The checklist every great manager uses for profitable shifts

You know as well as I do that managing a shift is never as simple as it looks. You’ve got the music, the mood, the temperature…dozens of dynamics that have to be spot on before the first customer even walks through the door.

All that is 100% important. But what almost always gets overlooked is just how critical it is that your managers have the tools and skills to most effectively manage your labour cost. The way they adapt to a packed house or a quiet evening can make or break the shift - for your bottom line, your team, and your customers.

So, after 15 years of watching the best managers in action, I’ve put together a 21-point checklist that breaks it all down. From setting up your team for success before the shift starts, to managing costs during service, to reviewing the day to make the next one better - it’s got everything your team needs to nail every shift. Read through the checklist below, or click here to open your own printable copy complete with handy checkboxes >>

‍

Checklist: Managing Labour On A Shift

Getting Started

Team: Review the roster for the upcoming shift you’re running, and make sure you have a good understanding of the start times and proposed finished times. Note down any minor changes you think might be beneficial, and - if necessary - communicate these out to the team.

Demand: Review the budget for the day, your table and functions bookings, and what the trend of orders looked like for the same shift for the last few weeks to give you an idea of what your customer ordering patterns might look like.

Breaks: From the information above, try and have an approximate idea on when you’ll give your team their unpaid and paid breaks. Getting the unpaid breaks in line with lower customer demand is key, and will have a significant effect on your overall labour cost for your shift.

Plan B: If the shift doesn’t get as busy as both the budget and roster are expecting, what’s your plan? You’ll likely have some people on the roster who really need the hours, and others that would be happy to work less. Ensure you’re clear on what this looks like so you have a plan for reducing your labour cost if it’s quiet, while also doing your best to make sure the team are also happy with the outcomes.

Prepare: Have you got everything set up to run as efficiently as possible during service? Triple check that you’ve got sections and roles assigned in a way that makes sense for how busy you’re likely to be, and ensure all ordering devices are fully charged. It’s things like this that make all the difference to how efficiently you run.

Communicate: As your team arrives, make sure they know your Plan A if it’s as busy as you expect it to be and your Plan B if it’s not. Don’t surprise them with anything during the shift!

During Shift

If you’ve prepared well on everything above, then running the shift is the easy piece.

If everything is going to plan, run to your rostered start times.

Follow your break plans, and remember that if someone is rostered a longer unpaid break you need to find a down period for this.

If the shift isn’t taking off as expected, remind the team of Plan B and give them lead time on when you’ll be getting them to clock off if things don’t pick up. Listen hard to the team here - your assumptions on who might not want the hours might be wrong, so have flexibility in your thinking and plans (the caveat being that the experience and capability levels of the team that remain on shift must be at the right level to give your customers a great experience).

As the manager on shift you can only affect revenue via the average spend of the customers you have, so make sure you’re listening and watching closely for opportunities to support the team to increase the average spend per head. Pro tip: exceptional hospitality and the average spend a customer makes at your business go hand in hand, so don’t ever think of it as upselling.

As the shift starts to wind down, start reviewing finish times and whether you might be able to stagger these any earlier than the roster suggests. It’s important that whether you’re front of house or kitchen you’re in constant comms on this.

Are there areas of your venue you can shut down prior to the full closure that won’t affect your guests' experience, but will reduce your overall labour cost for the day?

Can parts of the bar area be broken down and tills counted before you close, or during any down time the bar team have?

Can stock orders be drafted and stock areas be restocked during down time, rather than waiting until the end of the shift?

End of Shift

It’s important to review and reflect at the end of the shift. Sharing this information is how the business can make sure improvements are made in future weeks.

Review

What is the total dollars, hours and labour percentage that you achieved?

How does this compare to what was forecast for the day?

Communicate

Write up the following in your nightly report:

What changes did you make to start and finish times for the shift, and why?

Were there areas that felt like they were too heavily rostered, making labour management challenging for the shift?

Were there any areas where the roster felt light, and you really needed more team members to deliver great customer service? Or where being understaffed meant you missed out on increasing sales for the shift?

What other suggestions would you have for the manager that’s writing the roster next week?

Are the times allocated for opening and closing the venue each day the same or relevant to how busy the day will be? Have you tested this yourself lately to find out how long it takes?

‍

Get your own printable copy of the complete checklist >>