Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Figure 6.10. Example of a Daily Schedule Pattern
A.M. P.M.
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1
Cook A
Food service director
Food production manager
Stores clerk
Food service employees
Cook B
Food service employees
2 3 4 5 6 7
Cook C
Food service employees
Figure 6.11 shows an example of a shift schedule for eight cooks working in a department
that serves three meals per day seven days per week. Cooks A, B, and C together cover the
morning shift from 6:00 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. during which two cooks are usually needed. On the
one day per week that all three are scheduled to work—Thursday on this schedule—they may
perform extra cleaning duties or prepare special foods. The cooks on the afternoon shift, 10:00
A.M. to 7:30 P.M., are scheduled in the same way. Cooks D and E relieve each other so that four
days per week, only one of the two cooks is on duty. Cooks D and E prepare foods for modified
diets or special salads and desserts.
Written daily work schedules guide each employee’s activities during the workday, listing
the duties to be performed during specified time periods and the routine cleaning tasks that
must be completed. An example of an individual employee work schedule is shown in Figure
6.12. Providing this type of breakdown for employees has several advantages:
• The employee has written instructions on hand for each task and does not need to rely
on verbal orders, which are more easily misunderstood or forgotten.
• Deadlines help an employee set objectives for each portion of the workday.
• Work can proceed more smoothly, with less time spent waiting for a new set of instructions
or explanations.
The manager can use the individual schedule to maintain workload balance among
employees.
Some organizations set up separate cleaning schedules and rotate cleaning duties among
employees. Rotating unpleasant jobs is usually desirable, but most of the daily and weekly
cleaning tasks should be incorporated into individual schedules.
Organization and Time Management
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