Shaun Christie-David’s Colombo Social doesn’t just serve up some of the tastiest Sri Lankan food in the inner west. The Enmore Road restaurant also provides skills training and experience for the asylum seekers and refugees who work there, thanks to collaborations with Settlement Services International, Asylum Seeker Centre and SkillMe.
Using his restaurant for such powerful action is force for good, but it’s not without complexities. Along with a hospitality industry facing pandemic-related upheavals, elements like language, literacy and a lack of worker experience can complicate the administrative side of such a business. We asked Christie-David to explain in layman’s terms how it might not be possible without the support of digital technology.
Wages and payroll
One significant shift for businesses like Colombo Social has been the interconnectedness of admin programs. For wages in particular, having rostering, award and clock-in information working in tandem with payroll software is a lifesaver. “We integrate with Xero and that integration makes it such a simple process,” says Christie-David. Funnelling complexities like personal leave and penalty rates through these app integrations saves time and ensures everything is accurate.
Onboarding
“A lot of our workforce have never had a job before,” says Christie-David. “[When you’re] onboarding and trying to run through all the steps you need to get into is quite complex.” Onboarding - the initial admin stage of bringing in new staff - is traditionally a process of employees signing paper forms and submitting physical documents. Now, everything is digital. “For employees to be able to do it on their phone, no printer - a lot of our staff don’t have printers. So it’s everything in a way they recognise. The whole onboarding process for us has been streamlined dramatically.”
Clocking in and out
With overlapping shifts, a mainly casual workforce and a variety of different cultural backgrounds, keeping track of shift times also now takes place in the digital realm. “Staff check in on the mobile phone within a certain range, which lets us know everyone’s there,” says Christie-David. “The old punch cards are gone. This is all automated and everyone can use it. They’re very phone-savvy this generation, so it’s really good to be able to say, ‘There you go, that’s all you’ve got to do [on your phone],’ and it’s done.”
Rostering
At Colombo Social, rostering is a two-person task. Each roster is built and confirmed by two managers, taking into account predictive booking data, staff availability and variables like public holidays. Before using a dedicated platform, rostering was cumbersome and time consuming. “That would take hours,” says Christie-David. “Shift interchangeability was a nightmare - now it can be automatically done. Adding a shift is so easy, it’s the click of a button. There’s no text messages anymore, there’s no phone calls. It’s just so streamlined.”
Awards and penalty rates
With a mainly casual workforce, the award governing Colombo Social staff payment can shift pay rates multiple times per day, depending on the time and day of the week. “Recently there’s been a spotlight around fair work and pay rates and awards,” says Christie-David of the hospitality industry. “And that’s been very, very good. But we have the most complex award legislation in the world, by far.”
Before digital tech, keeping track of hours and the corresponding pay rates had to be done by a member of staff. “I don’t think anyone would ever do it manually now,” says Christie-David. “Let alone scheduled break times, ensuring breaks are accurate and that everyone’s taken their break. To have a platform that [interprets] your award rates, your penalty rates, your breaks — you can sleep a lot easier at night.”
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Deputy hospitality rostering platform.
