7shifts Adds Tip Payouts Feature to Help Restaurants Retain Staff

Restaurant team management platform 7shifts has added a Tip Payouts feature.

This feature allows operators to instantly send tips directly to employees’ personal debit accounts, the company said in a Thursday (Aug. 24) press release. 

Instant access to tips can enhance the employee experience and help restaurants tackle the issue of staff retention, according to the press release. 7shifts has found that wages are a major concern impacting the average employee tenure in the restaurant industry, with three-quarters of employees still relying on tips as a significant part of their income.

At the same time, tips have increased at both full-service and quick-service restaurants (QSRs), so providing instant access to these tips can boost staff retention, the release said.

“Employees will appreciate the convenience and transparency Tip Payouts provides them,” 7shifts VP of Product Brent Beatty said in a Thursday blog post. “They can get their tips faster (no more delays) and have a digital record of all the tips they received. Increased transparency and trust means happier employees, and happier employees stay longer.”

The Tip Payouts feature is one of several upgrades that 7shifts has added to its restaurant team management platform this year as it works to help its users save costs and improve efficiency, according to the press release. Other newly introduced features include onboarding, performance management and payroll.

The platform was established in 2014 and now serves more than 40,000 restaurants of all sizes and 1 million restaurant professionals, the release said. It caters to both independent establishments and multi-unit brands.

“With our digital Tip Payout solution, employers can pay their workers instantly — eliminating the need for last-minute bank runs or having to track and count cash, while reducing the risks of sending employees home late at night with large amounts of cash,” CEO Jordan Boesch said in the release.

Payments have been “democratized” by digital platforms for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) like pizzerias, Brian Hassan, co-CEO of instant cashless tip payouts platform Kickfin, told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January.

These SMBs are “almost in parity” with the likes of Uber and Lyft via the adoption of instant digital tip access and payouts, Hassan said at the time.