The importance of effective time management in hospitality
Poor time management doesn’t just stretch the working day, but it does stretch people. And when staff are under pressure, stress usually spills over to guests, with rushed service, longer waits and a noticeable drop in quality all following.
In hospitality, effective time management is all about creating the foundation for smooth operations, satisfied guests and staff that are happy doing their job.
Why resilience matters, too
Personal resilience, meanwhile, is what equips individuals with tools to cope with stress and pressure, adapt to unexpected changes and maintain consistent standards.
Together, these skills help staff stay focused, adapt quickly and keep service standards high, even in stressful, unpredicted situations.
6 effective time management strategies for hospitality
Here are six practical and effective time management strategies to help your team manage their time better. By putting them into action, teams can start experiencing the real benefits of effective time management, such as less stress, fewer mistakes and more confident service.
1. Prioritise tasks with clarity
When everything feels urgent on a busy shift, it’s easy to miss critical details and lose track of what actually needs to be done asap and what could wait.
The Time Management Matrix (also known as the Eisenhower Matrix), which is a 4-step framework designed to help understand where your time is going and prioritise tasks based on their urgency, is a popular method many hospitality teams find useful. Through its 4 quadrants, you’ll be able to classify urgent and important tasks and move those that are important but not urgent (and other way around) down on your to-do list. Write all the daily tasks down and group them based on the matrix to clearly see what tasks should be done first, what can wait and what might not need your attention at all.
2. Apply the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
The Pareto Principle, also known as the “80/20” rule, suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. In a hospitality context, this might mean that 20% of your menu items generate 80% of sales.
Relating this back to effective time management, the principle guides you to identify and prioritise tasks that deliver the highest impact. Example? If your viral dish generates most of your revenue, your prep team should focus on getting it ready first.
3. Pre-shift planning and clear communication
Taking five minutes at the start of every shift for a quick briefing to clearly communicate daily priorities (such as menu specials or large group arrivals) ensures everyone’s on the same page and reduces confusion later during the day.
This way, the team doesn't end up wasting service time on rearranging tables or scrambling to prepare dishes they didn’t know about during busy service.
4. Batch similar tasks together
Chefs who repeatedly pause cooking to fetch ingredients individually, front-of-house staff who jump from polishing cutlery to seating guests and then back to polishing – sounds familiar? Constantly switching between unrelated tasks breaks concentration, slows your team down and creates a chaotic workspace.
A solution to that problem is grouping tasks logically, like peeling and chopping all vegetables at once, polishing all glassware in one go or methodically checking through all tables for clearing and resetting, etc.
5. Use digital checklists and task trackers
Paper to-do lists are great until they’re gone, damaged or ignored when a shift becomes hectic. Same goes for verbal instructions – though hospitality professionals can memorise a lot, relying on memory alone under pressure leaves room for important tasks to be forgotten.
Digital management tools, like Trail, keep track of daily routines, from opening checklists and cleaning schedules to daily prep tasks like temperature checks or stock counts. Updates in real-time help everyone on the shift get visibility into what’s already done and what needs taking care of.
6. Build buffer time into your schedules
But even the most scrupulous planning won’t help much when unexpected things – and in hospitality, that’s a regular part of the job. Late deliveries, a sudden flood of guests or colleagues calling in sick – those require quick solutions but if you’re already tight on time, you find yourself stressed rather than collected.
Adding a 10-15 minute buffer into schedules, such as extra prep time before peak hours or flexible gaps in bookings, allow your team to flow with disruptions without throwing the whole shift off track.
Building personal resilience for less stress
Here are four practical strategies your hospitality team can use to strengthen resilience and reduce workplace stress:
1. Help staff develop emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (known as EQ) is the ability to recognise one's own feelings in moments when emotions run high and respond in a calm, constructive way.
In hospitality, EQ plays a dual role. First of all, it’s essential for delivering great service. Being empathetic and self-aware helps staff handle a wide range of guests with patience and in a professional way. Second, EQ is key to being a good team player, because when there’s a culture of empathy and understanding, work relationships improve, people feel better at work and are more likely to stay in their roles for longer. And when things do get stressful, emotionally intelligent teams are likely to support one another and bounce back faster, making EQ a key part of personal and team resilience.
2. Recognise and support team members under pressure
Being able to spot stress in your team members, like changes in behaviour, increased irritability or mistakes they wouldn’t usually make helps you offer support early.
A quiet check-in after a tough shift, giving someone a breather when they’re clearly overwhelmed, or simply asking “Are you okay?” without pressure to talk is how resilient teams look after each other.
3. Make mental health a priority, not an afterthought
Mental health and resilience go hand in hand and a recent UK hospitality industry survey found that 76% of hospitality workers have experienced mental health issues.
Teams that understand this link and proactively protect their mental wellbeing are better equipped to handle daily challenges. There are a few things that you can introduce in your workspace to help create a calmer and more supportive atmosphere, such as:
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Scheduling short breaks strategically throughout busy shifts so everyone can take a few minutes off or rest up.
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Promoting easy breathing exercises during stressful moments, like box breathing, especially helpful if your team members feel anxious or overwhelmed.
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Organising monthly mental health awareness sessions, where not only you demonstrate that your staff wellbeing is your priority, but also give them the tools and language to better understand their own stress and how to manage it.
4. Know when and how to seek support
Knowing when to ask for help is a vital part of resilience, but in the industry known for "powering through," speaking up isn't always easy – or possible.
In 2024, almost half (48%) of hospitality workers didn’t know who their mental health first aider is. There’s still a lot of work to do for people to feel comfortable opening up in the workplace and the first step might be making sure they know how to seek support. Whether it's a quick chat with the manager, HR or via external resources, like confidential counselling services, make sure your staff knows where to reach out and that those paths are judgement-free. If you want resilience to become a natural habit of your staff, you have to make support part of your culture.
How technology can make your teams more efficient and resilient
In this article, we’ve looked at how to manage time effectively and build resilience in the workplace, all through simple daily habits and ways of having each other’s back. But even the best strategies can fall short without the right tools to support them.
Forgotten tasks, unnecessary stress and inefficient scheduling cost hospitality teams hours every week and they could easily be fixed with solutions like scheduling software or a digital checklist app. And when it comes to people, engaging training with real-life examples is just as essential as having the right tools.
With just 25-30 minutes of online learning, your team can build real skills that last beyond the shift:
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Our Effective Time Management Course helps staff prioritise smarter, plan their day more effectively and stay focused under pressure.
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Our Personal Resilience Online Training equips you and your staff to manage stress, respond calmly to challenges and handle tough moments without losing focus or confidence.
Change doesn’t happen all at once, but it starts with one shift, one habit or one course. If you’re looking for a simple way to equip your team with practical, shift-friendly tools, our online courses used by over 20,.000 hospitality sites are a great place to start.
