RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS: 13 Steps to Writing a Fool-Proof Schedule

Wasted time spent on a weekly basis writing schedules and forever correcting them is no fun. Early in my career, I discovered that writing a schedule could be as easy as putting a simple puzzle together. You just need all of the pieces. I want to share with you the 13 steps I developed to writing a fool-proof schedule. With this system you can teach any manager how to write great schedules from the beginning.

1. Staff Order
When you list your staff members on the schedule, list them in the following order:

Why this order? For starters, your key people such as your Leads and Trainers need to be listed first as a sign of respect and responsibility. Then list your servers by seniority.

2. The Busiest Times Require Your Best People
Schedule your strongest people for the busiest times. It's imperative that you place the right people in the right situations. For instance, if you schedule all new people for your busiest meal period, you have mayhem and confusion.

3. Everyone should have Opportunities to Make Money
Make sure your new, less senior, staff get at least one money-making shift. If you just take care of your more senior people with the money-making shifts, you will have high turnover and a majority of poorly performing staff, because there is another job across the street that will give them an opportunity to make money.

4. Everyone should know the Day Shift
Have all staff work at least one day shift. Doing this allows you to make sure less senior staff have an opportunity to work money-making shifts. It also allows for a stronger lunch shift, which in turn increases sales and ensures that lunch will go well so that busy business people will come back.

5. The Backward Scheduling Priority
Number your days by scheduling priority and schedule back to the lowest priority. A common mistake a manager makes when scheduling is to start writing a schedule on Monday and finishing with Sunday. We have already talked about the pitfalls to utilizing this strategy. From here on, I want you to number your days, 1 being the busiest to 7 being the slowest. Then start scheduling backward, from 1 to 7. This will ensure you have your strongest people in your busiest shifts.

6. Give them Personal Time
Schedule two days off in a row whenever possible and avoid split days off. If you split-schedule people's days off, they never get the day to just relax; they only get to do their to-do lists. Giving two days off in a row improves employee morale. When morale is up, so is productivity.

7. Close/Opens, the Quickest Way to Mediocrity
Stay away from scheduling close/opens. What is a close/open, and why not schedule them? A close/open is when a staff member closes the night before and is scheduled to open the next morning. Sure, this is one way to fill in the manpower gaps, but it is your ticket to mediocrity.

8. What to do When You are Over Staffed
If you have more staff available than shifts to fill, give shifts to your full-timers first. Part-timers and/or your weakest staff lose shifts first. If you find yourself in a situation where the seasonality of your business has you with too many servers for the sales you have coming in, take care of your full-timers first. Make sure they continue to have the opportunity to make money, for they are your backbone year 'round. Start to trim shifts from your part-timers.

9. Staff Up, Not Down
Always have two more Full Time Equivalents, FTEs, than you need. A Full Time Equivalent is whatever number of people it takes to equal one full-time person. Hourly workers like the ability to change their schedule from one week to the next to take advantage of vacations, events, friend and family in town, and parties, to name a few. With this in mind, even the most perfect manpower plan can be thrown an unexpected curve.

10. A Request is a Request
Remember, scheduling requests are just that: requests. The needs of the business must come first. When staff put in for a day off, you need to find a way to give it to them, while reserving the right to say no. If you say no, they will most likely take the day off anyway and find a job where they can be more flexible.

11. Management is Required
Any schedule changes must be initialed by a manager. Look at hours worked and stay away from over-time. Start by writing your schedule in pencil. When you have your final version ready to be posted, photocopy it and post the photocopy. This way any changes to the schedule will be apparent. Next, make sure all schedule changes are initialed by a manager. When the request is made, go to the schedule and look to see how many hours or shifts the person taking the shift has or will work that week.

12. Post Quickly and Consistently
Have the schedule written and posted by Thursday at 4 p.m. Have you ever had a manager post the schedule on Sunday at close for the next week that starts on Monday? The staff cannot plan their week and the restaurant often finds itself in trouble because staff is late or a no-show due to the lack of notice. Have respect for your employees' time; accept scheduling requests until Tuesday night, write the schedule on Wednesday or Thursday, and post it by Thursday at 4 p.m.

13. Use a Scheduling Key
When filling out a schedule, x-out the days people can not work, place an R in the days people have requested off, and place a V in the days people have requested off for vacation. Then start scheduling shifts. If you take the time to prepare for the scheduling process, you will eliminate opportunity for errors and will demonstrate to your staff that you CARE, that you have Concern And Respect for Everyone. Following these steps will keep employee morale high. And when morale is high, so is productivity.

David Scott Peters is the founder of Smile Button Enterprises, LLC, a hospitality systems consulting firm that trains restaurant owners and managers on the appropriate skill sets and SMART Systems—those that are Simple, Measurable, Applicable, Repeatable and Trainable—to realize their dreams in the competitive restaurant business.