Apr 22, 2019
| One of the classic problems that restaurateurs face is employee shortage. It's a problem that forces many restaurants to close down when employees take vacations or resign. With that said, one of the main reasons for employees to resign is being bought out or hired by another restaurant at a higher salary. Therefore, when specifying salaries and bonuses for employees, restaurateurs have to also consider competition in the market while still relying on the foundation of keeping labor cost from rising so high that business is negatively impacted. Because of that, the following formulas can be used as guidelines in setting employee salaries: Example of Salaries for Restaurant Employees (for competing fairly effectively in BKK): · "Total" starting salary of individual waiters and kitchen staff = 11,000 baht (possibly as 10,000 baht salary + tips + diligence fee). · "Total" salary for individual waiters and kitchen staff with experience = 12,000 – 13,000 baht. (These figures represent labor costs in Bangkok. For other provinces, the restaurateur should survey local areas by examining job listings for different positions. Make your calculations based on the rates and information you find.) How much should labor cost be? First, you should figure out what positions you actually need in your restaurant before setting the salary of each position. Consider giving salaries to employees in a way that allows you to compete in the market. After you're done with that, project your possible monthly sales totals setting labor to 15-18% of your income. For example, if you can sell up to one million baht in a month, the labor for your entire restaurant should cost between 150,000 – 180,000 baht. Examine the information for each work position to see if salaries are too high. Control your salaries from exceeding 18% of income. No matter what, keep them from exceeding 20%. Try to survey the employee salaries at department stores to figure out how much each restaurant or store pays its employees each month, including benefits. |
| Appropriate Benefits Appropriate means it's not necessary, but it's better to provide them. Some appropriate benefits that can incentivize employees include the following: · Diligence fees: 500 baht per month. Employees need to not be sick, arrive late for work, be absent from work or take a personal leave in a given month in order to receive the 500 baht. Otherwise, if the employee was sick or arrived late no more than once, the employee can receive 300 baht. · Vehicle/Food Allowances: 40-50 baht, but only on days on which the employee arrives on time for work and does not switch work shifts. · Monthly incentives: If every employee helps each other and succeeds in meeting a sales target, the employees can receive x,xxx baht/branch (for example, if normal sales are 300,000 baht, but the target is 330,000 baht, everyone can share 5,000 baht). In any case, when offering incentives based on sales, understand that your profit will be lower because the incentives are deducted from sales before other expenses. · Birthday holidays: On an employee birthday, the restaurant allows one free holiday in addition to normal holidays and offers a cake or some small gifts to boost morale. |
All of the information above contains some guidelines on setting employee salaries and bonuses, but nothing is fixed. With regard to benefits in particular, restaurateurs have to make considerations based on the suitability for where the restaurant is located. In any case, we would like to remind restaurateurs that employees are a primary component of business and that no business can operate without employees, so it's important to put yourselves in their shoes.
