HR & Payroll Software
for Restaurants

Discover how restaurant HR software streamlines some of the biggest challenges in running a restaurant, including:

• Scheduling challenges and consistency
• Accurate time tracking difficulties
• Payroll and gratuity complexities
• Performance management issues
• Lack of training and career development
• Multi-faceted compliance concerns

Restaurant HR software has the recipe for success by simplifying some of the most challenging parts of running a restaurant.

Payroll needs to be efficient and reliable. Automation with restaurant payroll software reduces human errors. It’s too easy to make mistakes in tax withholdings and other calculations. Use automation to improve speed and accuracy. Nobody wants payroll errors to leave staff waiting or underpaid.

Workers are easily frustrated with a lack of transparency. HR software lets you share resources and performance metrics with each employee and managers. Let employees know how their performance is evaluated. The resulting feedback won’t seem as personal or arbitrary. Similarly, pay transparency reduces conflict when everyone understands the policies behind pay discrepancies.

Office workers use communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams, but not all software is a practical solution for restaurant workers. Mobile-friendly HR software lets restaurant staff access messages and information 24/7 from anywhere. With restaurant HR software, you can:

• House all company resources and documents in one, secure, and easy-to-access place.
• Easily conduct employee surveys to get a better pulse on your workforce.
• Send out announcements and solicit feedback on policies.
• Enable push notifications for missed punches and whenever a new schedule is posted.

Restaurant managers don’t fantasize about spending hours in a closet with stacks of papers and a calculator. Scheduling and payroll are two of the most tedious tasks in a restaurant. In the end, it’s a win-win when restaurant HR software automates labor-intensive and thankless tasks. Reduce the manual workload and improve accuracy by letting us do the work.

Collect and compare data over time to analyze weekly and seasonal trends. Restaurants already compare the popularity and profit margins of different menu items.

Reporting is just as powerful for managing staff, policies, and individual performance. Use HR software to go beyond traditional reporting with actionable insights that will better prepare you to make informed decisions about your restaurant.

Payroll also tackles other common restaurant problems by combining scheduling and timekeeping together. Restaurant payroll software can ‘86’ some of your business’ biggest headaches, including:

• Late and/or inaccurate payments
• Bad shift management
• Legal liability (financial or labor)
• Time theft
• Human error
• Wasted time (routine tasks and corrections)

Automate the payroll process for employees with different pay rates and hours. Calculate withholdings for taxes and deductions like garnishments. Payroll and tax calculations must be quick and reliable. Many of your waitstaff (like most Americans) are living paycheck to paycheck. A delayed paystub or unexpected tax debt could make it hard to pay rent.

Healthcare benefits for servers? Offering affordable health insurance will make your business more competitive during the hiring process. Benefits like access to primary care, telehealth options, and prescription drug programs can help you attract and retain the best employees. It’s a win-win for employers and employees.

HR staff typically handles recruitment, onboarding, and employee relations. Dedicated HR professionals improve the employee experience by making employees feel heard and valued.

Restaurant payroll software needs to be integrated with time and attendance. That way, you can pay staff for the hours they worked, not just the scheduled hours. Time and attendance software includes easy schedule builders and customizable clocks. Make sure shifts (and key positions) are covered by flagging and categorizing workers. Set your own thresholds for automatic overtime notifications.

The self-service portal is a huge part of restaurant payroll software. A portal provides centralized access to everything an employee needs, including links to LMS training, pay stubs, and documentation for taxes. Portals should be mobile-friendly so that deskless workless (like most restaurant staff) can easily check their scheduled hours.

There’s no benefit to slow and inefficient job postings. Let your software quickly broadcast the details about openings.

You don’t want to be too generic (or unnecessarily complicated). Make sure you ask the right questions. Highlight the must-haves for each position at your restaurant.

Electronic applications are easily sorted by criteria like years of experience. Quickly schedule interviews with the push of a button.

Stay organized and follow best practices for interviews. Pre-screening questions collect important details, while also using interview answers to objectively compare candidates.

Automation makes it easier to quickly sort and evaluate applicants. Clear, quick messages and prompt scheduling set the tone. What should new hires expect from your restaurant?

Use an LMS for onboarding to close skill gaps, giving everyone 24/7 access to essential training materials. Training videos let workers view familiar material and repeat new information.

Avoid costly fines and liability with software that includes built-in compliance features. Missed paperwork deadlines and wage violations are preventable headaches.

• Increased operational complexities
• Demand for efficient staff management
• Integration of modern technology in HR practices
• High employee turnover rates
• Abbreviated onboarding timeline

Onboarding determines how quickly your new hire is able to ramp up to consistent everyday work. HR software opens up new options for pre-onboarding, allowing for key paperwork (and even training) to be completed remotely and beforehand.

Communication sets the tone for all relationships, including between employers and employees. Use restaurant onboarding software to ensure the essentials are communicated as clearly as possible. Regularly schedule 1-on-1 meetings and discuss each trainee’s progress.

Payroll, benefits, and other administrative tasks come at you like a dinner rush every pay period. Automate hourly pay calculations, withholdings, and other tasks. Let restaurant onboarding software simplify management and let your leaders focus on the actual restaurant business.

New hires need to learn your menu, processes, and the various quirks of your workplace. Professional growth plans give experienced staff another reason to stick around, reducing turnover. By closing skills gaps and training for multiple roles, flexible workers make your restaurant more adaptable.

Every restaurant has its own unique flavor and culture. You get a significant chance to shape company culture during onboarding. Restaurant onboarding software makes it easy to introduce your company’s values and mission.

How do employees request time off? Do employees have a way to give feedback anonymously? If workers have to text or call their manager, then your restaurant is leaving itself open to a world of liability. Establish your own channels to keep things professional and documented.

Availability is a huge factor in hiring decisions. Nevertheless, scheduling conflicts will pop up. HR scheduling software makes it easy to compare the schedules on job applications. Train new hires on your policies and expectations around scheduling requests, swapping, and more.

Restaurant onboarding software doesn’t just gather employee information and distribute handbooks. Track each trainee as they move through the material. Do your due diligence during onboarding to cover required safety and compliance material.

Business owners prioritized retention last year, and it’s still a trending topic today. Take care of your employees with fair pay and a positive culture, and you won’t have to hire and train so many replacements.

Upskilling helps retention by encouraging professional growth in jobs without much potential for promotions and raises. Fortunately, you can tackle the biggest causes of turnover with software for restaurants.

Even the best workers get frustrated with a bad training process. Provide employee handbook manuals to explain policies clearly and reflect current procedures. Promote a culture of learning instead of treating training as a one-time hassle. Yes, it’s time-consuming to train new hires, but your best hires still have room to grow and learn new skills.

Also, offer not only in-house training, but training around industry knowledge and career growth. Encourage professional development through a Learning Management System (LMS) to promote a culture of continuous learning.

Your employees have other obligations outside of work. Make sure schedules are fair for the holidays as well as the rest of the year. Schedule conflicts are inevitable, but scheduling software (with the right features) lets workers easily swap shifts and request leave.

Better scheduling is a big step towards work-life balance. Use stay interviews to find out about issues that matter to your employees.

Celebrate the achievements of your most motivated workers. People who feel unappreciated may look for a new job, even leaving a job with adequate pay.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) starts with recruiting, but it can also make your staff feel more safe and supported.

There’s no real benefit to secrecy when it comes to payments and company policies. Rumors and perceived unfairness can lead to discontent and liability issues. Pay transparency is legally required in some parts of the country, and it’s relatively easy for restaurants. Send out schedule updates and notifications directly to workers’ phones.

Changing a menu item? Update the kitchen and wait staff at all locations at once.

HR software gives you secure, mobile-friendly portals for workers to access benefits, employee handbooks, and company information. Send links to online training modules, and you can confirm when each worker completes the course.

So far, the news from the IT revolution is great: robots aren’t coming for most jobs. HR software automates the most repetitive and mind-numbing tasks. Streamline administrative chores like scheduling, time and attendance tracking, and payroll.

Whether the policies come from your own leadership team or corporate HQ, all the franchise locations need to be kept up to date. Clear, consistent policies help make sure that everyone is treated fairly across your different shifts and locations.

Everyone has to stay synchronized with specials and promotions. When key ingredients run low and absenteeism leaves you short staffed, nearby franchise locations can help each other out. Collaboration isn’t possible without reliable communication channels.

The IRS expects Form 8027 for restaurants with more than 10 tipped employees. Restaurant payroll software manages wages, deductions, and related paperwork automatically. At Netchex, many of our restaurant clients also run payroll for franchise locations in multiple states.

A centralized system makes it easy to make sure shifts are fully covered and nobody is asked to work two places at once. When the same staff help at multiple franchise locations, their time punches and tips need to be tracked automatically.

Effective management depends on clear and consistent communication. HR software makes communication easier with dedicated channels and push notifications. In-app messaging keeps work life separate from personal correspondence.

Use an ATS to sort through applications and guide hiring decisions. HR software for restaurant onboarding tracks the completion of paperwork and training materials. You can even get new hires started remotely. Netchex has helped clients like Walk-On’s find and hire top talent.

Inexperienced hires need more training than veterans, but everybody needs access to the material. Help onboard and get new employees started, or help tenured employees develop their careers. Quizzes at the end of training modules verify that key policies are understood.

It’s easier than ever to collect information, but you need top tier HR reporting and analytics to make sense of all that data. It’s often the unexpected trends that lead to surprising new insights.

Use payroll software to make sure you follow minimum wage, overtime, and tipping regulations. Besides local and state rules, you’ll also follow the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), and food safety laws.

Restaurant staff don’t spend all their free time on desktop computers at home. Mobile access lets workers check the schedule and work notifications while they’re running errands and enjoying time off.

Track sales and reported tips to flag when the numbers are out of whack. New hires may try buddy punching and tricks that worked with their previous employer. Integrated software can follow individual workers through each order and shift.

Netchex software integrations make your tools work better. Eliminate manual work, gain powerful insights, and streamline your processes through secure data sharing with other industry-leading solutions.