Quick service restaurants (QSRs) are often focused on creating positive customer experiences (CX) through friendly interactions, efficient service and quality food. But sometimes that approach takes away from the employee experience (EX), especially for frontline workers who drive a large part of business success.  

Some of the top challenges for QSRs include recruiting and retaining top talent, addressing burnout and workload, and improving engagement to deliver better experiences. In fact, research reveals a turbulent cycle influencing those top business concerns:  

According to HR leaders in the restaurant industry:
Top business concern: Retaining top talent
Top cause of burnout: Understaffing
Top threat to hiring: Shortage of qualified candidates

So how do QSRs escape this cycle to find the right talent, staff correctly and deliver EX that entices employees to stay? Human capital management (HCM) technology can make a big difference. Here’s how: 

• Sourcing Qualified Candidates: An applicant tracking system (ATS) that supports targeted job board postings, social recruiting tools, and AI-powered features—like automated job description writing and candidate matching—is becoming essential to modern recruitment. With understaffing driving burnout across the restaurant industry and qualified talent in short supply, many restaurant leaders are turning to tools and services that simplify sourcing and improve the candidate experience. By offloading tasks such as job posting, screening, shortlisting, and employer branding, leaders can streamline hiring while creating a more engaging and efficient journey for applicants. 
• Optimizing Scheduling for Workforce Needs: To address understaffing and hiring challenges, restaurant leaders need to rethink how they manage workforce scheduling. The right HCM technology can help by aligning staffing with demand and streamlining the process. Built-in tools can analyze historical data to forecast peak hours and ensure the right employees are scheduled at the right times, reducing overtime, burnout and coverage gaps. Additionally, self-service tools let employees view shifts, request changes and swap with coworkers without manager approval, easing the administrative burden and giving staff more control of their time. When schedules are shared in advance and offer flexibility (i.e. through split shifts, adjusted start times or personal accommodation), employees feel more supported and are more likely to stay. 
• Supporting Payroll Accuracy: Recent research shows that reducing HR or payroll errors is a top business concern within the restaurant industry. Automating payroll removes manual entries, which is a frequent cause of error. Automation also helps with tips, overtime and pay rates so teams are paid accurately and on time. Compliance with labor laws is also an area that can cause errors. HCM and payroll service providers often have compliance tools built into their systems to provide real-time updates to keep you aligned with regulations to minimize the risk of unnecessary fines or disruptions. What’s more, some HCM providers offer expert HR services to support proactive compliance to give restaurant owners peace of mind. 

Delivering Positive EX for Better CX

Did you know that 90% of employees say their workplace experience directly affects the service they deliver? That’s why fostering a positive culture is integral to strengthening EX. Positive EX can be fostered with personalized benefits tailored to individual needs (i.e. financial wellness, caregiver and childcare assistance, commuter reimbursement), consistent and effective communication, innovative tools to streamline operational efficiencies and access to data to make informed decisions based on real trends unique to your workforce. 

Overall, positive EX can help attract and retain top talent, leading to improved customer service and better business outcomes.  

Learn more from QSR and restaurant leaders on how they're tackling staffing and operational challenges. 

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