A Q&A with WorkRecords On Helping Hotels Reach the Next Level of Productivity

WorkRecords is out to change the way we look at work.  The networked software company helps organizations, including hotels, track every aspect of its workforce and use that data to improve operations.  The company has worked with large hotel management companies as well as individual properties across the U.S. to help revolutionize how hotel look at workforce data.   But far from being an abstract productivity tool, the leadership team at the company is focused on offering benefits to everyone involved in the employment cycle, including both employers and employees.

Bill Dougherty, Client Service Executive for Hospitality

Bob Stegall, President

HSS is a certified WorkRecords vendor and helps hotels integrate WR and utilize it on an ongoing basis to trace worker activity at individual properties and also more widely across multiple properties. HSS sat down with Bob Stegall, President of WorkRecords as well as Bill Dougherty, the company’s Client Service Executive for Hospitality to talk about how they are working with hotels today and what trends they see in the future for staffing within the hotel industry.

What are some trends in hospitality that are driving the use of your software?

Bob Stegall:
You see the same trend in hospitality as you saw in manufacturing a few years back which is where we got started.  And that’s toward efficiency and the data
required to manage a multiple employer workforce.  Quality is, more or less, a given in everything from cars to appliances to hotels. We expect quality from standard hotels up to luxury brands.  Labor cost has always been the largest share of a hotels expenses.  With increasing labor costs chipping away at profits, efficiency becomes the next big driver.   Hotels are looking for any edge they can find to help run their property more efficiently. Increasingly, their finding the answers they need in data.

Bill Dougherty:  We see this thirst for information from hotels because they are driving toward greater efficiency.  They want to see an accurate picture of their labor costs on a daily basis and sometimes even an hourly basis.  And so we see hotels either struggling to provide that information through very cumbersome, time consuming processes or just giving up and lumping everything into one monthly line item that really doesn’t tell them much.

Is this thirst for data coinciding with other trends in hospitality?

Bill Dougherty:  Hotels operations are becoming more complex.  More properties are offering spas, restaurants, golf, and other amenities that were once concentrated in only very upscale properties.  Being able to track employees across all venues can be incredibly helpful to everything from tracing pay, limiting overtime, and better deploying a workforce.  In addition, we’re seeing the increased use of contract staffing throughout hospitality. Our software not only helps document contract labor, we actually help hotels and staffing companies work together to better utilize hotel staff.  So it’s not just about tracking hours; it’s about creating a more effective workforce.

What is the relationship between you and Staffing companies?

Bill Dougherty:  We began a certification program with staffing firms because the relationship is so important.  For example, HSS was certified last year and
has been a great partner in working with many hotels and management companies to implement the software.  Hotels often
don’t know it, but staffing firms like HSS are very interested in utilizing workers in the most efficient way possible as well.  In the past, a hotel might call a staffing
company around the corner when they were in a pinch.  Today, contract labor can be a partnership that can help increase quality and help better allocate budget.  A staffing firm that’s proficient in leveraging
data can be a great asset for a hotel or management company.

How is WorkRecords typically implemented at a hotel?

Bob Stegall:
We knew early on that, to be successful, we had to offer benefits to everyone in the employment cycle.  So there couldn’t be winners and loser anywhere in the cycle of employer ,employee, staffing company, corporate – they all had to realize some benefit of using our software.

What are some of those benefits in the hotel industry?

Bill Dougherty: For employees, the use of our tool can mean a faster paycheck.  We’ve seen the pay cycle in hotels reduce dramatically from biweekly to weekly – we’ve been working with some partners to get to a daily cycle.  We can help the individual hotel property save time in accounting and HR by producing reports that used to take hours down to a matter of minutes.    It can also mean a smarter workday by reducing the number of trips between buildings or hotel floors.  These are small examples but can have a big impact on someone’s day to day work.

Bob Stegall:
It’s important to point out that, in today’s tight labor market, any
advantage you can offer employees is key.
Streamlining hourly tracking and accurate, timely pay is vitally
important to workers and can help with employee retention.

Bill Dougherty:  That’s a great point.  I think that another benefit gets back to the
relationship between hotels and staffing companies. We hear all the time from
hotels that work with HSS that the data going into the system is clean.  It reminds me of seeing a smoothly operating
back of house.  When you have well-lit
hallways, organized linens, and everyone working systematically, great quality
follows.  Hotels are finding that
partnership with staffing firms like HSS just as important on the data
side.  When the numbers are clear and the
data is clean, you’re not putting out fires but able to fine tune an operation
and concentrate on the core value your customers demand.

What are some other trends that you see
looking ahead in 2019?

Bob Stegall:
We’ve heard more and more about the adoption of network platforms that span many areas of our lives.  Operation on the cloud, platforms like WorkRecords, take on the role of many disparate systems and link hotels to all their worker sources.  So instead of having a lot of non-networked systems, you have one networked solution for everyone that addresses many different needs of the workplace..  This fits into where we are headed with our customers. We’re offering a way to connect all of the processes that they currently do with regard to tracking work in their operation and all the tools they need to analyze that data.

Bill Dougherty: For hotels, the need to bring together information from operation is vital.  For example, a hotel with multiple-properties might have the same HR director overseeing two hotels, a golf course, multiple restaurants, spas and other
recreation facilities.  You might have cleaning staff that crosses between departments.  Using a networked platform is vital to see
that run smoothly.  Even in smaller properties, networking employment data can help improve efficiency.  Everything from the time it takes to turn over
a room to the time it takes to process payroll. These are very real factors in improving a property’s overall performance..  That’s why labor suppliers
like HSS play an important role in the process. They help ensure a smooth implementation of us into  their process have the team to help properties correctly input information so that it can be tracked and used with confidence.

Hospitality Staffing Solutions is a WorkRecords Certified
Supplier. To achieve this, HSS personnel passed a rigorous training and exam
process on WR core product and can offer clients a full working
knowledge of the platform by leveraging its powerful capabilities. As a
WR Certified supplier, HSS can help its clients more efficiently reach
their objectives of security and financial control through more in depth
knowledge of the software platform’s full features. WR is a widely
used tool for data collection and reporting used to connect workplaces,
suppliers, workers, and employers.  Learn
more about HSS and WR visit: www.hssstaffing.com/work-records

Bob Stegall
is the President of WorkRecords – a multi-sided labor platform company
connecting workplaces, suppliers, employers and workers. Stegall joined
the company after successfully serving as President/COO of Pro Staff a 300+
million-dollar staffing firm with hundreds of branches, focused primarily on
large, multinational corporations using contract labor. His work experience includes
enterprise hardware and software sales for IBM and managing a large Multiple
Employee Workforce for a division of LSI Industries. He has an extensive
background in sales, strategy, marketing, and operations with deep domain
experience around labor + technology. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist
University.

Bill
Dougherty is WorkRecords Client Services Executive for Hospitality responsible
for opening new geographic markets and gaining the adoption of WorkRecords’ rapidly growing
network of labor-buyers and staffing suppliers, educating clients on labor
trends, smart staffing strategies and the full use of the robust data available
from the company.  Dougherty’s extensive hospitality background includes hotel management, asset management and development
of new hotel properties.  He holds degrees from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Florida State University.