FSTEC – Our biggest takeaways

#TeamHarri spent last week in the Lone Star State at the FSTEC Convention. After meeting with hundreds of IT professionals on the future of the hospitality industry, these were the thought-provoking highlights they came back to Harri HQ with: 

Unit-level adoption of employee-facing technology continues to be an uphill battle. Finding a technology platform that’s built from the ground up, mobile-friendly, highly intuitive, and meet the expectations of a multi-generational workforce is a rare find. The Workforce OS by Harri was built with this entirely in mind. Our platform includes TeamHub, a custom-built system using facial recognition technology, focused on improving the clock-in/clock-out experience for employees and managers.

Multi-Unit Control and Visibility. Restaurant operators need to look at different types of data when studying their holistic labor performance. Traditional, periodic data sets are not sufficient forms of information to examine critical labor KPIs. Operators need tools than can empower them to compare data and performance across regions and brands. With the introduction of the Harri Live, operators can grant frontline managers the ability to access live sales and labor data, full scheduling management, employee requests, communications, live compliance alerts and team data in one place, on the go. The application allows for cross-location employee data, which is useful to have up to date information at the unit level.

Highly Complex Risks. With labor-related legislation, keeping the workforce compliant has never been more challenging. Recent controversies, such as the lawsuit against Chipotle in NYC alleging Fair Workweek violations and McDonald’s joint employer settlement, have made it imperative for operators to invest in tools that ensure compliance and prevent fees and potential lawsuits. Our new rules engine features a customized approach to Fair Workweek regulations that ensures compliance across jurisdictions and a nimble approach to predictive scheduling.

Employee engagement as a function of retention. The topic of ‘Employee engagement’ has developed into one of this years biggest headlines. Many have positioned training and development as the most critical contributor to drive retention. The sobering reality is that employee retention is a multi dimensional issue that requires a multidimensional solution. One of the most commonly missed opportunities to engage and communicate with employees is the point of clock in. With the creation of TeamHub, a dedicated facial recognition time and attendance application, managers can push alerts, and gather surveys. The future of employee retention is rooted in delivering the right forms of technology, communications and engagement in the right place and at the right time.