Time and attendance

Commercial Director at Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, Geoff Wareham, told S4labour: “It was all very manual. There was no till links. I had to put sales in every day. The clocking in and out was temperamental at best and at worst case scenario you risk of underpaying staff quite significantly or overpaying them because the system wasn’t fit for purpose, it was probably a system that was 20 years old.” 

For such a diverse and growing business, getting actual hours recorded for every employee to ensure they could process accurate payroll. Finding the right tools that would allow them to do this efficiently, and across all of their different venues, was a top priority. Geoff commented: “there was always that risk of staff being underpaid or overpaid. So obviously last year when S4labour launched big TAPS, that was a real key feature.” 

Visibility of labour costs

Mikhail Group also find a huge amount of value in having accessibility and visibility of their labour costs: “we’re a very accounts-led company, so having the numbers and the data there ready to review every single day is key to the ultimate success in the business. The business has been successful over the years, we’ve gone from 1 venue in 2015, to sitting at 14 now”, said Geoff. 

For Mikhail Group, it’s important that at each level, their team have the right tools in place to be their best. General managers can access key financial KPIs, which is essential to making key decisions and plays a part in making the business thrive. 

Speaking of the key role Mikhail’s GMs play in the overall business, Geoff said: “when they’re managing their cost, to be able to just log onto their phone and see: what’s my forecast today? What’s is my wage percentage looking like this week? is massively beneficial.” 

People management

Mikhail Group also use S4labour’s HR tools, which help them to save time and ensure they are GDPR compliant, without any of the stress. As a young company, they didn’t always have systems in place for everything, so contracts were something that used to be a manual process. 

With the help of S4labour, their people management has become even more effective: “the HR solution as an add on was essential. It just gives everything in the same place”, Geoff commented.  

In terms of cost vs benefit, Geoff told S4labour that “the benefits far outweigh the cost.” 

Workforce management

Chestnut have worked with workforce management provider S4labour for around 3 years. With such a complex and growing business, using paper and spreadsheets to manage their shift patterns and pay wasn’t a viable option, and the business also had a focus on streamlining communications and HR onboarding.  

Charley commented: “I publish a rota, and everyone gets a notification on their phone. It was so quick and simple to do. In every hospitality business I’ve ever worked in, the team are always keen to receive their rotas as far in advance as possible. It helps people to plan their lives outside of work and they are always really appreciative.” 

S4labour onboards new employees onto the system and the HR tools allows all important employee information and documentation to be completed accurately and efficiently.  

By systemising deployment and rotas, labour demand and budgets are looked after and sales increase is driven by having the right people at work at the right time, without any of the stress or extra admin. “When you’re looking at your rota model and you’re able to see your flex, it helps you to determine if you have the right level of team required – it makes our lives really simple”, Charley commented.  

Once the rotas are in, they can be viewed via the app. Holiday management is made easy with visibility of accruals, the ability to request time off and holiday pay automatically calculated in the rota. 

Charley added: “anything that makes lives simpler for our teams is a big win for us.” 

Cost versus benefit

Cost versus benefit is high on every operator’s agenda. When it comes to investing in S4labour, Charley said: “Cost of living has risen, the hangover of COVID, Brexit, you name it, everything is much more expensive, so you have to be really mindful about labour costing and I think S4labour is commercial in that respect.” 

Benefit

One thing really stands out for Chestnut, and that is the customer service they receive with S4labour.  

In terms of first-line support and account management, Charley said “everyone is so incredibly approachable; nothing is beneath anyone. It makes us feel like it’s a partnership, rather than S4labour just being a product that is supplied to us.” 

Results

Since their decision to make S4labour a part of their business, Oowee have been able to reduce the amount of time spent on labour significantly. Their general managers are able to spend more time training and engaging their employees, which makes everything from a head office perspective, more efficient. 

For their teams, the features for writing the schedules and swapping shifts gave them visibility and flexibility to ensure a good work-life balance exists. 

Onboarding of new employees is now done through the app, where essential details are captured, making the whole process seamless. 

Oowee received ongoing support through monthly, and now bi-monthy, calls with their Account Manager, Veno.

Solution & Results

Boardman Community Pubs needed to find a labour management tool that could deploy people at the right time and provide clear visibility, so they could have more control over labour costs.

Since turning to S4labour, Boardman Community Pubs haven’t looked back. Their takings have risen because they have properly managed staff, and as a result, customers are receiving first-class service and spending more.