Video Case Scheduling at Hard Rock Cafe Whether it's scheduling nurses at Mayo Clinic, pilots at Southwest Airlines, classrooms at UCLA, or servers at a Hard Rock Cafe it's clear that yood scheduling is important. Proper schedules use un organization's asets (1) more effectively, by serving customers promptly, and (2) more efficiently, by lowering costs Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios, Orlando, is the world's largest restaurant, with 1.100 seats on two main levels. With typi. cal tumover of employees in the restaurant industry at 80% to 100 per year, Hard Rock General Manager Ken Hoffman takes scheduling very seriously. Hoffman wants his 160 servers to be effective, but he also wants to treat them fairly. He has done so with scheduling software and flexibility that has increased pro ductivity while contributing to turnover that is half the industry average His moal is to find the fine balance that gives employees financially productive daily work shifts while setting the schedule tight enough so as to not overstaff between lunch and dinner. The weekly schedule begins with a sales forecast. "Fint, we examine last year's sales at the cae for the same day of the week, ways Hoffman. "Then we adjust our forecast for this year based on a variety of closely watched factors. For example, we call the Orlando Convention Bureau every week to see what major groups will be in town Then we and two researchers out to check on the occupancy of nearby hotels We watch closely to see what concerts are scheduled at Hard Rock Live the 3.000 seat con cert stage next door. From the forecast, we calculate how many people we need to have on duty each day for the kitchen, the bar. as hosts, and for table service." Once Hard Rock determines the number of staff needed, sery ers submit request forms, which are fed into the software's linear programming mathematical model. Individuals are given priority rankings from 1 to 9, based on their seniority and how important they are to fill each day's schedule Schedules are then posted by day and by workstation, Trades are handled between employees, who understand the value of each specific shift and station Hard Rock employees like the system, as does the general man. aper, since sales por labor hour are rising and turnover is dropping Discussion Questions 1. Name and justily several factors that Hoffman could use in forecasting weekly sales 2. What can be done to lower turnover in large restaurants 3. Why is seniority important in scheduling servers? 4. How does the schedule impact productivity? *You mawh to view the video that accompanies this case before answering the