Following HR guidelines and regulations is a minefield. There are different employment laws to follow, employee regulations to consider, and people to manage throughout the entire process.
We know, it’s a lot.
To make it easier, we’ve outlined some of the common HR regulations that you need to consider when running a restaurant. Plus, we’re looking at some of the challenges HR professionals face when working on compliance in a restaurant, and how to overcome them.
But first, let’s clarify what a HR rep actually does, and how they can help you navigate restaurant compliance.
What are the duties of HR in a restaurant?
In hospitality, HR reps are responsible for ensuring your restaurant follows labour laws and regulations. They also manage various aspects of employee relations, including hiring, onboarding, training, and reviewing performance.
HR plays an important role in a restaurant. Not only do they handle the compliance and logistics of employee management, but they also have the power to create a supportive workplace.
In other words, they can influence company culture. And when you have a team that feels valued and can grow and develop, they’re more likely to do a better job. Plus, it can boost employee retention.
Restaurant compliance checklist for HR
Work through this checklist to make sure your restaurant follows HR regulations* to a tee.
- Recruitment and hiring. Ensure that your restaurant follows recruitment laws to create an unbiased hiring process and prevent discrimination. For example, avoiding questions about age, health, or disabilities (unless relevant to the role).
- Workplace and labour laws. Familiarise yourself with UK labour laws to make sure all your employees are working in line with the law. For example, ensuring everyone has a break depending on the length of their shift, or that you’re following the necessary food safety laws.
- Payroll. Make sure that all staff are paid at least minimum wage and that they’re set up for PAYE. Everyone must be paid accurately and on time for their work, and you need to maintain accurate and up-to-date records of working hours and wages.
- Employee relations. Put processes in place to manage employee relationships within the law. For example, having a grievance procedure in place and sharing it with all employees is a legal requirement.
- Employment contracts. Write contracts for employees that abide by UK law to set out the terms of work. The contract provides clarity for the employee around what’s expected of them, their holiday allowance, their notice period, and so on.
If you’re reading this checklist and think it sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. There are tools out there that can centralise a lot of these processes to make it easier to manage – like Nory.
You can use our restaurant management software to onboard employees, automatically create schedules (with the right breaks), track holidays, reward staff, and execute payroll.
Find out more about our workforce management features here!
*This is not a complete list of all laws and requirements. Check the latest labour laws and HR compliance requirements to get the most accurate and up-to-date information.
Challenges of HR in restaurant industry
One of the biggest challenges for HR reps is turnover.
It’s no secret that the hospitality industry has a pretty high staff turnover rate. Things are getting better post-pandemic, but leaving rates for hospitality workers are still higher than most.
For HR professionals, this means more admin work and more checks to ensure everything is compliant.
The good news is that if HR reps do their jobs well, they can bring turnover rates down and retention rates up! Investing in employee training and development shows that you value your staff, which can boost motivation and increase retention.
Another challenge for HR reps is scheduling — particularly when it comes to predicting busy and quiet periods. If you schedule a full team of restaurant staff on a Wednesday night but it turns out to be quiet, your profits take a massive hit.
This is where a platform like Nory can help.
Our AI-powered features help you predict demand and create schedules accordingly. As a result, you can better allocate your resources and keep your profit margins
