This press release refers to a project implemented together with Zenopt which was acquired by RELEX Solutions in June 2019.
Restel, a restaurant operator with 2500 employees and 180 restaurants across Finland, is implementing Zenopt to automate its planning of work shifts and match working hours to customer demand. The new system aims to improve the customer experience and increase employee satisfaction.
To accurately plan staffing so it reflects on real customer needs as closely as possible, Zenopt uses forecasts of customer flows to optimize work shifts, which is then calculated into labor need for each time slot.
Currently, shift planning for all Restel’s restaurants is highly time consuming. In the future, a dedicated team will handle the planning of work shift, so restaurants have more time for customer service and for personnel management. By automating much of the process planners can concentrate on quality control and better meeting employee expectations.
“It was important for Restel to find a modern system that supports centralized and data-based planning,” says Marika Mäkelä, Restel’s Human Resources Director. “When including data of customer flows in the planning, for each restaurant and for different days and times of day, it’s possible to make sure there are enough staff available to provide customers with good service while ensuring that resources are used optimally. There is also much better visibility so resources can be planned holistically, and future workforce requirements can be forecast accurately.”
The modernization of the planning system also makes a difference to the employees. They will be able to see their shift information and have a say in how their shifts are planned using their mobile devices.
Restel has been working to optimize shifts and upgrade its system for some time. “We carefully considered a range of software options,” Mäkelä says. “It’s important that we can deploy forecast-based shift optimization that in turn allows us to centralize our planning. With that in mind, Zenopt was clearly the best choice for our needs.”
“Restel is working to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow by modernizing its shift planning and we are excited to be on this journey with them,” says Mika Halme, Zenopt’s CEO. “We’re confident that the new model and solutions will bring great results for their customers, their employees, and the company.”