Quick-service restaurants are offering better benefits. But how do they make it all work?

Despite current economic growth, staffing difficulties continue to plague the restaurant industry, and this situation probably won’t let up anytime soon. As a result, many quick-service restaurants (QSR) are significantly increasing hiring efforts, which means more administrative work for store managers.

Additionally, potential employees now have higher expectations for what their benefits should entail. Unfortunately, many restaurants may not have the tools to meet these expectations without burdening management teams already struggling with burn-out.

Let’s look at the different ways QSRs are combatting staffing difficulties and the technology that can help take their business strategies from survival mode back to focusing on growth and success.

Quick service restaurants combat staffing difficulties with updated benefits offerings.

Recruitment challenges have been consistent in the post-pandemic job market. Potential employees have gotten used to federal PTO policies and unemployment benefits, causing increased expectations for what employers should offer. In addition to matching or even surpassing federal wage limits, employers in the QSR industry have gotten very creative regarding benefit offerings to attract much-needed talent.

Daily Pay

One of the more interesting benefits offerings to gain popularity in the current job market is daily pay. This benefit allows employees to “work today and get paid today.” Companies that offer a daily pay solution decrease turnover by 40% and have been shown to increase recruitment by 30%. Daily pay, also known as early wage access, has become popular among large franchises, including McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

When it comes to choosing a daily pay solution, there are a few things to consider:

• Does the daily pay solution offer options for payment cards?
• Is there flexibility in how the fees are managed? For example, are they paid by the employee, employer, or can you do a mixture of both?
• Does the solution guarantee IRS compliance?
• Does the solution allow you to set daily payment thresholds on payments?

In short, if you’re looking to implement a daily pay solution as a recruitment tool, you want flexibility and options. Proliant offers one of the most flexible daily pay solutions in the industry: ReadyPay Today.

Gig Work

A smaller yet interesting trend we’ve seen is the utilization of gig workers to fill much-needed slots in work schedules. We’ve seen employers create pools of experienced gig workers to fill their schedules, often paying them an increased wage for peak hours. 

PTO Policies

Since the federal government put the FFCRA into place, employees have higher expectations for PTO. As a result, more robust PTO policies have trickled down into the QSR world. However, the question we often get from employers about new PTO policies is, “How do I implement this?”

When it comes to implementing new PTO and other policies, the issue is with the tech data flows to administer these new policies and get people back to work. That’s where new technology comes in with integrations that can bring all of the disconnected point solutions together so that you can easily implement new policies into your existing systems.

Implementing technology to tackle staffing and benefits challenges

One of the biggest challenges small businesses face when implementing so many new benefits programs is with technology. As quick service restaurants attract new talent with better benefits, they need new technology to make it all work. Many are working with disconnected point solutions, causing more significant administrative burdens and burn-out for store managers.

Proliant offers HR and payroll technology that simplifies recruitment, onboarding, payroll, daily pay, and benefits elections so that store managers can do more without experiencing burn-out. Also, Proliant integrates with many existing systems, closing the loop between the technologies store managers use every day.

By implementing technology like this, owners can empower store managers to do more with less.

Proliant has the solutions to streamline disconnected point systems for your QSR

Attracting talent is about more than just offering incentives for new hires; businesses have to look at their processes and make sure they are updated so as not to burn out employees or scare away recruits. If your business is running on manual paperwork or disconnected systems, competitors with updated systems for faster hiring, positive onboarding experiences, and fewer administrative tasks are going to snatch up the best recruits. Proliant can help ensure you attract and maintain the talent you need to run your business.

Schedule a Proliant demonstration today to get up to date with industry-leading solutions for your quick service restaurant.