Seasonal fluctuations are a part of life when it comes to running a restaurant. Things can get hectic during the tourist season and around certain holidays, while you experience a lull in business at other times of the year. You will have to get used to managing seasonal restaurant staff if you want to succeed. Fortunately, there are seasonal payroll solutions that can help make your life easier as a restaurant owner or manager.
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Challenges in Managing a Seasonal Workforce
You likely understand that staffing needs fluctuate a lot at different times of the year. You might need extra workers around specific holidays like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. Things probably pick up during the tourist season where you're located as well.
Knowing when you need more staffers versus fewer is half the battle. Staying up-to-date with your local, state, and federal labor laws is also a challenge since constant changes occur that you must comply with. Staff can come and go rather quickly at these times, so you will also have to deal with the logistics of rapid onboarding and offboarding of employees.
Flexible Payroll Systems
One thing that will help with managing seasonal restaurant staff is a flexible payroll system. The right payroll software that specifically caters to the restaurant industry can help ensure that your workers are paid on time and accurately. This can also ease the challenges of adapting to irregular hours and varying wage rates of seasonal employment in restaurants. You'll have to decide whether you want to handle seasonal payroll in-house, or if it's better to outsource your payroll under a full-service processing arrangement.
Effective Onboarding and Offboarding
Restaurant staff onboarding and offboarding need to be as seamless as possible. If a new employee is brought on in the middle of a busy season, you may have less time to train them. When an employee leaves, you want to provide them with their last paycheck and wish them well quickly.
Fortunately, most seasonal employees understand the nature of this relationship. The right digital tools for fast and efficient processing and training can make this part of your life easier while ensuring compliance for seasonal workers.
It's also important that you stay up-to-date and in compliance with labor laws that specifically relate to seasonal workers. Just because they're seasonal employees doesn't mean they are not entitled to overtime or minimum wage, just like your regular full-time employees. Time-tracking software that automatically monitors the hours your employees work can be a lifesaver. Your seasonal employees can then rest assured that they will be paid on time and accurately.
Benefits of a Centralized HR Platform
Attracting and engaging an effective seasonal workforce is much easier when you have a centralized HR platform. A human capital management (HCM) system that lets you do everything from one integrated web location is essential.
Our software solutions at Workforce PayHub allow you to monitor and track your seasonal employees' hours while instantly calculating taxes and withholding. Compliance with labor laws is built right into the system. A self-service hub for employees that they can access from any smartphone or web browser provides transparency and improves relationships with all your employees. Having all your seasonal HR solutions in one location will save you time and money.
Get Started with Workforce PayHub
Managing seasonal restaurant staff is easy when you have the right tools for the job. A centralized HR platform can make onboarding, offboarding, payroll, compliance, and time tracking much easier.
Streamline your seasonal staffing with Workforce PayHub’s flexible payroll and HR solutions. Contact us today to learn how we can help manage your seasonal workforce more efficiently.
