How Workstream Helped Burger King Franchisees During COVID
Hearing from the RGM and DMs, we have been able to staff hard-to-staff restaurants when we moved from our other system to Workstream. The increase in % of applicants is quite large. It’s almost like a sense of relief that they were getting so much applicant flow into the system (especially during such a hard time to staff a restaurant).
Karen Weber, Training and People Development Director, Ghai Management (Burger King franchisee)
Founded in 1954, Burger King’s vision was “to be the most profitable QSR business, through a strong franchise system and great people, serving the best burgers in the world”. Now, the fast-food chain has solidified its presence in the industry by being the second-largest fast-food hamburger chain in the world. With its promise to provide its customers with only premium ingredients, the original Home of the Whopper serves over 11 million customers every day in its restaurants worldwide.
Like any other QSR, there are bound to be outlets that are more difficult to staff than others. And this is especially so for chains that operate as extensively as Burger King. As of June 2021, there are already more than 7,000 Burger King locations in the US alone. Needless to say, hiring for all of them is no easy feat!
So, how did they manage to overcome their staffing problem? For Karen Weber from Ghai Management, a franchisee of 120 Burger King restaurants, the solution to it is by implementing Workstream. Find out some of the Workstream’s automation tools her managers utilized to improve their hiring process.
As with many restaurants, Burger King was experiencing a shortage of manpower due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some outlets were especially difficult to staff and their hiring process was not as efficient as it should be. As such, they could not find enough candidates to fill in the job positions which were essential to run the restaurant smoothly. Furthermore, the managers had to handle the entire hiring process, from shortlisting applicants to scheduling an interview with them, while managing their understaffed restaurants. Needless to say, the need for an automated hiring tool is more important now than ever.
Workstream provides many hiring tools that can help Burger King streamline its recruitment process. Upon hearing their concerns, our dedicated hiring specialists provided them with the following solutions to help them overcome the problems they were facing:
Workstream’s integration with 25,000 job boards allows them to cast a wider net for applicants. Even better, they are able to post on these job boards in just a single click!
Workstream uses smart screening to filter the most suitable candidates for the job. This also means that the managers do not have to waste precious time going through each and every applicant's resume to shortlist them for an interview
As your work calendar can be integrated into Workstream, this makes automated scheduling of interviews possible. Candidates need only select their preferred interview slots based on your availability, with little to no action from you.
Workstream’s 2-way texting feature makes the process of rescheduling easier for both managers and applicants. Since it is a convenient way of communication, it will also reduce ghosting during the actual interview.
As you might have guessed, the integration of 25,000 job boards in Workstream’s software allowed Burger King to cast a wider net for applicants. This means that more job seekers will come across their job postings, making it possible for the restaurant to receive more job applications. True enough, Burger King saw 3x more applicants after they implemented Workstream into their hiring process.
Thanks to the smart screening feature, most shortlisted applicants are already qualified for the job, making it easier for the managers to move on to the next hiring stage. The automated scheduling of interviews also allows them to set interview slots for the next month with just a couple of clicks of a button. With the automation doing most of the heavy lifting, the managers need not deal with the tedious tasks involved in the hiring process. This has made it more seamless, reducing the time spent on hiring by about 50%. As Workstream aids in streamlining the hiring process, the managers of Burger King are also able to focus on more important matters pertaining to their restaurants.
To sum it up: Having an understaffed restaurant when orders pick up can lead to a series of unfortunate events for you and your employees. Fortunately, Burger King was able to tackle the root of the problem by streamlining its hiring process using Workstream’s automated hiring tools. Hiring is now made easier for the managers who are now able to focus on running the restaurant!
If you, too, are looking for ways to improve your hiring process, look no further. Schedule a demo with us and our specialists will share with you how we can help you meet your hiring needs.