5 Things Restaurants Need to Do Attract Top Employees

Tips to Attract Top Talent to your Restaurant

Image by themuse.com

Drawing from my past stint working as a waitress back in 2013 in NYC, I have learned that in the service or restaurant business, not everyone works just for the money. Indeed money is one of the key motivators, but people are looking for so much more.

Thankfully, the owner of the restaurant I worked at paid attention to his employees in order to keep us happy and working at his restaurant. Hiring the right talent isn’t easy (not everybody is good at service based roles) and retaining the finest employees is even harder.

What can make it even more frustrating is the fact that the restaurant business has one of the highest turn over rates in the private sector- at 66.3% by 2014.

In this article, you will find tips for making your restaurant more appealing to better employees.

To attract the A-players to come work for you, you will need:

  1.  A Clear Path to Advancement
    It’s important to remember that people are not working for you only because of the money. Most times it is much more than that. Employees want to know if there is a clear path to advancement in your restaurant. Whether it is moving up to a management position or to the next better paying position on the line, they want to know that the job rewards them based on growth and merit, not who they have to suck up to.
  2. The Work Itself
    It pays to be at a job that rewards and makes people happy. A great employee culture makes a great first impression where potential employees will think “Wow, what a great place to work in!”. It shows that you care about your employees and treat them like family. It also let’s your customers know that you run a quality restaurant with staff proudly working with you.
  3. Offer a Fair Salary Package.
    Restaurant owners should offer a competitive salary package to the employees. Keep in mind that while it does not have to be the highest, it definitely should not be at the bottom.
  4. Well-trained management/ leadership team
    Have great team leader or managers. Take the time to teach them to value each employee and guide them to succeed at their jobs. Great leaders also motivate your employees and create loyalty. When people know that your establishment has a superb leadership team and the ideal working environment, people will be waiting in line to come work for you.
  5. Recognition and Take Care of Your Current Employees
    It is good to feature your employees on your restaurant website and social media platforms. Focusing on your staff creates a positive environment, where they are happy to be at work. Giving praise for good work is also a good motivator. Sharing this information with the public will let potential employees know that you value good work.


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    Find out how PayrollHero can create a great work place culture for your restaurant. We are happy to setup a time to speak further.

The Employer’s Guide to Singapore Work Visas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjkXCsMXY-0&feature=youtu.be&rel=0

This video provides an introduction to hiring foreign workers in Singapore- types of visas available to the employee according to skill level, application criteria and levies due to the employer. More information is available on the Ministry of Manpower website

After you have incorporated your business in Singapore, you will need to hire employees, both local or foreign to work for your company. If you are employing non-resident employees in Singapore, as an employer you have to make sure that they hold a valid work pass (also known as work visa).

Professional Work Visa

Pass type

Who is it for

Employment Pass

For foreign professionals, managers and executives. Candidates need to earn at least S$3,300 a month and have acceptable qualifications.

EntrePass

For eligible foreign entrepreneurs wanting to start and operate a new business in Singapore.

Personalised Employment Pass

For high-earning existing Employment Pass holders or overseas foreign professionals. The PEP offers greater flexibility than an Employment Pass.
 Skilled or Semi- Skilled Workers
Pass type Who is it for

S Pass

For mid-level skilled staff. Candidates need to earn at least S$2,200 a month and meet the assessment criteria.

Work Permit for foreign worker

For semi-skilled foreign workers in the construction, manufacturing, marine, process or services sector.

The Foreign Worker Levy

singapore work passesIt is important to note that Singapore companies are required to pay Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) for the Work Pass and S Pass holders. This levy is imposed by the Singapore Government to regulate foreign workers numbers in the country.

The amount of levy due to the employer is determined by the sector the company belongs to and the educational level and skills of the employees. Employing workers with relevant qualifications and skill-based test certificates will count towards your skilled workers, which will entitle you to a concession in the worker’s levy.

Look at this example on the FWL scheme for manufacturing and service sectors. 


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PayrollHero is live in Singapore. We are completely localized to Singapore’s itemized payroll requirement. We are able to effectively compute the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) taxes on employee remuneration, CPF employer contributions and deductions, bonuses, contributions to community funds (MDMF, SINDA, CDAC), Foreign Worker Levy and others- for your business in 5 Minutes!

Find out how PayrollHero can provide you the solution you need to optimise your payroll process. Write to us!

Singapore Payroll Software | Video

Our newest video for Singapore Restaurants and Retailer’s looking to learn more about our time, attendance, roster and payroll platform. What do you think the video? Let us know in the comments below. (PayrollHero.sg)
(30 seconds)

PayrollHero Singapore:

– PayrollHero is eligible for Singapore’s Spring Innovation & Capability Voucher (ICV) – Integrated Solutions (IS) (more details)

– Check out our Singapore specific website at PayrollHero.sg

How We Use Slack at PayrollHero

slack payrollhero how toWe moved over from HipChat to Slack a while back and have quite enjoyed the change. While the two products seem similar from the outside, there is something about Slack that is awesome. We use it for everything. It has cut down our internal emails, we have opened channels to deal with our contractors & partners and we have automated a ton of functionality through it.

payroll singapore sg lead formFor example, when a visitor comes to our website and fills in one of the led forms, the information from that form shows up in a few places so that it can be actioned immediately.

To the right is an example of what I’m referring to. Erlich comes to our website, fills in the lead form and sits back for our team to get in touch.

From there, the data from the lead form goes straight into our PipelineDeals account so that we have a record of the lead and can keep track of all interactions involved with it.

pipeline deals payroll

PipelineDeals also sends a message to our main email so that we are notified via email of the new lead.
pipelinedeals payrollWe also have PipelineDeals tied into Zapier which pushes that data into the BD room of our Slack account. This notifies the whole team of the new lead so that anyone outside of the business development team is aware of what is happening on the lead front.
slack and payrollhero

Now the lead is being followed up with by our business development team, the whole PayrollHero team is aware of the new lead (or volume of leads) and if a conversation needs to happen, it will take place within Slack. Simple, but effective use of automation to keep us transparent and on top of our game.

Our others uses of Slack:

– Once a leave request is approved it goes from PayrollHero directly into Slack (via Travel Schedules channel)

– We have city specific channels so that we can talk about what is happening within that city for teammates currently there (Singapore, Manila, Whistler, Vancouver)

– We have contractor channels so that our contracts can interact directly with our team

– There is a reading list channel for shared articles of interest (used to be emailed, now shared there)

– Each department has a channel (BD, marketing, csh, dev, finance, etc)

There is much more happening through our Slack account but this gives you a good idea of how we use it.

How do you use Slack? Any tips for us?  Let us know in the comments below.

Ukrainian Adventure Engineer in PayrollHero Singapore

Announcing Our Latest Import
Capture MYKOLA KYRYK

Our #AdventureEngineering message has reached far and wide! Software developers who have heard about PayrollHero’s Adventure Engineering have written to us, aspiring to be part of the team.

“I felt like it was a perfect match
from the moment I saw this video”
Mykola Kyryk

Here’s what Mykola did to catch our attention from his point of view:

Mykola: We had a couple sessions of remote pairing/discussion sessions. All people I talked to were very interesting interlocutors and I felt like I could bring a lot of value into the team.

Mykola spills the beans about his home country and moving to Singapore.

Tell me about your hometown. How many people are there?
Mykola: I’m from Lviv, Ukraine. It is a nice ancient city (founded in 1256). This city was part of Poland, Hungary, Austria and Russia for many years. So the country side has mixed architecture and culture with a population of around 850,000.

What kind of things you like to do back at home?
Mykola: Besides IT? Well a lot actually. I play basketball and travel a lot. In the last 2 years I’ve been to 8 different countries. I like different extreme activities. I’ve already tried scuba diving, skydiving and caving. I also like to ride my bike and go skiing.

What did the people closest to you say about your plan to move to Singapore to be a PayrollHero Adventure Engineer?
Mykola: That I was mad 😉  Some were surprised that I’m going that far away from my homeland. Most knew nothing about Singapore at all.

What were your first thoughts on Singapore after you’ve arrived?
Mykola: It is hot here! I went from +12 to +32 in 20 hours. Now I don’t find it hot anymore. I was also amazed with how structured and well organized everything is. Really convenient place to be.

What you think about the food and the hawker centers?
Mykola: Like nothing like I’m used to. Ton of options, any cuisine, for any taste. I’m still far from saying I’m used to all of this, but I love the adventure of it all. Hawker centers are great and also cheap!

Do you like the beaches in Singapore?
Mykola: That was the first thing I did when I arrived. I didn’t know how to get to the beaches so I spent almost 2 hours walking there. Night swimming is prohibited here, but I got what I came for. Beaches are really nice, especially at Sentosa island.

Was it easy for your to get your Singapore Employment Pass (EP)?
Mykola: I got mine while I was still in Ukraine. It was really a really quick and straightforward process. Once I arrived I had to go to the Ministry of Manpower to finalize the paperwork and got my EP card in 5 days. Amazingly quick and efficient.

What do you miss about home?
Mykola: I don’t really have time to miss about anything. Singapore is an amazing place. And there is still so many places I want to go and things I want to try. Of course, miss my family, but Skype helps to stay in touch. Hope to see them soon.


Did you know,… We’re Hiring! 

Wanna be an Adventure Engineer with PayrollHero? Check out our job openings and get in touch!

Getting a Liquor Licence in Singapore

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Speaking with a few entrepreneurs who are setting up a new F&B outlet here in Singapore, I found that a few shared similar problems- mostly about the liquor licence for their restaurant and how to go about getting it.

We though it will be helpful to provide a guide to getting the liquor licence for your new establishment.

Before Sending your Application

It’s good to have the required paper work in order before applying for the liquor licence. You will need to be in compliance with laws & regulations from the relevant authorities and get approval for your establishment. Find out if your premises are approved for F&B here. 

Liquor Licence Fast Facts:

  • License agency: Liquors Licensing Unit
  • Cost Of Licence: S$220 – S$1,760 (2-year licence)
  • Minimum Licence Processing Time: 14 working days

Got it? Great! Let’s get into the necessary details. 

There are 2 types of liquor licences available in Singapore. If you are carrying out any of these activities:

  • To retail intoxicating liquor which is consumed on your premises (e.g. pubs, clubs, discos and hawker stalls)
  • To retail and/or wholesale intoxicating liquor that is consumed off your premises (e.g. wine specialty shops, alcohol importers and food caterers)

For more than 30 consecutive days, you will need to obtain liquor licence for your establishment.

If your activities is shorter than 30 consecutive days (1-30 days), you can apply for a temporary liquor licence instead.

Should your activities do not run on consecutive days, you will need to obtain more than one liquor licence for operation.

The Licence Fees

Types Of Liquor Licences
Licences for liquor sold and consumed on your premises
Name Of Licence Permitted Hours Licence Fees
(2-Year Licence)
Public House Licence 1st Class
(6am-12am)
S$1,760
2nd Class
(6am-10pm)
S$1,320
Beer House Licence 6am-12am S$920
Outdoor Beer Stall Licence 6am-3am
(Permitted hours to be decided based on the location)
S$570
Licences for liquor sold and consumed off your premises
Retail Liquor Shop Licence 6am-12am S$220
Wholesale Liquor Shop Licence 6am-12am S$220
Retail Beer Shop Licence 6am-12am S$220
Wholesale Beer Shop Licence 6am-12am S$220

Note that the licences only permits you to sell liquor within the stipulated hours. If your establishment requires sale of alcohol past these hours, you will need to get the Liquor License (Extension of Operating Hours).

Application, Processing Time and Payment Method 

All applications for liquor licence are to be submitted through electronic filing (e-filing) via the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) at http://business.gov.sg.

The processing time for these licences takes up to 12 working days.

There are three online payment modes available-
Credit card (Visa or Mastercard), Direct Debit through your internet banking account. Payment modes available at our counter are NETS or cheque.
If the amount payable is more than S$2000/-, payment by cheque is preferable.


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Be in touch with us. Find out how you PayrollHero can improve productivity for your business with our time, attendance, scheduling and payroll management system in the cloud.

The New Employer’s Guide to CPF

Further the blog post on what CPF is. We thought it will be helpful to post a general guide to how CPF works (with useful links to CPF Website), for the new entrepreneurs setting up business in Singapore.

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You are an employer, and employing Singapore citizens or Permanent Residents (PR) in your company- you are required contribute to CPF for your employees at the end of each month.

Know your role as an employer. CPF conducts regular audits on employers to ensure that CPF contributions are paid correctly and on time (14 days grace period is given at end month). CPF also takes feedback from employees on incidences where employers have not paid or under-paid their CPF contributions. Note that the penalty to employers breaching the CPF Act may be taken to court and if convicted, fined up to $10,000 or imprisonment, or both.

With that in mind, let’s get this right. 

Contribution on Employee Wages and Age Group
CPF contributions should be determined based on the employee’s total wages for the entire month. This includes overtime pay, allowances, cash awards, commissions and bonuses. Find out which types of payment attracts CPF Contributions here.

The CPF contribution rate is determined by different age groups. There are 6 defined age groups and the CPF contribution rates decreases as an employee moves to the next age group.

Here are the 6 age groups:

  • 35 years and below
  • Above 35 and below 50 years
  • Above 50 and below 55 years
  • Above 55 and below 60 years
  • Above 60 and below 65 years
  • Above 65 years

As of 1 January 2015, the CPF contribution rates have increased to help employees save more for retirement and medical.

Click to find out the updated contribution rates. CPF website also offers a contribution calculator.

When to Pay Contributions
The CPF contributions are due at the end of every month with 14 days grace period given at the end month. Should the last day of the grace period falls on a weekend or public holiday, your payment will be due on the next business day.

You are required to pay the employer’s and employee’s share of CPF contributions monthly for all employees (Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents) at the rates set out in the CPF Act. The CPF contributions payable should be based on the employee’s actual total wages earned for the calendar month.

How to Make Your Payment
CPF has made payment easy for new employers via online Direct Debit. As soon as you started the process of hiring your first employee, you should submit your CPF details using CPF e-Submit@web using the Singpass and Unique Entity Number (UEN).

Once you are approved, you will receive the an email and a welcome letter containing your CPF Submission Number, Payment Advice (CPF91) and Direct Debit Authorisation Form.

Here’s more details on Direct Debit deductions and FAQs 


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Want to learn more about how PayrollHero can help you get your Singapore time, attendance, scheduling and payroll setup? Contact us for a one on one demo.

Retail Executive: Eileen Grey, The Picture Company

As part of a new series on this blog [Retail / Restaurant Executive] we will be interviewing restaurant and retail executives from all over the world to gain insight and perspective into how they make their decisions, grow their businesses and deal with challenges.

First up is Eileen Grey, owner of The Picture Company in the Philippines.

Eileen Grey The Picture CompanyQ. When and why did you start The Picture Company?
A. In 2002, I was a new mom to 2 little boys and I wanted every moment frozen in time through photos. My search led me to dark photo studios. The photographers did not enjoy interacting with my babies to capture precious moments for me and my family. Within 6 months of that search, we opened our first “home” in The Podium Mall in the Philippines. We made a studio where kids and moms can feel at home, not just with the surroundings but with their personal photographers as well. Bright studios were put up, colored backgrounds, lots of play and fun. Our aim was to create magic in our studios everyday. Today, we continue to love what we do. We love babies and we love creating keepsakes for your family. The Picture Company has grown but we still keep it personal – just like the first day we opened our doors more than a decade ago.

The Picture Company Philippines Logo | PayrollHeroQ. What is your background? (retail? or you figured it out as you went?)
A. My background is hotel management. I figured it out with the help of EO members that served as my mentors.

Q. How many locations do you have in the Philippines?
A. We have 9 locations across the Philippines. (The Podium Mall, Greenbelt 5, Power Plant Mall, Alabang Town Center, Glorietta 4, C1 Bonifacio High Street Central, Shangri-la Plaza and Ayala Center Cebu)

The Picture Company Locations in Philippines | PayrollHeroQ. How do you choose a location for The Picture Company? 
A. We look for malls that appreciate our product. Locations that have a lot of foot traffic for families and strollers.

Q. Will you ever take a sub-par location, if it is in an area you want to be in? or will you wait for the right spot?
A. We will always wait for the right spot. Our business is a weekend business (when the parents can go to the malls) and we have limited number of hours to do business (we can take maximum of 8 sessions a day for only 2 days a week), it is too risky to take a sub par location.

Q. How big is a Picture Company location? What have you learned about store size?
A. Our stores range from 36m2 to 120m2. In the beginning, we kept getting a bigger space to accommodate strollers and nannies and extended family, but we realised that when the store is big, it also lacks coziness. More attention is given to the customer when the space is just right. Another thing we need to consider is the malls have doubled and tripled their rental rates.

The Picture Company Philippines | PayrollHeroQ. Does a corner location matter for The Picture Company?
A. No. Of course good foot traffic is important but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a corner store.

Q. Are malls better? or street level locations?
A. We were successful in locations like Podium and Rockwell where clients expressed they feel safe. So when we first went street level like Bonifacio High Street, we were taking a chance. It turned out okay. A little warm and exposed to the weather changes like rain. More dirt comes in which isn’t friendly for a baby environment but it worked.

Q. At what point did the number of stores change how the business is run? I have been told, 1 or 2 stores is ok, but 3+ requires a different management approach, systems, procedures, etc. What was the tipping point for The Picture Company?
A. You are very correct! It was very personal and mom and pop until 3 stores. And then I had to consider personnel, training, back office space, production, logistics, etc.

Q. Anything you would like to add?
A. I wish we could locate The Picture Company in more spaces but new malls sprouting up (or the ones renovating) are creating bigger spaces and bringing up rent because of the international brands coming in. I wish they would always make spaces for the Filipino retailers so we have character in our malls and not look like every other mall with the same big brands. We also need to help the Filipino retailers thrive in their own country. I think the fight for all these brands to enter the malls is making every mall look alike and not offer anything new for its customers.

– Thanks to Eileen for participating! 


Would you like to be profiles in our Retail Executive series. Reach out by commenting on this blog post or emailing support at payrollhero .com.

Are you interested in learning more about PayrollHero? Our payroll software is live in the Philippines and Singapore and our Time & Attendance solution is used all over the world.

 

How Tech Savvy are Singapore’s Aunties and Uncles?

Getting into the mindset of being ‘Ridiculously Client Focused’

At Morseng Thai Herbs Store- Golden Mile Complex

At Morseng Thai Herbs Store – Golden Mile Complex

Today, I was on a mission to find out how tech savvy our aunties and uncles really are. I set out to speak to some of our senior citizens to find out if they are as ‘cool’ as the young kids in town.

I had a few simple questions in mind; Do you have an email account?, What kind of phone do you have? What is your favourite app? These questions would be enough to help me understand if aunties and uncles will use a web app or mobile app for their jobs.

Surprisingly, most said YES!  Age is not a factor! 7 out of 11 seniors I spoke with today, were not opposed to learn new apps on their smartphone. As for owning an email account, 6 seniors mentioned that they have their own personal email accounts, but rarely used. From that alone, I could guess that they are able to learn their way around using a computer and using a web app.

Another upside, is that 4 out of the 7 seniors that owned smartphones have Whatsapp as their favorite mobile app to use everyday. They use it to chat with families most of the time, and this clearly shows me that they know how to download and use a mobile app if they bother to learn how to.

The Best Uncle!  

Smaller

At Chocolat World – The Arcade

The highlight of my survey was from Uncle Roland. He was the most senior among the rest I spoke with today, but the most tech savvy. Surprise!

Roland is using a Samsung S4 phone and owns an email account, which he occasionally uses. He loves to chat on Whatsapp with his family everyday. When I asked him was it easy to learn to use the mobile app, he simply says that “old dogs got to learn new tricks!”  Well said Roland!

The Take Away

This “hallway test” has revealed to me that the older demographic in our society, is getting on our tech savvy generation and willing to learn. They remain a relevant and viable target audience for us, and I have greater appreciation for them.

Asia HR Leaders Forum in Singapore with Roffey Park

Earlier today, PayrollHero co-founder Stephen Jagger spoke at the Asia HR Leader Forum organised by Roffey Park. If you don’t know Roffey Park – they are an internationally renowned leadership institute based in the UK and Singapore, focused on developing people who develop organisations. Find out more on what they do here – www.roffeypark.com

Roffey Park had a unique approach for the forum. The most interesting segment would be the facilitated table discussions – where the 30+ HR professionals in attendance were split into 5 smaller groups, and each group was given a specific topic to discuss concerning HR with a “subject-matter-expert” leading that discussion. Each discussion was deeply insightful as participants actively shared their thoughts and experiences on major HR issues: changing employee mindsetsemotional intelligence, developing strategic thinking capabilities, staff morale and understanding the human dimensions of productivity.

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Facilitated HR Table Discussions

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Participants in discussion

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PayrollHero Xray Insights

Stephen closed the forum with a presentation on the importance of integrating a business intelligence component into HR systems. Steve shared the PayrollHero Xray Insights app, which provides businesses with useful analytics based on employee data, so managers can make better, intelligent decisions on human resources. He also ran through how our Adventure Engineer program works to attract and retain talent.

Read more about Xray Insights

“I found the session yesterday really inspiring with the passion you have to make a difference.”

Simon Lau
Leadership Effectiveness & Organisation Development
Group Talent, Learning and Culture Standard Chartered Bank

You can see Steve’s presentation deck below:

Here is some of the material covered by Roffey Park:

 Want to learn more about PayrollHero? Register for our next event on May 14th 2015.