CNN Money Includes HotSchedules in Story About Millennials in the Workplace:

Story Explores HotSchedules’ Approach to Company Culture and Innovative Employee Perks

HotSchedules, which helps the restaurant and hospitality industries reduce labor costs with its innovative web-based labor-management solutions, got some national news attention for its “Generation Y” approach to company culture. Recently, CNN Money, the news network’s division focused on business and personal finance, visited HotSchedules as part of a news story on “Millennials” in the workplace titled “Massive Perks Move Millennials.”

Aired July 21, CNN Money’s story included an in-depth look at HotSchedules’ unconventional yet successful Millennial-style approach to core values, workplace guidelines and overall company culture. In addition to interviewing some of HotSchedules’ Gen Y team members about their career aspirations with the company, CNN Money also explored the many progressive perks afforded to HotSchedules’ employees.

HotSchedules emphasizes a fun, welcoming, home-like atmosphere for its employees, and acknowledges that workers – particularly those in the Millennial generation – are more likely to create a better work product when afforded flexibility and a good work/life balance by their employer. As such, HotSchedules holds ping-pong tournaments several times a year and allows employees to play ping-pong and HotBall (a form of ping-pong using Nerf balls and no paddles) during lunch and work breaks. Employees can visit the oversized massage chair when stressed, and grab a 25-cent snack from the well-stocked snack bar. HotSchedules’ generous lunch plan enables employees to order a meal from a different restaurant each day, with the company subsidizing the cost. And on the first Thursday of each month, a HotSchedules executive makes lunch for the entire staff. Additionally, HotSchedules employees are encouraged to dress however they like, as there is no company dress code. HotSchedules’ five-member Torch Team, which is dedicated to safeguarding the company’s culture as it continues to grow, meets monthly to ensure HotSchedules’ core values of family, fun, service, humility and creativity are preserved.

“Work can be intense and we’re very focused,” said HotSchedules Millennial Kristin Kweder “so when we’re ready for a break, we don’t want to just stay at our desk and surf the web. We want to get out of our cubes and do something active.”

Of particular interest to CNN Money was HotSchedules’ flexible vacation policy, which allows employees to take off the amount of time they need or want – including unpaid leaves of absence or sabbaticals – with manager approval. One HotSchedules employee featured in the CNN Money story took off for an entire year to travel in Italy. Though there is no set amount of vacation time for each employee, the policy does have guidelines; however, the overall approach to vacation is more relaxed than most corporate businesses, CNN Money found.

While HotSchedules CEO Ray Pawlikowski admits the company once tried the typical approach to business, requiring employees to wear starched pants and shirts, and maintain strict schedules. As Pawlikowski told CNN Money, “It didn’t work.” But the moment HotSchedules embraced change, “we started seeing the results we wanted to see,” Pawlikowski said, adding that the most notable thing Millennials bring to HotSchedules is “a new level of dedication that we haven’t seen in the past.”

Since that time, HotSchedules has increased its number of users significantly and, as noted in the CNN Money story featuring HotSchedules, the company “is growing in leaps and bounds.”

HotSchedules was founded in 1999 by restaurant- and hospitality-industry veterans. The company provides intuitive, web-based scheduling, forecasting and employee-engagement solutions. HotSchedules’ suite of products streamlines the employee-scheduling process, helps reduce controllable labor costs and increases employee retention. HotSchedules also provides training and account management backed by a bilingual support team accessible seven days a week. For more information about HotSchedules, the company’s innovative approach to employee perks and company culture, or the CNN Money story on Millennials in the workplace, featuring HotSchedules, visit www.HotSchedules.com.

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