The Critical Connection
Restaurant labor costs continue to rise, making investments in the employee experience all the more
important. Maintaining a staff of seasoned, long-tenured employees reduces turnover costs and boosts
productivity; these employees know the business, customers, and culture, and they’ve likely gained a
sense of loyalty over time, making them more likely to stay on board.
Scheduling plays a major role in creating the conditions for high retention rates. According to Legion’s
2024 State of the Hourly Workforce Report, the inability to offer schedule flexibility was managers' biggest
challenge in retaining employees last year, outside of pay. Relatedly, hourly employees rated having
schedule flexibility as one of the top three factors they valued most about their current role.
There is a reason “schedule flexibility” is often listed as the primary perk on an hourly job description, and it’s because flexible scheduling gives restaurant employees more autonomy over their lives. When they have the freedom to control their work schedules, they also have the freedom to handle personal matters, pursue other interests and skills outside of work, and even take on additional employment if they want. Recent research shows that a sense of autonomy is linked to healthy psychological well-being, which in turn makes workers more satisfied and productive in their roles. This is what has made flexible job arrangements and gig work so attractive to hourly workers, and restaurants will need to match it to keep their best employees on staff (and recruit talented new ones).
AI in the Scheduling Ecosystem
Scheduling isn’t just about who can work when. It can also mean who can work where, if a restaurant has multiple locations locally, and who has the right skills and experience levels to accommodate the demands of a shift. On top of juggling the logistics, restaurants must also navigate advanced compliance challenges, especially if they employ workers under the age of eighteen. And that’s just on the employee side. Other factors like projected demand, disruptions to that projected demand, and additional businesds needs can all influence employee schedules. These various factors are borderline impossible for managers to keep up with using outdated manual or semi-automated scheduling methods. AI alleviates the burden and makes the process far less complicated.
Manual and outdated processes pose a significant challenge for managers. According to Legion’s 2024 State of the Hourly Workforce Report, more than 29% of managers don’t feel their employer has set them up for success and 53% of managers don’t feel they have the time to focus on the parts of their job they enjoy. The top thing managers said employers could do to make their lives easier is to reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks like creating and maintaining schedules.
