Restaurant owners have a lot on their plates. Many enter the industry due to their love of food and the joy of sharing this with people. As a business owner for an F&B company, your job description may include a variety of roles including recruiter, manager, host, accountant, public relations manager. This is especially true in the early stages of the business when you’re still starting out and figuring the ins and outs of running a successful restaurant.

Along with this come a host of HR challenges, leaving your business vulnerable if not dealt with.

We’ve outlined the top HR challenges faced by F&B owners here and how to overcome these.

1. High Turnover

This is a big concern for restaurant owners. From 2018-2020, there has been a steady increase in the monthly resignation rate of food and beverage services (from 3.4% - 3.7%). This is according to the data reported by MOM’s Manpower Research & Statistics Department.

The cost of hiring and retaining employees who can handle the pressures and demands of the hospitality industry while providing exceptional service to customers is key to reducing turnover and saving costs.

Solution:

A way to resolve this challenge is to look for candidates with the right skill sets and attitude to be able to take on the challenges that the F&B industry will no doubt bring.

It’s also helpful to have an occasional appraisal process to check on the well-being of employees as well as give pointers for improvement. An HR software makes this process more efficient as it often comes with customisable questionnaire templates, such as Adaptive Pay.

2. Attendance

Ensuring that employees show up on time during their designated shifts is important to ensure that your restaurant can run smoothly and efficiently. In a fast-paced business such as that of a restaurant, it can get time-consuming for managers to ensure that employees are turning up for their shifts -- especially when they’re busy handling other aspects to ensure the smooth day to day operation of the establishment.

Solution:

Adaptive Pay’s attendance module can take the hassle out of tracking attendance with an automated system. Through the system’s app, employees can just take their attendance through their mobile phones. The hr system uses a QR code or GPS to track the attendance of employees. Fingerprint/biometric can also be used to track in and out time details of the employees.

3. Complex Payroll and Reporting

Handling the payroll for an F&B business can be very time consuming as different employees may have different shifts and some work on a part-time/temporary basis while others full time.

Ensuring that you’re kept up to date with tax requirements is also a challenge on top of ensuring and maintaining high standards of the food served.

Solution:

The use of a cloud-based payroll system would come in handy here. Especially choosing one that is fully integrated with the other modules such as attendance and leave management.

It may be helpful to acquire a cloud-based payroll, such as Adaptive Pay. Since it’s the attendance records of your staff can be seamlessly integrated with the payroll module.

It auto computes salary and overtime for each employee as well as fully automates tax calculations, reducing the time taken for complex computations and reporting.

4. Risk Management and Safety

Restaurants need to be prepared for a wide range of safety issues from food-borne illnesses, sanitation, to kitchen injuries such as burns and cuts.

Solution:

Risk management and workplace safety programs are vital to preventing accidents and illnesses, protecting both employees and guests.

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Grow your business with Adaptive Pay

Working in the F&B industry takes a lot of patience and determination as it is a customer-facing industry. The aforementioned challenges are just the tip of the iceberg, though. You may encounter a lot more when you’re running a business with demanding daily operations such as that of a restaurant. However, tackling these main HR challenges will free up your time to manage other aspects of your business such as ensuring that you serve delicious food constantly.

If you have a lot on your plate and are managing a startup, try looking into an hr system software, such as Adaptive Pay. By simplifying certain processes in your restaurant startup, you allow room for business growth.

Contact us today for a free demonstration.