Put Your Best Staff Forward

Since restaurants make up many When I Work customers, we payed special attention to a recent article on Canada’s Restaurant Central website. In “Simple and Effective Staff Scheduling,” strategy consultant Hugh Johnston provides tips for strategically scheduling staff in order to increase guest satisfaction and, ultimately, the restaurant’s bottom line. The three tips Johnston focuses on are:

• “Match the flow of employees directly to the flow of guests.”

Learn from the past. Check for patterns day-by-day to determine your schedule needs.

• “Have your staff meeting before most of the guests arrive.”

Prepare your staff before the rush to make your employees more at ease, and make your guests feel at home.

• “Know what makes your restaurant hum.”

Seek out areas where you can do better, and where your staff can have a positive impact on each guest’s experience.

Check out Johnston’s full article to get more details on his smart scheduling and management tips. Some simple planning can make a huge difference in the performance of any business. We structured When I Work to help managers strategize, and employees organize, but we always want to hear how our customers are doing it. Tell us, how do you prepare your employees to do their best at every shift?