Leave management for restaurants and QSR chains

Plan the long trip home, section by section

A tandoor cook from Uttarakhand or a steward from Odisha may want three weeks at home once a year, often timed with a family wedding or the harvest. Plan these trips at the start of the year, section by section, so the tandoor never loses both its cooks in the same month. Earned leave is the right bucket. Under the OSH Code, a worker who has put in 180 days of work in the calendar year is entitled to one paid day for each 20 days worked, and may carry up to 30 days forward, so a cook can save across the year for the trip. Set a maximum spell on earned leave that the section can absorb, and review carry forward before year end so saved days are not lost.

Peak nights are closed for leave

Fridays to Sundays, New Year's Eve, Christmas, Valentine's Day and the Diwali week are when the outlet earns its money. Write these into the leave policy as dates when casual and earned leave are normally not approved, and announce them on the Company Wall to each outlet's branch. The restaurant manager then declines leave for those dates, and a notice rule on earned leave, such as 15 days, keeps requests from arriving the night before. The team leave calendar in My Team shows approved and pending leave by person, so the manager spots a gap in the tandoor or the bar before approving.

Sick leave that keeps illness out of the kitchen

A cook with a stomach infection, fever or an infected cut should not be near food, and a leave policy that punishes sick days pushes people to work ill. Make sick leave easy for food handlers: allow half days, and ask for a doctor's certificate only after 2 days rather than for every absence. Before the cook submits, the live rule check shows how many days will be charged and the balance left afterwards, so nobody hides an illness to protect a balance they cannot see.

Comp-off when the weekly off is called in

When a steward is called in on his weekly off because a colleague is sick, he should get the day back. Comp-off credits for worked weekly offs and holidays are granted by HR, each with an expiry, for example 45 days, so it is taken in a quiet week rather than piling up for months. The steward sees his comp-off credits and their expiry in My Self-Service, and a Tuesday comp-off after a busy Saturday costs the outlet nothing.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Start from the default CL, EL and SL accruals in the Leave Ledger, adjust them if needed, and preview year-end carry forward so saved home leave is not lost.
2. On earned leave, set 15 days' notice and a maximum days per spell that one kitchen section can cover.
3. On sick leave, allow half days and require a document only after 2 days of absence.
4. On the comp-off type, set the half-day and full-day hours and an expiry, then grant comp-off after each peak weekend.
5. Announce the year's peak dates on the Company Wall to every outlet branch, with acknowledgement required.
6. Ask restaurant managers to look at the team leave calendar first and approve only if the section keeps its cover; HR approves after them.

Read more about leave management in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions