The History of Scheduling & 5 Scheduling Myths Busted

10 Mar, 2014 | Tags: bar scheduling software, Employee Schedule, Employee schedule calendar, employee schedule template, Employee Scheduling, employee scheduling programs, Employee Scheduling Software, hospital scheduling software, hotel scheduling software, online employee scheduling software, restaurant schedules, Restaurant scheduling s oftware, Staff Scheduling, Staff Scheduling Software, workforce schedule

Scheduling began its origins in ancient times when shift work made its first appearance with the need for kingdoms and military watchmen to stand vigilant 24 hours a day. Over time shift working began to growthrough different industries, and in the late 1800s starting with the invention of the light bulb and expansion of electricity, it was now possible to have employees working even through the darkest nights.

With the rising costs of fixed assets and the increased time required to start up machinery, it became more financially sound for certain industries, such as steel mills, iron foundries and textile mills, to have non-stop production. At this time the first traditional models of workforce scheduling appeared, splitting up workers into rotating day and night shift groups. The first schedules were very simple and consisted of working 12 hour shifts with half the staff scheduled to work at night, and the remaining staff scheduled to work during the day. This workforce scheduling would continue for 13 straight days per employee with 1 day off before being scheduled for the opposite shift; however this resulted in a high level of work related accidents and injuries.

In 1866 the first industry unions began pressuring businesses and the government to limit the number of work hours to 8 per day, however at this time the idea was met with a tremendous amount of resistance. It wasn’t until 1933 that congress passed their first labor act, “National Industrial Recovery Act” detailing minimum wage, maximum work hours and collective bargaining. This act was later repealed and replaced with the “Wagner Act” that went much further by also defining rules and regulations for part-time workers and overtime requirements.

In the 1960s 12 hour shifts again became popular to employees looking to complete their work during fewer days, increasing time with family and friends. This continues today, but has become more complicated with employers offering different lengths of shifts, and then scheduling their workforce to overlap for portions of the shifts. Due to this paradigm shift, scheduling software like What Time Do I Work.com has become a required tool to ensure that businesses of all industries are adequately staffed, while taking less time to create the schedule. This is the future of scheduling!

Myths of Scheduling Software:

Employee scheduling software is expensive

What Time Do I Work.com is affordably priced and offers special pricing based on company size. On average users spend about 75% less time creating and dealing with their weekly schedules, and end up saving themselves and their employees many wasted hours each week.. What Time Do I Work.com employee scheduling software saves time throughout all aspects of scheduling, with unique features such as our automatic conflict alerts and approved time-off requests that are auto populated on schedule.

Employee scheduling programs are hard to use

Employee scheduling itself can be difficult, but What Time Do I Work.com has specifically designed the software for ease of use. Additionally once you sign up (and anytime you need assistance) there is a wizard to walk you through the features, and to help you add all your information into the program. With our import wizard you can upload all your employee information right to the program, instead of entering the information manually. So set up is a breeze too!

Scheduling software is used by large companies

What Time Do I Work.com scheduling software was designed for all companies, no matter if you have 5 or 500 employees. If you have to create a weekly schedule, then you need scheduling software. Our system has many features that benefit companies of all sizes. The program allows your employees to enter their time off and availability requests directly through the software. This means you no longer need to remember everyone’s requests, they’re saved in the system for you to approve and they are auto populated on the schedule. Once the schedule is created it’s posted online where all employees have access to view it, eliminating countless phone calls asking “What Time Do I Work?”

Scheduling programs require constant and time intensive updates

What Time Do I Work.com provides employee scheduling online supported with secure logins. There are no downloads required, so you can access and create schedules from wherever you are in the world. Also our enhancements to the program are seamlessly added without any disruption of service.

Online employee scheduling programs require long term contracts

What Time Do I Work.com offers monthly pay-as-you-go billing; there are no contracts and no hassles. We‘re so confident that you will love our software that we’re offering the first 30 days free!

The History of Restaurants and 20 Fun Facts:

04 Mar, 2014 | Tags: Employee Scheduling, restaurant history, restaurant scheduling, Scheduling, Staff Scheduling

Today restaurants are an integral part of our everyday lives and our social interactions, but have you ever wondered where they started? Did you know that they first appeared in Rome and China and slowly spread throughout the world? The origins came from travelers on long trips when it was not possible to transport food on these longer journeys

Restaurants made their first appearance in ancient Roman and Chinese cities as a place for travels to get a quick meal in cities and in countryside inns. Countryside inns offered guest simple meals at regular times, there were no menus or options; it was simply based on what the chef had and wanted to serve for each meal.

In medieval times most inns and taverns continued offering meals to travelers, however they began to offer options of common foods found in most peasants’ homes at the time also. During this time specialty guilds began to come to light, made of commoners who would offer cooked meals for sale. At this time if you were not a member of the guild it was illegal to sell cooked meat, up until the end of the French Revolution.

During this time and up until the end of the French Revolution royals and aristocrats began having personal chefs in their homes as an added luxury. Once the French Revolution ended these personal chefs found themselves out of work. Chefs in Paris began to establish restaurants and the practice of fine dining became popular. They offered extensive menus with prix fixe and a la carte options, fine dining slowly became a fine art. Restaurants really began to take off with the invention of steamers, railroads and automobiles and the popularity of eating away from home.

Fun Facts:

“Restaurant” is a French term that originally described rich bouillons, served at taverns to restore spirits and relieve aliments
The restaurant industry is the largest employer in the USA, with almost all restaurant employees currently considered “part-time employees”
Almost 40% of all Americans have worked in a restaurant at least once during their life
The world’s largest restaurant is Bamwabet Dimashq Restaurant in Syria with 6,014 available seats
The world’s oldest restaurant is Botin Restaurant located in Madrid, Spain which was established in 1725
The oldest restaurant in the United States, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is The Oyster House in Boston, established in 1826
The most expensive hamburger is currently served at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas; it is the Fleur de Lys and costs $5,000
Currently Americans spend more than $2,500 eating away from home
On average Americans eat out an average of 3 times a week
Houston has the highest number of people who eat out 4 or more times a week
Russia has the lowest number of people worldwide that eat in at restaurants
On Valentine’s Day Americans spend almost $8 Million in restaurants
Daily Americans eat more than 100 acres of pizza
In Japan there is no custom of tipping servers
The cities for the worst tippers in the United States are San Francisco and Seattle. New Orleans has the best tippers in the United States
Most restaurants offer perks and rewards to customers who will sit in the most undesirable seats in the house, such as by the kitchen
The slowest day for most restaurants: Monday
The busiest day for most restaurants: Saturday
Friday is the second busiest day for restaurants
Scheduling is the number one frustration in the restaurant industry, but it doesn’t have to be. What Time Do I Work.com offers the future of scheduling by reducing the time you spend creating & dealing with schedules by 75%, with automatic scheduling conflict alerts, and much more. Forget trying to remember the scheduling preferences of your employees and let the system display that information on the schedule for you.

Click here to sign up for our 30 day no obligation free trial.

February 2014 Hot Topic: Marketing to “Millennials”

28 Feb, 2014 | Tags: Employee Scheduling Software, marketing, marketing to millennials, Millenials, millennials, online employee scheduling software, Online Scheduling Software, Staff Scheduling

Everywhere you turn you hear about “Millennials” and how they are so different from previous generations. So who are they and how do you market to this new unique portion of the population? We’ve done all the research and here are some great tips to targeting this demographic in your marketing efforts, no matter what industry you are in.

“Millennials” are comprised of a portion of the population born between 1981 and 2004, and currently tops 92 million with an expected annual spending power of over 2 million dollars in the upcoming years. So why is this generation so different from the past generations and what do you need to do to market to this large segment of the population and get a piece of the pie?

The “Millennials” generation grew up in the technology age world and they are extremely tech savvy and on top of all the newest trends. Not only do they have a deep understanding of technology, but use it through the majority of their days. They use social networks to stay connected; they shop online, read reviews and generally have a strong reliance on word of mouth marketing. They are also extremely socially conscious, doing extensive research into the business practices of companies before making purchasing decision, resulting in this group being extremely choosey when and where they spend money.

So now that you know who they are, what are tips to marketing to this general portion of the popularity? We all know that you need to have an online presence, including a website and social accounts on at least Facebook and Twitter. And for this group it isn’t just about having an online presence, but what you do with it. This generation looks to see how you handle customer feedback and what “rewards” you will offer if they select to spend their money with you. And they will share their feelings through social media and online review sites based on their experience, be it good or bad.

This unique generation places a large value on quality and service, as well as feeling that they should “have it my way,” when they spend money. They are jaded by big promises in advertising and base expectations are that they will get what they pay for… an example is not entering your credit card for a free trial. If it is free why must they give you a credit card number?

Click here learn more tips on marketing to Millenials

In addition to where Millennials spend money, is also where they earn money. They’re turned off by companies that haven’t adopted the needed technologies to communicate efficiently in their highly connected lives. One of the most important technologies a company can have is online scheduling software from WhatTimeDoIWork.com, which offers a 30 day no obligation FREE trial! There’s no hassle to get started and no need to enter a credit card number. Try it out now to see the future of scheduling, a perfect solution for all generations.