These systems have become indispensable if you want to control wage costs and manage labour allocation. Rostering is one part of their function, and they should also allow interpretation of Awards and pay conditions, integration with payroll systems, and collection of employee data. Plus easy connection with a bookkeeping system like MYOB or Xero, and dashboards to track results. This list is regularly updated, and descriptions are taken from their websites. Terminology varies between different countries: in Australia and New Zealand we talk about rosters, in the UK they are called rotas, and in the USA and Canada, they are called schedules. Vive la différence!
How to choose between Restaurant Rostering & Scheduling Systems
Most systems offer a core set of services, with some extending into payroll and HR management. Check individual systems against this list of features:
- Build rosters for multiple locations and teams
- Multiple pay rates by role, time of day and day of week, special holidays etc
- Interpretation of government award pay rates for accurate payroll
- Integration with time clock systems – finger and face recognition
- Integration and export to payroll systems
- Integration and export to bookkeeping systems
- Messaging and communication with employees via app, email and SMS
- Continual update of hours worked for real-time costing
- Employee onboarding system – essential information plus photo
- Integration with customer booking & table management systems for optimal staffing levels
- Management reports available on PC, phone or tablet
- Exception reports to highlight over or under-staffing
- Wage and time forecasts
- Automatic roll-over rostering and roster templates
- Approval for leave and shift swaps
- Communicate to staff to fill available shifts
- Leave tracking and management
- Recruitment – applications and applicant communication
- Import employee information from a CSV file or other employee data formats
- Multi-user and multi-level access options
- Highly secure data protection
- Set-up service included in fee or additional cost. plus ongoing support
- Training and help system through extensive online documentation and videos
- Cost – per employee or flat rate, and may vary by level of service offered
Cafe & Restaurant Roster Systems we have seen…
Tanda – ‘automates your admin tasks so you have time to focus on your business instead of spending countless hours on rosters and payroll’. Employee Onboarding, Rosters, Time Clock Attendance, Leave Management, Award Interpretation & Compliance, Payroll Integration, Tanda Mobile App, Shift Swapping, Live Wage Tracker and integration with accounting and other applications – it’s one the best, constantly adding new & useful features.’
Deputy – ‘manage schedules from any device and record accurate employee hours. Easy to pick up, loved by staff’. Time clock app, Workplace communication, Task management, Leave management and Auto scheduling. Plus integration with accounting and other applications.
FoundU – ‘payroll and HR doesn’t need to be complicated, it just needs to be effective. We developed the foundU platform to tackle the everyday problems of managing your workforce. We take the complex, and we automate it to ensure your time is spent on the important stuff’. Combines rostering, recruitment and payroll in one package. Plus integration with accounting and other applications.
Loaded Reports – ‘cloud based hospitality management system. We connect to your point of sale to give you real-time sales information which you and your team can access from all of your devices 24 hours a day. Also includes simple budgeting, cash reconciliation, timeclock, rostering and inventory management’.
Ento – ‘save time by creating each roster from scratch or a template. Drag-and-drop shifts around and let the system calculate your all-important labour costs and warnings. You can add notes to convey extra details. Use sales, footfall and other demand data to accurately project your future labour needs. Ento handles seasonality, special dates and events with an algorithm configured for your business’. Plus integration with accounting and other applications.
WhenIWork – ‘a free employee scheduling app that does more than just save you time on scheduling. It also helps you improve communication, eliminate excuses, boost accountability among your staff, track time and attendance, and grow your business’. Free plan has useful features and could be a good way to test it out. Integration with payroll services.
AdiInsights – ‘helps managers make sure they have adequate staff at all times so that customers aren’t waiting too long for service anywhere throughout the restaurant. Adi also allows your managers to schedule staff to changes in customer demand across the day’. Plus integration with accounting and other applications.
FindMyShift – ‘a stable, reliable and scalable scheduling service for all types of organisations, no matter how large or small. Findmyshift is with you wherever you need it. There’s nothing to install and nothing to download. Everything you need to manage your staff is right here in your web browser’. Flat rate monthly price.
Employment Hero – ‘bring all your HR into one, easy-to-use place. With Employment Hero you can paperlessly onboard staff, provide induction content, conduct visa checks and performance reviews. We also help you stay compliant with built in contracts, policies and HR templates ready to go’. Plus integration with accounting and other applications.
Roubler – ‘simplifying the way you recruit, onboard, manage & pay your people. We’re changing the way Australian businesses manage their shift-based workforces with simple all-in-one workforce management and payroll software. Everything you need to hire, onboard, roster, manage and pay your staff on a single, easy-to-use cloud-based software.’
Microkeeper – ‘integrated workforce management and payroll software that allows you to onboard staff, create rosters, track timesheets with dedicated hardware and pay employees…all in one place’
RosterPortal – ‘a web-based program so staff can login online to not only check their weekly rosters, but also update their week to week availability and enter time-off requests. This feeds into the Admin section where it is intuitively displayed to make life much quicker and easier creating rosters.’ Flat weekly cost with options, instead of price based on number of staff.
Happy HR – not a rostering system, but ‘your HR department’. It manages recruitment, onboarding, workplace agreements and a whole range of essential HR functions. Integrates with rostering systems like Tanda and Deputy, plus payroll and accounting systems.”
ALSO CHECK our lists of Recipe Software and Event Booking & Management Systems.
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