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Restaurant operators continue to feel the pinch of the current economy. The National Restaurant Association recently reported that the Restaurant Performance Index fell to a record low during the month of December, with 41 percent of restaurant operators expecting economic conditions to worsen in six months. In the current economic climate, restaurant operators are looking for savings anywhere they can find them - and next-generation labor management has emerged as a key technology for helping lower costs.

HotSchedules, the premier provider of online restaurant labor management solutions, is confident that companies armed with its intelligent, affordable labor management tools, will see instant labor cost savings and efficiency, as well as enhanced employee satisfaction and retention.

Reduce Labor Costs

Labor is second only to food and beverage as the largest controllable expense for restaurant operators. The National Restaurant Association recently reported that federal minimum wage has increased 26 percent since 2007, and predicts that the industry will see an additional wage increase of 11 percent by July 2009. The restaurant industry will be heavily affected by these wage increases since more than half of their staff typically works "back of house" (i.e. dishwashers, line cooks, etc.) and service support (i.e. busboys, hostess). Additionally, the restaurant industry is notorious for high turnover which increases operators' new hire training expenses, ultimately increasing labor costs. By using an intelligent restaurant labor management tool like HotSchedules, businesses can standardize their staff scheduling and management process and significantly lower labor costs.

Improve Communication Between Management and Employees

Restaurant labor management should include much more than just employee scheduling - it should also play an integral role in enhancing communications to further strengthen the company culture. Additionally, it should enable management to provide employees with the visibility, control and tools they need to maintain a positive work-life balance, which increases employee retention.

Feature-rich labor management solutions can provide managers with the ability to communicate quickly and easily with all employees - from corporate executives to hourly staff. Employees can access their schedules 24/7 online or via phone, as well as pick up shifts, request time off, send messages to managers or other employees, and receive email and text message notification when shift changes are approved by the manager. Additionally, these tools enable management to distribute important messages or surveys to employees in particular locations or chain-wide, such as crisis communication or sharing discounts from corporate partners.

Enhance Employee Scheduling and Management

Labor management solutions allow managers to reduce the amount of time it takes to generate weekly employee scheduling - from hours to minutes. HotSchedules typically sees a reduction of 75 percent in the time it takes to create schedules, often within weeks of beginning to use the tools. These solutions include easy-to-use features such as comparing expected costs with actual expenses and integrating with point of sale (POS) and time-and-attendance systems to enforce scheduled shifts. Additionally, labor management tools provide overtime warning reports that consider actual labor plus upcoming projected hours to notify managers of potential overtime scenarios before they occur.

"Our suite of powerful labor management solutions was designed by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs to empower them with the tools they need to develop and drive labor management best practices throughout their chain," said Ray Pawlikowski, president, HotSchedules. "In today's tough economic climate, restaurant operators need to know that they have a true partner on their side that is genuinely concerned about the well-being of their business-and that's what HotSchedules strives to be."

To see first-hand how HotSchedules can transform your labor management, sign up today for a free 30-day trial of our innovative and cost-effective Core(tm) and Team(tm) web-enabled employee scheduling systems. Simply use this code during checkout: TRY30.

About HotSchedules
HotSchedules, innovators of the most widely-used restaurant workforce management solutions, sets the industry standard for service, support and labor management expertise. By engaging with its clients as partners, HotSchedules vastly improves management-employee communications, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and retention-and offers a fast, proven ROI through reduced manual scheduling and labor costs. From independent restaurants to corporate chains, HotSchedules' suite of solutions empowers restaurant staff and managers with all the tools they need to communicate effectively and efficiently. More than 3,000 restaurants and over 300,000 users rely on HotSchedules every day. HotSchedules complements its product offerings with a world-class, bilingual support staff at the company's headquarters in Austin, Texas.

HotSchedules' corporate and franchise clients include such well-known concepts as Outback Steakhouse, the Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Carino's Italian, Chili's, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Fleming's Steakhouse, Applebee's, Jamba Juice and many others. For more information, visit www.hotschedules.com.

SOURCE: HotSchedules