Online tips distributed at pick up time instead of time ordered?

[PizzaCo]

Is there a way to change tips collected from online orders to be distributed to the employees clocked in at the time it is scheduled to be picked up instead of the time the order is placed? I'm finding we frequently receive orders in the morning that won't be due until later in the day so when the order is placed the current employees working don't have any involvement in prepping or sending out the order and then when it is due out the employees that actually make it don't receive any of the tips from that transaction as it is already distributed to the morning crew. I hope I am making sense with my question, thanks for any suggestions.

[Donnie-M]

@PizzaCo That is an interesting conundrum.  Currently, I assume you have tips set to be distributed based on who is clocked in at the time the tip is credited.  I think the logic here is an order for later pickup could be cancelled and a refund given.  In many business cases (maybe not pizza), transactions are not completed until the goods or services have been exchanged/shipped.

In my opinion, I would look at pooling tips by day or week.  My personal experience is that the opening staff and the closing staff all contribute to the sales each day.  Your pizza can't be made without prepped veggies, and no one wants to eat where the dishes aren't washed and floor cleaned.  This also smooths out those busy shifts where people who want to work when it is busy but not when it is slow have incentive to work anytime as they all share in the success. 

While this might be a big change or not, you can set up tips to be distributed by day or by week to even out those situations.  I am not a big fan of transactional distribution on who is clocked in at the time, I think it really disincentives openers and closers.

[PizzaCo]

Hi! Thank you for your insight on our tipping concerns. I definitely see your points but for our business we have found the best way to distribute tips to be per the orders as we prep throughout the day and do continuous cleanup. We don't have many people that just work a small portion of the day, most either help open or help close so the tasks are distributed fairly equally. We usually have the opposite issue with getting people to cover shifts, it is difficult to cover our busy times as they are typically the weekend nights so most of our staff (high school aged) want off. Therefore, being able to get a higher tip rate for working those particular shifts speaks volumes and helps immensely with coverage. Usually this isn't a problem as the square system splits the tips when the payment is received, usually when the order is picked up, the only time we're finding it to work differently is for online orders because those are processed immediately when placed by the customer, not when the order is supposed to be picked up. I'm just trying to figure out if there is a setting that I am missing to be able to handle those orders as I would any other order taken at the restaurant instead of distributing immediately when placed, sometimes even days before it is supposed to go out. Thanks again for your help, I appreciate the perspective!

[Donnie-M]

@PizzaCo Ok, That makes a lot more sense now.  I think it is a very valid concern as online orders make up more and more of your orders and in some way are superior to in person orders from a labor perspective.

I figure you are pooling tips by transaction and when the order is placed and paid that is what is pinging the tip for your staff.  I don't think pooling by 24 hours would necessarily help you either versus a 7 day week pooling.

You could in theory limit the order ahead feature to not allow days in advance orders.  The online orders are considered unattributed team member normally.

Is it possible that the orders that come in for order ahead is actually a wash and when you look at the sales over a month it wouldn't be that different for each shift?  (sometimes shift A benefits sometimes shift B)?

I do not think there is a setting you are missing.  I would maybe track those transactions a little and see what the actual money difference is over a period of time of at least a week.  If I saw say a 10$ an employee pay difference per paycheck between shift A and Shift B, then I might look at doing some kind of manual adjustment or wage adjustment to offset this.  I also recommend looking at what you are adding in a dollar per hour amount to each shift and then do some calculations by total labor hours & tips and figure out what it would be if you pooled across 24 hours and work week.  If the amount was anywhere close, I might look at pooling completely.  I am sorry I can't give you a magic work around, but I appreciate that you are worrying about your staff and trying to take care of them!

[PizzaCo]

Thank you! These are great suggestions! I will definitely run those numbers and see how it is all balancing out overall as that may very well be that they basically wash out over time anyway. Thanks again for taking the time to help me think of some possible work arounds and scenarios that can help us keep everything as fair as possible!