I had a client from a local motel ask for help with the staffing and scheduling of her motel's housekeepers and maintenance staff. She said these two groups were running up big overtime bills. The managers complained about being under-staffed and over-burdened with scheduling issues.

I'm going to describe what I did to address these problems because I think they are common to many hotels, motels, and bed & breakfast establishments.
 

I started by asking my client how long it took the employees to do their jobs. She said the housekeepers only needed 8 hours a day, while the maintenance crew was active for 16 hours day. Both jobs were needed 7 days a week. Then I asked her how many people she needed at work each day.
 

The housekeepers needed 9-person coverage on an 8/7 basis (8 hours/day for 7 days/week). I told her that this would require at least 12 employees. They could be organized into 4 crews of 3 people each. This was quite a few less than the 16 people they currently employed. However, because this group had a high absence rate, my client decided to increase the crew size to 4 people. This was probably more extra coverage than necessary, but it avoided layoffs. This would completely eliminate the need for overtime to cover absences. They would work a 4-week schedule in which three weeks were 40 hours and one week was 48 hours. This would average 42 hours a week over the 4-week period.

The maintenance crew needed 1-person coverage in the mornings and evenings. They needed 2-person coverage in the afternoons. This would require three 8-hour shifts. Because they worked fixed shifts, this would take six employees (2 per shift). I laid out a 2-week pattern for my client. In order to give everyone 40 hours of work each week, there would be 3 days a week in which both employees on each shift were scheduled to work.

I suggested that she consider two 10-hour shifts instead of three 8-hour shifts. The shifts would overlap for 4 hours giving them the desired 2-person coverage for part of the afternoon. This would only require 4 employees and there would only be one day a week in which all 4 employees had to work. She decided that the absence rate was low enough in this group that it wouldn't be necessary to build in extra coverage like she did with the housekeepers. Due to various problems with some of the maintenance staff, layoffs were not a concern for her.
 

Do you have a similar situation in your hotel or B&B? Can't figure out the best staff size? Have trouble maintaining the right coverage? Are you experiencing high overtime levels or absences that can't be covered? Instead of having a manager create a new schedule every week, you need a set schedule that produces the desired coverage with minimal staffing/overtime costs. Please contact us today for help. Here's a link to request a quote for our services.