Build Staff Loyalty by Leveraging Payments Technology

In today’s tech-driven world, customers and workers alike expect a seamless payments experience wherever they go. Until now, restaurants have primarily focused on customer experience when considering payments technology, but the emergence of new and developing worker payment programs can impact and improve the restaurant worker experience. With the restaurant industry facing an ongoing labor shortage, it’s more crucial than ever to offer your staff the best experience possible, which includes optimizing their payments experience. In turn, more engaged employees can help deliver a better customer experience, too. Restaurants that embrace innovative payments technologies on both sides of the register are poised to build loyalty with both customers and their employees in the years to come.

Here are three key ways restaurants can leverage payments technology to benefit their customers and their workforce. 

Easy-to-Use POS

Finding the right Point of Sale (POS) system is essential to streamlining operations and keeping employees happy. Restaurant workers have to interact with a POS system countless times in a day. Choosing a system that’s intuitive and user-friendly has the potential to remove barriers to workers completing regular tasks and speed up service times resulting in less stress on your workforce. Plus, it makes it easier to onboard and train new employees. 

When your POS system makes it easier to manage reservations, seating layouts, and table assignments effectively, it can also optimize table turnover and reduce wait times. This leads to a better experience for customers, and can ultimately help your waitstaff serve more tables and earn more money.. 

More importantly, the right restaurant POS system can help you minimize payroll errors and provides real-time, accurate processing—leading to more transparency and less administrative hassle your staff has to deal with. This sets your restaurant and your staff up for success.

More No- or Low-Fee Payment Options

For some workers—including minors or previously unbanked workers—restaurant jobs can be their first entry point into financial services. This makes it all the more crucial to pay your team in a way that provides free and fair access options to those services. Restaurants have relied on traditional paycards as the primary way to pay workers without bank accounts, but doing so often comes with fees and restrictions for both employees and restaurants. Plus, employees can lose out on income due to exorbitant, unnecessary fees for inactivity or overdraft. 

Instead of saddling your workers with fee-laden paycards, find a no- or low-fee debit card for restaurant workers instead. Choosing the right tech-forward solution can set up employees for success when they start by offering digital account access on day 1. Some no- or low-fee  debit cards come with a digital wallet for users; this allows an employee instant access to their earnings, even before they receive their physical debit card.

Finding a no- or low-fee debit card for employees—instead of a traditional fee-laden paycard—can save everyone money that would be spent on fees. These types of cards often offer free ATM withdrawals and have no minimum balance or activity requirements. Many traditional paycards also come with restrictions like the inability to load funds from other sources or no way to easily view their account balances. With today’s new digital-first solutions, you can offer workers options that allow for quick and easy payments, mobile management, as well as all the perks of digital banking such as transfers, bill pay, and even savings contributions.

Embracing Digital Solutions

Traditional tip payout methods, like using cash or placing tips on an employee’s paycheck, can be cumbersome for both customers and your entire restaurant staff. With four-in-ten Americans saying none of their purchases are made in cash, it’s become harder than ever to tip out servers in cash. Constant bank runs, cash flow monitoring, and potential theft are all administrative headaches that restaurants are better off 86-ing and, placing tips on an employees’ next paycheck can increase their financial frustration—and lead to higher turnover. 

“Some restaurants go about cashless tipping by adding tips to their employees’ paychecks—those restaurants have high turnover, “ said Fati Mixha, owner of Fairview Farmers. “They can’t retain employees to the same level.”

Implementing a digital tipping solution for your staff can streamline the tip payout process in a world where most customers are tipping digitally anyway. Digital tip payouts also provide several key benefits:

• Improved accuracy and transparency. Digital tipping ensures servers receive the full amount of their tips with less risk of error or theft. This builds trust and can foster a more positive work environment. 
• Increased retention. Servers want their tips as soon as they clock out for the day. In today’s competitive market, restaurants that pay servers faster attract better workers and keep them longer.
• Less administrative hassle. Digital tipping saves your team time, money, and hassle that would be spent on bank runs and cash flow monitoring—freeing everyone up to focus on tasks that actually help grow your business and better serve your customers.

By strategically leveraging payments technology, restaurants can significantly enhance their operations and create a win-win situation for both customers and employees. By embracing digital tipping, utilizing no- or low-fee payment methods and investing in an easy-to-use POS system, restaurants can offer a seamless and convenient experience for customers, ensure fair and timely compensation for employees, and ultimately set the stage for long-term success.