Restaurant scheduling software

Restaurant scheduling software is a suite of tools that can help busy team managers organize and direct their employees so the guest experience consistently meets the business’s high standards for quality, service, and cleanliness.

Restaurants of all types can benefit from using such software to streamline the workflow with features including:

• Shift scheduling (for even the most complicated staff rota)
• Integrated time tracking
• Labor-cost control
• Overtime control
• Quick and easy communication
• Cloud-based distribution
• Clock-in/clock-out control
• Multiple-location administration
• Geofencing
• Task management

The best restaurant scheduling software — like Sling — incorporates all of these features (and more) into one powerful solution that can help maximize the effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency of any restaurant team.

One way to build effective employee schedules is to do away with the method that has you starting with the opening shift on Monday and assigning names to each shift straight through to the end of the week.

Instead, try scheduling an “anchor” employee or two (typically your best team members or those with the right skills and experience) in each shift throughout the week first. Then, schedule other team members in the open spots.

This helps ensure that you have the team members most suited for each shift — e.g., the lunch or dinner rush — working when you need them most.

To make this process easier, use your scheduling software to set eligibility requirements for the first one or two spots on each shift so you don’t accidentally schedule a team member who doesn’t have the right skills, qualifications, or experience.

Absolutely! Advanced restaurant scheduling software will often notify you if the combination of employees you’ve selected to work causes the shift to approach or exceed a certain expense threshold.

For example, the Sling app helps you control labor costs by giving you the option to set a labor budget that works for each shift and then showing you real-time updates on what each shift will cost as you schedule.

With tools like Sling, you can avoid the confusion and trial-and-error of trying to find the right combination of team members for each shift and be better positioned to come in at or under budget every time.

One of the best ways to track restaurant employee hours is to use an app that turns any phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop into a time-tracking station.

For example, with the Sling app, once you give your employees access to the program, they’ll have the ability to start and stop their time on whatever device they have with them.

Managers can then monitor work hours with the Sling app, import any and all work hours into one of many reports, and even integrate time-tracking data into other programs to make payroll and other workforce management activities as streamlined as possible.

We understand that managing multiple restaurant locations can be complicated, so Sling includes tools to help you keep everyone organized, on task, and under control, regardless of where they work.

Sling can help you:

• Manage payroll for all your locations
• Control labor costs for each shift scheduled
• Assign tasks and monitor employee progress
• Filter schedules to find the information you need
• Communicate with one person, a specific group of people, or everyone regardless of their location
• Create reports by location or region to gain valuable insight into your operation
• And much more

And, for the most accurate employee management across multiple locations, Sling makes it possible to set up geofencing around each restaurant so that employees can’t clock in unless they’re inside those boundaries.

This feature also allows you to set the system to automatically stop tracking time if an employee moves outside the geofence so you can prevent both intentional and accidental time theft.

Whether you manage a restaurant team of 10 in a single location or a team of 100+ across multiple locations, Sling can help you keep everything running efficiently.

Sling’s powerful workforce management tools make it easy to:

• Build effective schedules in less time
• Organize shift trade request
• Allow your employees to sign up for available shifts
• Manage time off
• Coordinate availability
• Track employee hours (on both stationary and mobile devices)
• Reduce absenteeism
• Minimize late arrivals
• Control labor costs
• And much more

Right now, you can get all of the essentials to help you organize and optimize your workforce and handle internal communication for teams of up to 50 for free with just one click.