Human REsources for Restaurants

When you became a restaurant owner, you probably envisioned delicious food, satisfied customers, and an exciting environment. You probably didn’t picture the large amount of time you need to spend to handle the business side of your restaurant. From payroll to human resources, every moment you spend crunching numbers and recruiting employees is time you spend away from interacting with customers and building your brand. If you are looking for ways to find more hours in the day to take care of the most important aspects of being a restaurant owner, consider outsourcing some of your business functions, such as human resources.

When your goal is to focus on all of the things that improve the quality and reputation of your restaurant, choosing outsourced restaurant HR functions instead of handling them in-house can save you time and effort and ensure you are in compliance with current employment laws at all levels. Human Resources is a multi-faceted area of business, and professionals in the field are viewed as vital business partners. Choosing a well-versed financial firm in business procedures helps keep you in line while you concentrate on taking your restaurant to the next level. The human resources branch of business encompasses several important areas.

Human resources administration involves ensuring compliance in hiring and employment practices at the local, state, and federal levels. Among other responsibilities, your firm makes sure all required labor law documentation is posted according to law, employee handbooks are correct and up-to-date, background checks are completed as necessary, all labor law processes, such as overtime and breaks, are being handled properly, sick and disability situations are in compliance with the law, regular mandatory harassment training has been completed, and job descriptions reflect the current scope of the employee’s responsibilities.

Another area of human resources that a third party can best handle is employee benefits administration. Providing benefits for your employees is an excellent incentive to highlight when recruiting individuals you hope will become long-term employees. Your outsourced HR group will ensure you are in compliance with the Affordable Care Act and follow annual guidelines for benefit open enrollment periods. Retirement, Family, and Medical Leave Act, unemployment, workers compensation, and COBRA are all branches of benefits administration that can be complicated and time-consuming for restaurant owners. 

Recruiting and onboarding employees in accordance with all laws and regulations is only half the human resources battle in the restaurant. There are ongoing employee concerns that can often be best handled by a neutral third party that is well-versed in employee relations. Ongoing employee relations assistance can ensure the culture of your restaurant is established and continued consistently. Your firm can also handle disputes, disciplinary action, and terminations. Employees needing or requesting professional development training can also benefit from an experienced employee relations connection.

Your professional human resources firm also has access to templates for forms that may be useful for keeping track of employee relations concerns and the representatives always stay abreast of the latest compliance information. Employees who need to be set up on a performance plan can benefit from professionally-structured knowledge.

We have many exciting and successful restaurants, so it makes sense for restaurant owners to do everything possible to stay at the top of the game. In some cases, this means using professional business services to outsource your human resources needs. If you are a restaurant owner seeking outsourced assistance for your human resources or other small business operations needs, contact Oceanview Financials today for more information.