Recent world events have made it hard for restaurant owners to hire and keep qualified staff. If you had to shut down and furlough employees at any time in the last couple of years, you know just how hard it can be to keep staff happy and make sure they can afford to stay and work for you.

Update Your Hiring Process

Because pretty much everyone carries a smartphone these days, the ability to monitor the hiring and onboarding process can be simplified. If you own a business that offers franchises, you may find it easier to train all of your employees at different facilities in one city to build flexibility.

With the right technology, you can confirm that your employees have been trained to work the machines that are critical to their shift. You can make sure that managers have signed off on that training and that your employees can function safely around equipment that could be dangerous to a novice.

You can also use this tool to track the ages of your employees. A 16-year-old can bus tables but may not be legal to work past a certain hour; a 19-year-old may be able to work until midnight but not deliver wine to a diner.

Modernize Your Scheduling Process

The days of posting a paper schedule only to have everyone make pen and ink changes to it are long gone. In fact, the right software can allow you to offer the chance for employees to swap with one another from facility to facility.

According to Synergysuite.com, a provider of restaurant HR software solutions, “A great restaurant culture starts with excellent restaurant HR.”

The ability to communicate with teams at multiple locations can go a long way toward making sure that your critical shifts are always covered. To that end, you can also put blocks in place to keep employees who haven't completed their training from walking into a kitchen that could be dangerous to them.

This scheduling technology can also protect you from having to pay overtime because someone picked up more than 40 hours per week. Restaurant owners who can track hours over several different facilities will have warnings before that 41st hour.

Celebrate Employee Success

When an employee leaves, your investment in their training goes right out the door with them. Rather than losing all of that skill, the right HR software can help you celebrate

• - the successful completion of a training module
• - someone who goes above and beyond to cover multiple shifts in multiple locations in a crunch
• - trainers who put in extra time with new employees struggling to learn the ropes

Creating a public event to reward and celebrate longevity tells new employees that you notice that work anniversary. The simple addition of a small gift card and a handwritten note can do a lot to boost employee loyalty.

Automate Paychecks

Once training and scheduling are automated, the automation of paychecks is also a boon to employees. Depending on the nature of your restaurant, you may have employees who

• - work for you full-time and consider your business their primary source of income
• - work for you as their side hustle
• - are going to school full-time and make enough to cover basic bills at your facility

Do your best to provide an automatic deposit whenever possible. If you have employees who are unbanked, you may need to pay them through a debit card. Do your best to keep paper paychecks off the table; generating a run of paper checks is a burden of time that you don't need to carry.

The ability to automate paychecks can also protect you as an employer. If you are required by law to get an I-9 for each employee, you may need to hold their check until they complete the form. An automated deposit with the technology to block the data transmission reduces the risk that someone on your staff may accidentally pay someone before they've completed the necessary documentation.

A well-trained and polite employee can turn a good meal into a wonderful experience. If you get positive comments, your restaurant software may allow you to send that employee a note at the end of a shift or before they come in the next time.