If you are considering a switch from paper books to digital checklists for your restaurant, odds are you will do extensive research before coming to an informed decision. But besides the obvious benefits you’ll read about online like more employee accountability and better reporting, there are additional, second-degree benefits most people don’t discover until after they make the switch.
Employee Accountability & Recognition
Digital checklists grant owner-operators, store GMs, and directors of operations the ability to track when certain tasks have been completed at each store location. Besides being able to see a simple check indicating that the task has been done, managers can monitor in-store quality with features such as photo-taking and digital notes. This ability lends itself to two additional benefits for managers and owner-operators:
Employee accountability
Operators can use both real-time data and historical insights from their checklists to encourage employee growth. With a new level of accountability coming from a monitored checklist, employees are naturally more encouraged to complete tasks more diligently and efficiently.
Rather than falsely pencil whip a paper report minutes before clocking out, the employee knows there is a timestamp and standard of quality they must meet. They also know that when they procrastinate or falsify these tasks, managers will take immediate notice, making it harder to excuse.
This accountability will help employees grow to be more responsible and diligent members of the team, by expanding their skillset and reliability.
Employee recognition
Once employees become adjusted to the new system, historical data can be used as a tool to recognize exemplary behavior. Checklist data can be used to highlight employees who are consistently completing tasks on time and meeting quality standards, as well as those going above and beyond.
Some organizations use checklist completion and compliance data to create healthy competition among employees. Gamifying checklist completion can help to build a sense of comradery across the team while adding extra motivation for employees to be more diligent and thorough. By rewarding the employees when they perform their best, organizations build employee-level confidence, a recipe for continued success.
Training
Digital checklists can also be used as a simple training tool for new employees. With no preparation needed from training managers, checklists are ready to go whenever new team members need to be onboarded. Managers often create a checklist that will be used exclusively for training new team members, mimicking the on-shift behavior while keeping in a format that does not disrupt required shift management.
Checklists represent a consolidated view of the recurring tasks that employees will need to complete each day, week, and month, on the job. Creating a highly effective, yet easy to deploy, training tactic for all new employees. A training checklist will turn into one of the most effective ways to get a new employee up to speed and familiar with their new job.
Yes, the biggest benefits of using digital checklists are still increased efficiency and compliance in your restaurants. But this tool can improve operations top to bottom in more unexpected ways as well.
Learn more about using digital checklists from our guide, “Digital Checklists: The Ultimate Guide for Restaurants”.