| In the not-too-distant past, controlling labor in a | | | | time making future plans. It can even give your |
| food-service establishment was mostly an instinctive | | | | supervisor, kitchen staff and assistant's hours all in a |
| process. Having an effective labor control meant by | | | | breakdown. |
| being able to manage your staff during a rush to keep | | | | POS as your extra pair of eyes |
| the operation up and running, and send them home | | | | Other POS reports show labor trends over time, and |
| respectively when the rush slowly shrinks. | | | | owners or district managers can track labor cost |
| Restaurant managers kept track of business from | | | | manager performance shift-to-shift, said Speedline |
| previous weeks in order to make projections of future | | | | Solutions marketing manager Jennifer Wiebe. The |
| sales, and then, with great expenditure of effort, | | | | system can also produce reports when someone |
| converted those numbers into an employee schedule. | | | | manually edited time clock reports to help spot |
| The success or failure of those efforts was | | | | potential abuse. |
| determined at at night when the store closes, the | | | | Time clock reports and schedules also can provide |
| manager sat down with a stack of time cards and | | | | important documentation for labor board reviews of |
| calculated the day's labor percentage. | | | | attendance-related employee terminations, she said. |
| It's a good thing that those days are no longer with us | | | | And by the end of the day, a good POS system like |
| thanks to a restaurant point of sale system which has | | | | Phillips' can generate, export and integrate file reports |
| taken over many of the functions a restaurant | | | | of your payroll and staff information, store accounting |
| manager used to do manually. | | | | systems or third-party payroll services. |
| With the minimum wage set to rise to $7.25 over the | | | | It can also assist managers when assigning staff shifts |
| next few years, operators are looking for every tool | | | | by the forcasted sales report and by generating |
| they can find to keep labor costs under control. | | | | schedules from them. |
| At a Pizza Inn restaurant, their general manager Jim | | | | Operators can efficiently schedule to meet their labor |
| Phillips uses his restaurant point of sale system from | | | | targets using sales forecasting and their labor plans. |
| Pixel Point to track labor throughout the day. | | | | Pixel Point's scheduling tool is linked with employee skills |
| Check out your labor cost every 45 minutes or at any | | | | and availability for quick scheduling process." |
| time of the day you want! You'll always get detailed | | | | Hours and breaks restriction can be done through |
| and accurate reports anytime you want it. "I can pull it | | | | schedule- and time-clock alerts. The schedule also can |
| up on the terminal, hit labor cost and it tells me where | | | | be linked to a built-in time clock that requires a |
| my labor stands, or if I want to I can go into my hourly | | | | manager override for late clock-ins or early clock-outs. |
| stats and look at those," says Phillips. | | | | Operators usually set their clock-in and clock-out times |
| What's great about a restaurant POS systems is that | | | | very close, within 5 minutes. |
| is can display forecasted sales, actual sales and a | | | | "Employees can't clock in until 5 minutes before their |
| variance between the two. It can even show | | | | scheduled shift or clock out late without a manager |
| scheduled hours versus actual hours for convenience. | | | | override. The system tells me if an employee is |
| Since the system can tell you everything you needed; | | | | supposed to be off but he is still on the clock. |
| the number of dine-ins or buffets, you will have more | | | | |