada, and most of Europe), managers must carefully monitor employee meal and break periods to ensure that employees take the appropriate breaks during their scheduled shifts. In some areas, managers must remember to get employee signatures, proving that breaks were actually given. Failing to follow these regulations will land a business into serious legal trouble. TimeForge provides an advanced and powerful Break Rule module which provides meal and break period guidelines for management – based on the scheduled shifts for the employees – and several reports that can be printed to provide necessary documentation. Let TimeForge do the hard work with meal and break period tracking!

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 restaurant, hotel, bank, school, bar, club, or retail business.

On Tuesday of last week, we received an amazing email from Mr. Lawrence Payne at Mid-Pacific Country Club, located in Hawaii. Mr. Payne has been using TimeForge for a number of months, and as explained in the following text, he’s more than happy with the scheduling product. His “customer testimonial” follows:

Thank you so much Lawrence!

Do you have a success story to share with us about TimeForge? Please send us an email, we’d like to share it with the rest of our users.

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 restaurant, hotel, bank, school, bar, club, or retail business.

Would you like help getting TimeForge up and running at your business? Does TimeForge seem too intimidating? Would you like to know what new features and improvements the TimeForge team is working on?

Sign up for one of the upcoming TimeForge training sessions and discover how simple employee scheduling can be! These free training sessions demonstrate how easily TimeForge can be to used to schedule employees while keeping employees happy and getting managers back on the floor.

The upcoming May training sessions are:

• May 14th, 2008 from 1pm to 2pm Central Standard Time
  • 12pm – 1pm MST
  • 11m – 12pm PST
• May 26th, 2008 from 11am to 12pm Central Standard Time
  • 10am – 11am MST
  • 9am – 10am PST

Check here for April Training Sessions.

These free training sessions will be held over the phone using standard “web training” tools, as well as a traditional conference call. Accessing the “web training” tools is as easy as going to a web site …. anyone with an Internet connection can participate in training!

The sessions emphasize individual customer question-and-answer style help, similar to an in-office training session: 20 minutes will be devoted to demonstrating the software, and the last 40 minutes will be devoted to answering individual / specific questions about the software.

To sign up, please send an email to info@timeforge.com with the date and time that you would like to attend, and please let us know how many users will be attending from your location and/or company.

Also: Coming soon … the TimeForge User Manual and Employee Manual! A comprehensive guide to using TimeForge at your company.

How long does it take to make a labor schedule for your workforce? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses? TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your hotel, restaurant, bank, car wash, or other retail business.

We recently received a customer testimonial from Michael Freeman, a TimeForge user since early February. Michael is the proprietor of Tiara Cafe, located in California. He had these kind words to say about the use of TimeForge as a labor management tool in his restaurant:

Wonderfully kind words from Michael! Thanks so much!

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.

Would you like help getting TimeForge up and running at your business? Does TimeForge seem too intimidating? Would you like to know what new features and improvements the TimeForge team is working on?

Sign up for one of the upcoming TimeForge training sessions and discover how simple employee scheduling can be! These free training sessions demonstrate how easily TimeForge can be to used to schedule employees while keeping employees happy and getting managers back on the floor.

The next two upcoming training sessions are:

• April 24th, 2008 from 1pm to 2pm Central Standard Time
  • 12pm – 1pm MST
  • 11m – 12pm PST
• April 30th, 2008 from 11am to 12pm Central Standard Time
  • 10am – 11am MST
  • 9am – 10am PST

These free training sessions will be held over the phone using standard “web training” tools, as well as a traditional conference call. Accessing the “web training” tools is as easy as going to a web site …. anyone with an Internet connection can participate in training!

The sessions emphasize individual customer question-and-answer style help, similar to an in-office training session: 20 minutes will be devoted to demonstrating the software, and the last 40 minutes will be devoted to answering individual / specific questions about the software.

To sign up, please send an email to info@timeforge.com with the date and time that you would like to attend, and please let us know how many users will be attending from your location and/or company.

Also: Coming soon … the TimeForge User Manual and Employee Manual! A comprehensive guide to using TimeForge at your company.

How long does it take to make a labor schedule for your workforce? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses? TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your hotel, restaurant, bank, car wash, or other retail business.

What is FindApps.com? FindApps is a comprehensive guide to hosted applications (also known as Application Service Providers or ASPs). They currently list several thousand applications which require no installation, no updates, and no service contracts (like our own labor scheduling program). It’s a resource that every business owner should have saved in their Bookmarks.

What kinds of things are on FindApps.com? Although many of the programs listed on FindApps.com are “generic” in nature and apply to anyone who uses a computer, some of their listed programs apply directly to TimeForge.com employee scheduling users.

Some of the categories that you may be interested in reviewing include:

• Human Resources (employee reviews, background checks, benefits management)
• Utilities (backups and virus scanning)
• Accounting and Finance (payroll and online accounting)

TimeForge is posted in the employee scheduling section of FindApps.com

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