Organization
Haute Catering (formerly Capitol Host)
Backed by more than 14 years of professional catering service to the U.S. House of Representatives, Haute Catering is the award-winning union catering company that can provide everything from formal catering to on-site café operations. Haute Catering also currently manages café operations for four locations in DC; provides daily concierge services to their contract partners like booking conference rooms or providing a coffee pantry at an event, and provides daily logistics support to contracted clients.
Location: Washington, DC
Industry: Hospitality
Company size: 100+ employees
Challenges
It was vital that Haute Catering had qualified employees who were on time and working at the right events. About 40 to 50% of all events were categorized as “pop-ups”, where Haute Catering received less than 48 hours notice. This meant that catering staff schedules’ were constantly changing.
In addition, Haute Catering is part of a union and needed staff schedules to comply with union rules. For each schedule, there needed to be a balanced number of different employee types, and the number of events they worked.
When the company was smaller, they managed to schedule using manual methods and hand delivering schedules to employees. But as Haute Catering expanded to 100 employees, their scheduling processes became too time-consuming for the staffing department, especially with the constant emergence of new events.
The staffing department needed a way to streamline employee scheduling and the delivery of schedules, as well as verify that employees received their schedules.
Solution
Eric Conroy, Director of HR at Haute Catering, found Celayix while searching online. He decided Celayix checked all of the boxes for their scheduling needs. Using Celayix, they were able to expedite the employee scheduling process.
“Celayix gave us everything we needed—an affordable solution, the ability for employees to retrieve their own schedules, and integration with our proprietary catering software,” Conroy said.
“We’ve grown from $6 to $10 million in revenue, and still have the same number of people in our staffing department. With Celayix, we can handle more capacity and have time to focus on other things besides scheduling.”
Eric Conroy, Director of HR
Results
100% compliance with union regulations
Celayix ensures that all schedules are compliant with union contract requirements using its rules-based engine. Haute Catering configured the software to include the necessary requirements. For example, they were able to prioritize specific groups of employees for various shifts. The Celayix system tracks employee information relative to union contracts and guides the staffing manager during schedule creation.
When questions arise regarding union-compliant scheduling, Haute Catering has an accurate record in Celayix to show that assignments were in accordance with the union contract. Celayix can produce reports for the staffing department to use as critical documentation if needed. For example, if employees file for grievance.
Seamless Integration
Using their catering system, the scheduling manager can easily see upcoming events and the required number of employees. This information is synced directly into Celayix, where the scheduler can quickly create schedules accordingly. Having all of this information in one place reduces the likelihood of errors resulting in under/over staffing.
Improved Communication
When the manager schedules catering staff for events within Celayix, the information is immediately available for employees to retrieve by phone. Employees can call in and hear the upcoming events they are assigned for. Haute Catering can easily make changes to the schedule based on event needs, without needing to redistribute schedules.
“We commit to employees that we’ll have the schedule ready by 5 p.m., and then it’s up to them to call in for it,” Conroy said. “We shifted the responsibility to them, so all we have to do is get it into the computer. It saves at least one full work day every week.”
Reduced Absenteeism
Now that staff have access to their schedules via phone, Haute Catering has seen a decrease in absenteeism. Employees have responded positively to the changes to schedule distribution and the results are very clear. Previously, they experienced a no-show rate of 20 to 30% and now, no-shows are a rare occurrence.
Increased Revenue
Thanks to Celayix, Haute Catering have been able to increase their revenue from $6 million to $10 million, without adding any extra staff members. Improved scheduling has lead to improved service, and new business opportunities. Eliminating schedule errors and absenteeism has also contributed to their bottom line.
Celayix reporting also enables Human Resources to pull up overtime, vacation, holiday pay and sick leave accruals that are needed for regular profit and loss (P&L) reports. That further supports union compliance and expedites the creation of P&L statements. Using Celayix allowed Haute Catering to achieve optimal schedules, ensuring employees are scheduled in the best ways.
Most essentially, new efficiency with Celayix has enabled Haute Catering to manage employee scheduling and employee attendance for an ever-increasing number of employees without adding to its administrative department.
