An Evolution in Strategy Toward People-First Technology in Hospitality Workforce Management

In a year marked by significant economic pressures, the hospitality industry is grappling with several critical challenges. The push for a $20 minimum wage is causing considerable financial strain, and high labor costs are already a substantial burden for many businesses. Compounding these issues, ongoing unionization efforts are placing additional pressures on management.

To navigate these turbulent waters, restaurant technology leaders are being charged to rethink their workforce management strategies, leveraging technology to enhance efficiency, and focusing on improving the employee experience to retain top talent.

The Shift in Hospitality Employee Technology

For the longest time, employee technology has been something of an afterthought. The primary focus has traditionally been on customer-facing initiatives, such as enhancing the dining experience, optimizing service speed, and improving customer satisfaction. While these aspects are undoubtedly crucial, this approach has often left the needs of employees inadequately addressed.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that bundling scheduling into a back-office solution along with inventory, cash handling, and other admin functions is the optimal approach to managing your people.

But, people are not things; and the technology we use to hire, manage, retain, and develop talent needs to take their unique needs into account.

In reality, employees are the backbone of the hospitality industry. They require tools and technologies that are tailored to their unique roles, preferences, and career development. A one-size-fits-all solution that prioritizes operational efficiency over employee experience can lead to dissatisfaction, high turnover, and inefficiencies.

Reimagining Your Hospitality Workforce Tech Stack

Once you’ve aligned on this very human concept, you can reimagine your tech stack to reduce fragmentation, improve efficiency, enhance the employee experience, minimize legal risk, and ultimately, produce a far more profitable labor model.

What if you could…

  • Provide a Seamless Experience: Offer your frontline employees and managers a true single, seamless experience across their lifecycle – from hello, to grow, to goodbye.
  • Gain Actionable Insights: Continuously collect meaningful feedback and actionable insights into employee sentiment and potential turnover risks, allowing you to proactively address concerns or trends before they escalate into problems.
  • Enhance Forecasting with AI: Harness the power of AI to improve demand forecasting precision by effortlessly factoring in hundreds of operational, labor, and business data points.
  • Optimize Labor Deployment: Use automation to build smarter schedules that balance demand fluctuations, employee preferences, as well as complex cost and compliance requirements.
  • Attract and Retain Talent: Build highly productive and differentiated frontline teams with tools that make it easy to attract, engage, and hire great people.
  • Ensure Compliance: Alleviate compliance issues and fraudulent activity with built-in warnings and risk indicators that remove the regulatory burden from managers.
  • Integrate Comprehensive Data: Integrate employee, revenue, and operational data into a “single pane of glass” to enable comprehensive, real-time insights, equipping you to understand, anticipate, and adapt to evolving needs.

When frontline employees have access to the right tools to manage their work, such as schedules or mobile punch, they are less likely to have plans to quit their job. This highlights the critical need for investing in employee-focused technology, such as advanced scheduling and mobile punch tools, to boost retention and job satisfaction.

The Power of a Vertically-Focused Employee Experience Platform

The only way you can do this is with an end-to-end platform built for hospitality. That’s exactly how Harri customers are achieving this today. They’re creating a fully interconnected frontline employee experience to drive business performance through the power of their people.

Harri’s platform offers a suite of tools designed to meet the unique needs of the hospitality industry. Features include intuitive scheduling, comprehensive compliance management, real-time performance tracking, and AI-driven insights. These capabilities help businesses streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance employee satisfaction.

Hospitality Industry Trends and Insights

The hospitality industry is witnessing a significant shift towards employee-centric solutions. As businesses recognize the importance of a happy and engaged workforce, investments in advanced employee technology are becoming a top priority. This trend is driven by the need to improve retention rates, reduce turnover, and create a more resilient workforce capable of delivering exceptional customer experiences.

This employee-first strategy is becoming a prevalent theme across the restaurant tech landscape. Expect to see it continue shaping our industry for years to come. As more hospitality businesses embrace this innovation, the focus will increasingly shift towards creating environments where employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered to deliver exceptional service.

By investing in advanced employee technology, hospitality leaders can build a resilient, future-proof foundation for sustained success. The journey to a more efficient, human-centric workplace begins now, and the tools to achieve it are within reach.

Ready to transform your workforce management strategy and enhance your employee experience? Schedule a demo today and discover how Harri’s end-to-end platform can help you thrive in today’s challenging economic landscape.



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