What were they looking for in a solution?

When moving to S4labour, Beautiful Pubs were looking for a solution that could help them to streamline all their operational processes.  

They wanted to be able to manage their labour in line with sales demand, to achieve excellent service and maximise sales across the business.

Results

Now using S4labour, everything they need to manage their teams to be their best, is in one easily accessible place.  

With effective deployment, the team at Beautiful Pubs are able to match sales demand hour-by-hour so they aren’t overspending on their labour.  

With S4 Manage, their manages have real-time in-hand control over the day-to-day running of each site. They can view and analyse site performance, and amend staff rotas as operational needs evolve, as well as record any absences with ease.  

Using S4 Insights has given them collective visibility of forecasts, budgets and sales across all three sites.  

Using the employee app, S4 Connect, has given their teams complete access to their rotas, including shift briefs, slack tasks and incentives for every day. Teams are able to see booked and accrued holiday, as well request future holidays and ‘not available’ shifts. Staff members also have access to all their personal information and documents, including contracts and RTW, all in one place.  

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.”