The question of how to ‘control’ labour has long been at the forefront of operators’ minds. For most hospitality businesses labour is the single biggest cost, a cost that looks only set to grow.
Rises in national living wage, a skills shortage in the industry, fierce competition for both the best staff and for customer spend, as well as fears about Brexit are adding to the challenge of how to manage this extremely valuable resource. Now more than ever it is vital to the long-term success of businesses that they are able to employ and deploy their teams for optimal revenue and customer’s satisfaction.
Businesses have the data. It is sitting in multiple systems waiting for someone to pull off reports to interpret what all this data means, to assess the opportunities for operational and financial efficiencies and to gain valuable insights. The value of insight from ‘good data’ cannot be underestimated. The quality of decision-making improves, the ability to react and adapt increases dramatically, and managers can use both their instinct and hard data when planning – a winning combination.
Measuring and holding teams and managers to account is difficult without good visibility of what’s happening across the estate – so getting the information out of silos, turning it into insight and getting it into the hands of the operation is crucial.