Some may question the importance in creating a restaurant schedule for their employees, how it would affect the business if not done right and how to go about creating staff schedules. Creating a restaurant staff schedule is tricky as Employers/Managers have to ensure that there is a balance of working hours for your staff (Full-timers and Part-timers) to ensure fairness, to minimize headcount needed (to reduce manpower costs) and to also take into account of the volume of customer in the F&B establishment.
Getting ourselves warmed up, Employers/Managers must remember this key essence when creating schedules for the week.
Part-time employment: No more than 35 hours per week
1. Why is there a need for a restaurant schedule?
The restaurant staff schedule, AKA Duty Roster is a MUST in F&B businesses. Your staff need to know ahead of time when they will be working and the establishment needs to be adequately staffed to meet customer demands. Ideally, it should balance out the different skills of each employee, and also manage employees' productivity. Poor scheduling of the duty roster may result in an increase in customer complaints, workplace stress, lower productivity, and reduced employee morale.
You should also take into account peak and lull periods, and that weekends and public holidays usually mean more hands on deck. Orchestrating a restaurant staff schedule is usually the responsibility of the manager and head chef, but F&B owners should be aware of how they are making these scheduling decisions.
2. How do we ensure poor scheduling does not happen?
Most employers plan their restaurant schedule weekly to reduce the number of changes to be made.
Here are a few things Employer/ Managers have to consider when creating schedules:
Peak Period Projections based on sales - Employers/Managers can look at the experience of their staff. Place experienced staff during peak hours like lunch periods to prevent workflow issues. Placing too many new staff on the same shift may result in the lack of coordination, especially during busy periods. A team leader, supervisor or manager should be present at every shift.
Time off request - Employees work 6 days a week and according to MOM regulations, Employers must provide 1 off day per week. Employers can spread employee's time off over the week and they cannot compel employees to work on their rest day. Exceptions can be made when the restaurant is really understaffed and the staff on duty are unable to cope. In this case, the Employer has to provide employees another day off to make up for it.
Click here to calculate rest day pay if employees work on their rest day.Staff availability - Before creating schedules, Employers should consider staff’s requests for time off before allocating them working days.
Send schedules before the start of the week - Send schedules in on Friday/ Saturday night so that employees can prepare themselves for the week ahead and make personal plans on their rest day.
3. Lunch/Dinner breaks
Typically, a full shift lasts 11 -12 hours a day, from opening to closing (It depends on the opening hours and closing hours of the F&B establishment) and Employers must provide a break time for employees who continuously work up to 8 hours a day. Meal time breaks should last at least 45 minutes. The number of hours for break time differs from each individual F&B establishment as it depends on how much time the Employer/Manager allocates. In an F&B setting, meals (sometimes known as staff meals or family meals) are commonly provided for everyone working on that day and staff should inform chefs beforehand if they have any dietary restrictions.
4. Full / Part - Time Employment
Full-Time
Full-timers refers to employees working 6 days, ≤ 44 hours per week. Employers can put in place the “Give and Take Basis” rule to ensure fairness to employees: there are times full-timers can get their requests 1 off days for the week, and times where their request cannot be granted. Requested off days cannot be guaranteed as the manager has to take into account other staff’s schedules and preferences too.
On days that the employee does not turn up for work, Employers can calculate the incomplete month’s salary here.
Part - Time
Part-timers refer to employees working under 35 hours per week which also means that they have more freedom in choosing the duration and number of days they want to work. Jobs performed by part-timers include serving, bartending, and cashier duties. Employers pay part-timers by the number of hours and days they work per month.
Employers can use this to calculate their staff hourly basic pay.
5. Steps to creating a schedule
Below is an example that Employers/Managers can follow if done traditionally:
Step 1: Lay out the schedule format
Pull out an excel sheet, list down the dates for the week, names of employees according to their job scope at the side in alphabetical order. It is easier for staff to view their schedules when it is organized in columns.
Step 2: Identify staff count needed for each shift
Plan the schedule based on peak period projections, time-off requests of employees.
Typically, staff would come in prior 30 minutes to 1 hour before the opening hours of the cafe/restaurant to prepare everything needed for lunch service. This must be made clear to all staff to ensure that they turn up for their work on time. The time listed in the staff schedule should include the preparation time. (E.g. OMONI cafe operating hours start at 9 am. The schedule should indicate that work begins at 8.30 am.)
New staff have to be taught/trained in order to understand the operations of how the F&B establishment works. As such, Managers have to turn up 30 minutes before the time on schedule to teach the new staff on the ropes of the F&B business operations - Menu, Table arrangement, Greeting of customers, Serving of food etc. New staff can come in 30 minutes before the time on schedule to familiarize themselves, get to know the menu, how to serve the customers, understand table arrangements in the F&B outlet.
Based on the size of the F&B business, different numbers of staff are required. One example we can use is a small cafe - Peak period: Lunch crowd. Employers/Manager planning schedules must ensure that there is at least 3 staff on duty for the opening - 2 back of house crew doing preparations in the kitchen, 1 front of house to set up tables and the POS system. For peak periods, it is recommended to have 6 staff on duty- 3 in the back of house, 3 in the front of house. For non-peak period, you can reduce your number of staff to 4 - 2 back of house, 2 front of house. This can help to minimize your manpower cost.
Step 3: Calculate the number of hours
Creating a schedule is important as it helps employers to manage the payroll process. Schedules are used to track and determine the number of hours an employee works and Employers/Managers use it to determine how much to pay the employee based on the number of hours logged in.
Employers/Managers have to check and calculate the number of days and hours set for the employees - Full-timers must not exceed more than 6 days, 44 hours and Part-timers must not exceed 35 hours per week. If a full-time staff’s working time exceeds 44 hours per week, Employers/Managers have to amend it as the extra hours will be counted as overtime and have to be paid at 1.5x. Since 30-40% of the restaurant revenue usually goes to manpower,it is important to ensure that the number of hours employees worked fits within the manpower budget. All salaries will have to fit within that range so it will provide the Employer/Manager an idea on how much they can set aside for part timers. If the budget is exceeded, the restaurant would not be making enough profits.
To increase the efficiency of scheduling and payroll calculations, a Human Resource Software can be used. It will allow employers to monitor employee attendance, number of hours worked, off days and medical leave, and even CPF calculations. Instead of putting in requests for days off on Whatsapp group chats, which can be messy when keeping track and open to dispute, and having to send the schedule to each individual, everything can be updated and accessed via an app so both the management and employees are on the same page.
Below is an infographic that summarizes on how to create a restaurant schedule:
In essence, the process of creating employees' schedules might be tricky but spending time to understand and create a staff schedule will aid in better operational efficiency of your F&B establishment, managing your employee's attendance, and providing better service to your customers.
This article is written in collaboration with HRMLabs, an HR system for SMEs, that streamlines attendance-taking, shift-scheduling, leave management, and more.
Caroline Yap is the editor and intern at iCHEF Singapore. She manages iCHEF Club, a growing community of F&B owners in Singapore – organizing events, an online newsletter, and the F&B Entrepreneur Bootcamp, the only regular workshop on opening a new restaurant in the country. In her spare time, she loves drawing, painting, and creating new visuals. Her love for Korean food runs deep such that you can spot her at any famous Korean Restaurant in Singapore.
