Laura Handrick

Google offers excellent apps for project collaboration and organization at a lower cost—some are free—than traditional project tracking software. We examined the best Google project management tools and apps that you can use for work scheduling, task management, collaboration, communication, and integration with your existing business software. Top 10 Google Apps for Project Management How We Evaluated Google Project Management Tools The great thing about Google project management tools is that they have free versions. You can find programs for scheduling, organizing, brainstorming, communicating, and document manipulation. Plus, you can share docs, ideas, and communicate with others to cobble together a project management toolset. These Google apps for project management operate independently or together, and each has a unique purpose. Therefore, we did not compare them against each other but instead examined how they could be used to manage projects. Here’s what we looked for in each of the Google apps for project management: Price: Most Google apps and extensions offer a free plan; we’ll mention when costs apply. Use case: Most Google apps for project management are single-purpose tools. We discuss what they do and how well compared to other popular programs like Microsoft Office. Key features: We’ll describe what makes the tool stand out for managing projects. Integrations: Can they be added as an extension or integrated into another program? (Spoiler Alert: Google is highly integrable.) User reviews: How easy is it to learn and use the application or extension? What issues did day-to-day users have with the application? We’ll only recommend top-rated tools. While you can get access to many Google apps for free, Google’s Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) has combined them into a holistic offering with businesses in mind. Because of its extra administrative and security features, we find Google Workspace is the best overall project management toolset for Google. Google Workspace: Best Google Tool for Project Management Many Fortune 500 companies use Google Workspace because it provides powerful document creation and collaboration tools with secure cloud storage and strong administrative controls. As long as you don’t need Kanban boards or Gantt charts, this software can meet your project management needs with apps that are familiar and easily accessible anywhere you have an internet connection. What Google Workspace Costs Google Workspace’s professional plans start at $6 a month per user and go up to $25 a month per user. It offers a 14-day trial. The higher-tier plans provide unlimited storage and increased administrative controls. Google Workspace is highly affordable when compared to other project management software, especially if you need shared editing for documents. Google Workspace Pricing Tiers Google Workspace Features Google Workspace is about communication and organization, which are the foundations of good project management. Its cloud-based programs let you create and share documents, from simple notes to slideshows and complex spreadsheets with due dates and project tasks. You can collaborate via email, chat, or video; and even create apps. With higher-tier plans, you can set email archiving rules, conduct audits, and enjoy extra security for private information. Google Workspace Document Creation and Management Google Workspace has all of its creation, management, and editing features easily available on the cloud. You can create and collaborate on documents, like project task lists, with Google Docs. Google Sheets is a useful spreadsheet program that integrates with the other Google Workspace tools. You can make slideshows with Google Slides and even create your own simple apps with Google Apps. The forms function is versatile and converts to a spreadsheet for easy manipulation, allowing you to gather input from clients and team members to support your project deliverables. Jamboard provides group brainstorming capability, while Keep lets you take notes on the fly. Need to make a team site to highlight a project or information? Google Sites offers drag-and-drop capability to create beautiful, mobile-responsive sites you can exhibit in Google Drive, Doc, or even Calendar. It’s a great way to highlight a quarterly report, promote a company event, or show off a sparkling marketing campaign. Communication and Collaboration Of course, Google Workspace offers the familiar Gmail system, but with Google Workspace, you can customize it to your business’ website domain. Google Hangouts offers chat for individuals and groups with document attachment capabilities as well as phone and video conferencing. And remember Google+? Google has repurposed it as Currents. The new app lets you discuss key issues, prioritize threads, tag entries, add attachments, and search for topics. All of these tools together can keep your project team on the same page. Scheduling and To-do Tracking Google Calendar integrates with Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Sites, and Hangouts so you can keep your project schedules updated. You can create team, company, or individual calendars with color coding and take advantage of the tool’s capability to check co-worker availability. Google Sites lets you publish calendars, and you can set reminders or send them to Calendar from Keep and Gmail. Speaking of Keep, if you need to-do lists, Keep lets you access, create, and edit notes that you can share with others. Often, that’s all you need to keep your team on track. Administration and Security Google Workspace offers hearty security and administrative controls. You can set up two-step verification, view security analytics, get alerts on suspicious activity, and find recommendations for best practices. There are controls that allow you to limit login access to a specific geographical location, which can improve accessibility. Admins can add users, reset passwords, view audit logs, and contact support from their desktop or mobile applications. For highly regulated industries where there are legal concerns, Google Workspace Vault stores, and exports user data as needed. Google Workspace Hardware You can run everything in Google Workspace from both a computer or a mobile device, but sometimes, that’s just not practical. For example, you may need video conferencing between offices instead of individuals, or a team may prefer the energy of brainstorming together in a single room. Google offers hardware for Hangouts Meet’s video conferencing feature and includes cameras, speakers, and a management portal that can also self-diagnose and automatically update firmware. It also offers special whiteboards for its Jamboard program. What Google Workspace is Missing Those who use Agile work processes will need to look elsewhere for pre-built Kanban Boards. You can create a Gantt chart in Google Sheets, but it is a multistep process that requires formulas and chart manipulation. Google Workspace also lacks automation and other shortcuts that many dedicated project management software programs provide. While Google Workspace Work Insights lets you see how people in your company are using Google Workspace, it does not drill down to individual activities and thus cannot report on project progress or work hours. You’d need to do that manually or add a Google extension. How Google Workspace Compares to Microsoft Office 365 When people think of competitors for Google Workspace, Microsoft comes to mind rather than Monday.com, Asana, or other project management apps. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 share very similar tools―spreadsheets, document creation, even online chat. MS Office 365 is comparable in cost ($5 a month per user for the Essentials plan, $8.25 and $12.50 a month per user for the Business Plans). Office 365’s Business Premium plan has booking and invoicing programs that Google Workspace lacks. What Users Think About Google Workspace Many users praise Google Workspace for its ease of use, especially for collaboration. They enjoy that everything is so closely tied together and that they can access their tools and documents from any device anytime they have access to the web. They also like that they can share documents with others outside of their team (vendors, freelancers, clients). The most common complaint is that customer service is not as good as with other software companies. How to Access Google Workspace Google offers individual pieces of its Google Workspace software for free, but the entire package starts at $6 a month per user. It’s a versatile, complete office software system with features that work for project management and integrate easily with third-party software programs. It has a 14-day free trial. Sign up for a Google Workspace account today. Google Drive: Best Google Tool for Document Management If you don’t need advanced security features or unlimited storage, then Google Drive might be a cheaper alternative to Google Workspace for managing all of your project documentation. It offers creation tools for documents, spreadsheets, sites, and drawings. Google Drive lets you share these with individuals or groups for viewing or editing. For example, your project’s business case could be stored in a Google Doc while your project timeline could be managed in Sheets. What Google Drive Costs Google Drive has a free version that is well used by individuals and small groups, but its paid plans offer increased security, improved search capabilities, and flexible storage. Paid plans start at $8 a month per active user, plus $1 per 25GB of storage. It offers a free 30-day trial and external users, such as your project consultant or freelancer designer, can access your shared documents for free. Google Drive Features Google Drive is an extremely popular program for creating and sharing information in a variety of formats because it offers all the tools you need in one convenient place. It has the familiar format of MS Office while offering excellent interconnectivity, file sharing, and collaboration. Office Tools Google Drive’s office tools are not only similar to those you’d find in Microsoft Office, but you can now import Office documents and spreadsheets and use them in Google. The interface is different enough that it takes time to find and learn to use the more advanced functions within the app. Here’s a summary of popular Google Drive tools you could use to manage projects: Docs: This is a standard document editor with writing, editing, commenting, track changes, inserting images, and more. The spellcheck does not always catch the errors other programs do, so it’s a good idea to run a second check through Grammarly. However, for project collaboration, its sharing is simple and efficient. Sheets: Many project management software programs are based on spreadsheets. Google Sheets offers all the versatility of a solid spreadsheet program, including color coding, rules setting, and graphs. With some work, you can even make a Gantt chart. Also, you can dynamically update data from Sheets into your other project docs. Forms: If you need to gather information from customers, Google Forms offers a versatile tool for creating forms. You can set multiple-choice and radio buttons or short or long answers, request contact information, and set certain questions as required. These forms can feed into a Google Sheet for easy data manipulation. However, if you wish to add them to a different spreadsheet, such as for a project assignment, you’ll need to do this manually. Slides: No job is complete until the presentation slides are done. Google’s PowerPoint equivalent, Slides, has the most important features for creating an excellent slideshow, including preset themes, text, chart and image insertion, animations, and more. You can download slides from other software and manipulate them in Drive as well. Sites: If you need to publish your information to the web, Google Sites offers drag-and-drop simplicity for creating attractive and mobile-responsive websites. The nice thing about this website creator is that you can collaborate easily on it and see the changes made by co-workers, even in real-time. Drawings: If you need a place to doodle or to collaborate on an illustration, try Google Drawings. This simple drawing tool lets you draw lines and shapes. You can also add illustrations and text. We did not find it particularly user-friendly for the beginner, however. Maps: Need to create a map to your location, or show your customer the route for the “on-the-road” product tour? Google Maps lets you create interactive maps by marking locations and creating routes. You can add images of locations and even video enhancements. This is perfect when you need to do a demo off-site. Jamboard: This is a simple tool for sketching design ideas or project brainstorming. You can draw freehand, insert images, and comment using sticky notes. There’s also a drawing tool that erases itself when you want to temporarily highlight the point you’re talking about. Additional Google Apps for Project Management (Paid Plan) The paid plan offers Google artificial intelligence (AI), which can automatically curate recommended workplaces for each team member and make search easier. The paid plan also comes with data loss protection rules and Google Vault and eDiscovery for archiving. Google Drive Common Features Several of the Drive applications have templates. With all of them, you can share by link or email invitation and decide whether sharing includes commenting and editing capability or viewing only. You can group any items created in Drive to a folder and then share the folder, giving viewing or editing rights to everything in that folder. That gives you total control of who can see or edit which project docs. What Google Drive is Missing Google Drive has a lot of excellent collaboration tools. However, like Google Workspace, it is not intended for Agile workflow management. You won’t find Kanban boards or workflow analysis as you would with a full-blown project management software like Monday.com. You can note assignments in Sheets, but other than adding “comments,” there are no automatic notification features that will point to a specific task; rather, you’ll have to share the entire sheet with each person mentioned. What Users Think About Google Drive Users who reviewed Google Drive on our site rate it 4.6 of 5 stars. Many of them say it makes collaborative projects and teamwork much easier, sparing them long email back-and-forth conversations. Some who used MS office commented that the interface is not as intuitive as they’re used to. How to Access Google Drive You get a free personal Drive account when you sign up for a Gmail account, or you can sign up for one using your regular email. (The connectivity is easier with a Gmail account, however.) Businesses can purchase accounts on the Google Drive website. A cost calculator will let you determine how much you pay based on your number of users and storage needs. There’s a 30-day free trial. Try Google Drive and start working with your team today. Google Calendar: Best Google Project Management Tool for Managing Deadlines Where would you be without a good calendar app to help us remember appointments, deadlines, and general to-dos? Google Calendar is free, flexible, shareable, and customizable to help you keep your work and personal life organized. You can easily share the schedules you create with co-workers, contract employees, and clients. What Google Calendar Costs Google Calendar is free on its own, or you can get it in the Google Workspace or Google Drive Business packages which start between $6 and $8 per month per user. Either way, you have access to all of its scheduling and meeting invitation features and shareability. Google Calendar Features Like most online calendar programs, Google Calendar lets you schedule events and milestones and set reminders. You can also invite others to view your calendar and others so that you can synchronize schedules. For projects, you can schedule team meetings as recurring events, such as each Friday morning. Scheduled Activities Google Calendar lets you customize its calendar for language, reminders, and more. You can add other calendars, such as for company holidays or your individual teammates. When you do this, it can let you view the calendar or send their data to yours. That way, you can see everything you need in one place. Color coding lets you differentiate between teammates, and you can set security levels to keep some information off shared calendars. You can also manage recurring events, create email reminders, and add specific travel information or other details. Goals, Milestone, and Achievement Tracking You can set up Google Calendar for projects and goals. For independent milestones, simply create an event for them as you would a meeting. The mobile app allows you to choose a goal you want to achieve such as learning a new skill, or create one of your own such as a client sign off. You can then plan how long you need to work at it and when you’d like to start. Google will check your schedule and if there’s a conflict, it will suggest a different time. You can also import tasks and goals from other programs like Monday.com and Trello and directly from Gmail. Google’s Calendar AI Google Calendar has AI that applies machine learning to get to know your habits, activities, and schedules. It applies that knowledge to suggest meeting times or attendees for new events based on what you’ve done or who you’ve worked within the past. Google Calendar Integrations If you’ve been using Apple Calendar, Outlook, or another calendar app, you can download the information to Google Calendar by saving it as a CSV file or V Card. If you purchase Google Workspace, you can utilize greater integration with other Google products like embed sheet or doc files, or use integration tools like Zapier. What Google Calendar is Missing You cannot add documents or images to events. What you can do is add a document URL link within a Google calendar event to get around that limitation. You also can’t bill clients for time spent on projects. What Users Think About Google Calendar Overall, users give Google Calendar a very high rating and not just because it’s free. Many found it to be an excellent scheduling tool and appreciated being able to share calendars. The primary complaint is that the mobile version is not as easy to use as the desktop version. How to Access Google Calendar If you purchase Google Workspace, you get Google Calendar with all its connectivity to the other Google tools. For the free version, simply go to the Google Calendar website and sign up. In fact, if you already have a Gmail account, you likely have access to Google’s Calendar tools. Google Contacts: Best Google Project Management App for Sales Teams While most project management software is geared toward keeping tasks and information in one place, they tend to offer tools to help users manage relationships. Nonetheless, sales, marketing, and service industries rely on communicating with the customer as much as completing a task. Google Contacts provides a comprehensive database for tracking contact information and notes on client-facing projects. What Google Contacts Costs Like so many of Google’s project management tools, Google Contacts is free. It’s also included as part of Google Workspacewhich adds a level of security to the client information you track. That makes Google Workspace’s $6 a month per user a great deal because Contacts and all the other tools, like Drive and Calendar, come with the package. Google Contacts Features Google Contacts is the online “little black book” for keeping track of the people you need to stay in touch with. It holds more than just simple contact information. It can also integrate with calendars, Gmail, smartphones, and other tools. In fact, Google contacts can hold a photo of the contact in case you’re better at remembering faces than names. Contact Information in One Place Google Contacts starts with the basic information: name, phone numbers, emails, websites, and any other venue for reaching out to a person (even snail mail). You can add identifying information like company, job title, or related information. There’s even a place to put phonetic spellings for those hard-to-pronounce names. There are sections to record events and to make notes as your projects progress. Google Contact Extra Features You can create labels for group contacts such as club members, high-profile customers, or people involved in a particular project initiative. You can also create duplicates or remove contacts as desired. The search function looks within the entire entry, even the notes. It’s a handy feature; for example, if you can’t remember who you talked to about that order of self-sealing stem bolts, you can search “stem bolts.” Google Contact Integrations According to Zapier, Google Contacts can integrate with over 1,500 different applications. These include other Google tools (of course), project management software like Airtable or Monday.com, email and communication programs like Mailchimp, and customer relationship management software like HubSpot. It’s a one-stop-shop for sales teams. What Google Contacts is Missing The custom field is not especially customizable. You cannot store social media page links except as a website URL or a note. While the notes section gives you a place to keep track of conversations or issues covered in a call, it is highly limited compared to customer relationship management (CRM) tools. You cannot save a company as a client. And, you cannot attach documents such as signed contracts. What Users Think About Google Contacts Users rate Google Contacts at well over 4 of 5 stars on third-party review sites. They appreciate the ability to store so much information in a single place and to be able to use it in other applications. Users have expressed some concern about Google accessing this information, while others have complained that the new mobile version changed the interface. How to Access Google Contacts Google Contacts is part of Google Workspace. You can get the free version by signing up for a Gmail account online or by downloading the app. If you have Gmail, you already have Google Contacts. Try Google Contacts today. Google Hangouts: Best Google Tool for Remote Communication With so many people working remotely, including freelancers, it’s important to have a way to manage ad hoc conversations for you to refer to later. Google Hangouts provides online chat software that is free and easy to use. Even better, it has voice and video conferencing capabilities which is helpful when you want client input on your projects. What Google Hangouts Costs Like so many of Google’s project management applications, Hangouts is free in all its versions: online, as an app, or when integrated into other software. Google manufactures hardware for businesses wanting to use Hangouts within their company conference rooms. Kits start at $1,999. Google Hangouts Features There’s nothing especially surprising about Google Hangouts. It’s simply solid online video, phone, and text-based communication software that works as part of the Google Workspace (formerly G suite). Google Hangouts Chat Functions You can download the Hangouts app for desktop, Android, or iOS, or go to hangouts.google.com. There’s also a Google Chrome extension that notifies you when you have a new message. You can set up chats with individuals or groups and invite people using a link. You can set notifications. Hangouts lets you search, archive, or leave conversations. Google Hangouts Video Conferencing Video conferencing is as easy as making one click. The sound and video quality are limited only by the strength of your internet connection. It adapts to the available bandwidth. Google recommends 300 thousand bps for individual calls and 3.2 million bps for group video calls. It’s a solid alternative to video conferencing software for small businesses. Integrations Naturally, Google Hangouts integrates with Google Workspace. In fact, you can access it through Gmail. It also integrates with project management software like Monday.com, Wrike, and Trello. Hardware Small businesses find that Google Hangouts is all the video conferencing software they need, but it’s not always practical to have everyone login from their own computers. Google offers dedicated hardware for offices that makes video conferencing on Hangouts easy and reliable. You can purchase cameras, speakermics, and a control box with a screen for checking schedules, diagnosing software, and handling administrative tasks. Kits start at $1,999 and include a touch screen, a camera, a speakermic, and the Chromebox processor. What Google Hangouts is Missing You cannot attach a Hangouts conversation to a project or task. Nor can you add documents or spreadsheets to a Hangouts conversation. This limits its usefulness when discussing a project, although you can always link to a Google Doc’s URL. Google Workspace’s Currents is better suited for this type of collaboration. What Users Think About Google Hangouts Hangouts users praise Hangouts’ price tag. You can’t beat free. Many people also liked its ease of use and accessibility, as well as the group conferencing capabilities. There were some complaints that the app stalled or crashed on smartphones. How to Access Google Hangouts Google Hangouts is part of Google Workspace, but you can get it for free as a standalone app. Log in to Google with your email address and download it. Get connected with Hangouts today. Google Keep: Best Google Tool for Project Note Taking Sometimes, you need a place where it’s easy to capture sudden inspirations, make a to-do list on the fly, or store notes until you’re ready to add them to a project or task. Google Keep is a simple but versatile note-taking app that integrates with the other Google apps, so you can keep important information within reach. What Google Keep Costs There’s no surprise here―Google Keep is free. It’s part of Google Drive and Google Workspace. And when purchased in those packages, you enjoy greater connectivity. If you upgrade to a Google Workspace package, for instance, it’s included in the $6 per user monthly subscription. Google Keep Features Like its name, Keep retains your quick thoughts, checklists, and just-found information in one spot so you can find it later. It works similar to sticky notes, but with additional organizational tools, like reminders. Plus, it’s paperless. Creating & Organizing Notes Of course, Keep’s main function is taking notes. You can create, label, tag, copy, and share them with others. There’s a simple drawing tool for doodling out your inspirations or working on a design with someone. You can add images as well such as project swimlanes or webpage mock-ups. For task management, you can create checklists, including subtasks. You can use colors in light or dark mode to highlight certain notes or to help classify them. And you can pin important notes so you don’t lose them. Google Keep Reminders To get a notification of a due date, create notes in the Reminders tab on Google Keep and set the schedules. When using a mobile application, you can also set the reminder by location so that you get an alert to visit a client to provide an update or schedule a lunch meeting the next time you are in the neighborhood. Offline Mode You don’t have to be online to use Google Keep. Download the app and use it anytime. It automatically updates with the cloud version when you are back online. That way, even when you’re off-grid such as if you’re on a hike or family vacation, you can save your project idea at the time when it pops into your head. Integrations Google Keep integrates with other Google project management apps―Docs, in particular. Some time-tracking software like Clockify integrates with Keep and adds themselves to the checklists, so you can track how long you spend on each task. This is a great asset for billing and logging project-based work hours. What Google Keep is Missing Google Keep is a simple note-taking software. It does not have folders for grouping notes so you’ll need to find another way to organize them. The character limit is 20,000 and the label limit, 50 characters. Also, it lacks formatting features, and it does not have encryption or privacy settings that you’d want for confidential projects. What Users Think About Google Keep Many users like Google Keep for what it does―recording notes and setting reminders. They describe it as “comfortable,” and “light and pleasant.” The note-taking, checklists, and cross-device synchronization were especially praised. Complaints on third-party review sites were usually requests for more robust features such as text editing. How to Access Google Keep If you already have a Google account, you may have noticed the Google Keep symbol on the rightmost sidebar. Otherwise, you can get Google Keep as part of the Google Workspace or Drive package or just sign up for free. Get your thoughts together and in one place―start using Google Keep today. Google Jamboard: Best Google Tool for Brainstorming Projects often start with a good brainstorming session. Sometimes, the tool for that is a simple, blank canvas. Google Jamboard provides a responsive and flexible format for tossing together all the ideas―text, scribbles, images, sticky notes, data from spreadsheets―you name it. Jamboard holds it all, then saves it and shares it according to your command. It’s available free for desktop, mobile, or as an actual whiteboard. What Google Jamboard Costs The software for Jamboard is free and also included as a standard part of Google Workspace and Google Drive. You can look up Jamboard on your server―Google it―and start using it right away. It offers physical Jamboards (electronic whiteboards) for use in the office as well. These cost $4,999 plus a $600 annual management and support fee. Educators only pay the support fee once. Google Jamboard Features Combine the best of internet connectivity and organic brainstorming with Jamboard. It’s easy to use and lets you draw, write, or import elements to flesh out your ideas. You can then save your documents as images. In fact, it can work for Kanban-style project management if you jot each to do as a sticky note. Create & Collaborate in the Cloud Jamboard allows up to 16 touchpoints, so your entire team can join in the brainstorming by adding images, drawing, writing text, or importing elements from other Google project management apps. People can even contribute ideas and feedback from their mobile devices. Not a great artist? Get closer. Jamboard’s image recognition can create a more polished image, whether you’re designing a tiny house or adding a dragon to your logo, as long as your doodle is recognizable enough. Jamboard Hardware for In-Office You can use all of Jamboard’s features in the cloud, but sometimes, a true hands-on approach is best. If your company thrives on in-person creative sessions, or you prefer to design client projects with them face to face, then Jamboard’s display may be what you need. You can also connect your computer to the board and use it as a display while controlling the computer from the board’s touch screen. The physical Jamboard hardware package includes a 55-inch screen and 4K display for a stunning setup. Mount it on the wall, or get the stand to roll your electronic whiteboard around the office. It needs a single cable. The stylus and eraser are passive, meaning you won’t have to worry about batteries. Integrations Jamboard integrates with the rest of Google Workspace, so you can pull elements from any other Google app used to manage your projects into it. With Calendar, you can display upcoming events on Jamboard, then tap an item on the board to start a meeting and present Jamboard to people viewing remotely. What Users Think About Google Jamboard Users like Jamboard, both the cloud and the physical versions, because they can easily collaborate with people from anywhere. It’s more affordable than Microsoft Surface Hub but still pricey for a small business. Nonetheless, it’s cheaper than flying your entire project team in for a meeting. The primary Jamboard complaint is lagginess, especially when using a physical board and remote collaborators. How to Access Google Jamboard The Jamboard software is included as part of Google Drive and Google Workspace. You can also sign up for a free account. The hardware is $4,999 for the starter electronic whiteboard kit with wall mount, plus an annual maintenance fee of $600. Google offers a special deal for educators. Make collaborating on ideas easy no matter where you are. Sign up for Jamboard. Chrome Extensions: Best for Project Managers Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers because Google has worked to make it easily compatible with most programs. Companies and individuals have created useful tools that work as an extension within Google Chrome. As a result, not only do project management software companies like Asana and Trello have extensions for Chrome that establish connectivity even when not in their app, but third-party companies sometimes create their own apps to increase the functionality of these web-based programs through the Chrome browser. What Chrome Extensions for Project Management Cost Very often Chrome apps tie the project management program to some other kind of software app such as charting tools for making Gantt charts. Thus, while the extensions themselves are always free, you may have to purchase a plan for the specific software application in order to get the Chrome extension utility you need. Chrome Extensions Best for Project Management You can find a multitude of Chrome extensions for project management. Below are some of the examples you can find to help you manage projects. Many come from third-party developers, adding project functionality to Google Workspace. Here are a few popular project management tools that offer Google Chrome extensions: Airtable Chrome Extension for Google You’ll find the Airtable Chrome extension app sends information to Airtable from other programs such as Merch Wizard, which takes advantage of Airtable’s database and spreadsheet capabilities. That’s great if you’re managing an eCommerce project. There’s also a tool to extract the schema from Airtable’s application programming interface (API) page. Asana Chrome Extension for Google Asana has a Chrome app that lets you work part of the software from any webpage. Another extension lets you view Asana in different languages. You can also find an app to copy, export, or print documents from Asana. Basecamp Google App Extension for Project Management You’ll find extensions that let you get Basecamp notifications via Chrome, add a signature to your Basecamp comments, and send Chrome bookmarks to a Basecamp project. That’s a handy feature when doing research for a task. Clarizen Project Management Chrome App for Google The Clarizen app for Chrome that lets you manage its software from any webpage. You can create new discussions, tasks, and cases from your Clarizen account. It’s a handy Chrome app for research-based projects or when recording an idea for future exploration. Google Workspace Smartbar for Project Document Management You can use the Smartbar extension to help you manage Google Docs. There aren’t as many Google Workspace extensions as one might expect for Chrome. Many third-party extensions concentrate on software program integration to Drive instead. Aside from AODocs, the Google Workspace Chrome extensions are for administrator functions. Insightly Project Management Software Extensions Two of the three Insightly extensions we found actually removed default Insightly controls and notifications from Chrome. LinkMatch, however, allows you to pull profile information from LinkedIn to your Insightly account, a handy tool for CRM and building contact lists. Monday.com Project Management Notification Extension Getting too many notifications from Monday.com? Monday.com’s Better Notifications Chrome extension lets you define phrases frequently used in notifications and reorders your notification drawer to hide or make those messages smaller so you can concentrate on the ones that are most important or unique. Todoist Project Management App for Chrome There are two Todoist Chrome extensions that enable you to create tasks straight from the browser or by forwarding a Gmail without opening a separate window for Todoist’s task management software. This is especially handy when working with a smartphone or small tablet. Wrike Google Apps Extension for Project Management We found three Chrome extensions for Wrike. One integrates with Wrike across any web-based tool. Another lets you create personal to-do lists, and the last gives you a quick view of your current tasks and time logs on Wrike. Zoho Projects Chrome Extensions Zoho’s native Chrome extension notifies you about updates, lets you take action without opening the web app, and helps you take screenshots. There are also apps for integrating the Harvest time tracker and for reordering Kanban issue boards in Zoho’s bug tracker. How to Access Chrome Extensions for Project Management Chrome extensions are always free, but some require signing up for a free or paid plan with the related software. Prices will vary. If you have a project management software and use Chrome for your web browser, visit the Chrome web store and see what enhancements it offers. Chrome Extensions for Project Time Keeping Whether you use a Google project management application or some other project management tool, tracking your time on tasks can make it easier to bill clients, determine workload, and project deadlines or request extensions. With Pomodoro timers, you can even set a timer for shifts of work and breaks to improve productivity. Chrome offers multiple apps for tracking time, many of which integrate with other project management software so you can record the time on projects or use the data for reports. What Chrome Extensions for Time Keeping Cost As with all Chrome extensions, timekeeping extensions are free to download and install but may require you to sign up for a free or paid plan on the time and attendance app to get the full range of features and versatility. Prices are unique to each software program ranging from $0 to $12 a month per employee. Best Chrome Extensions for Time Keeping You can find many popular extensions that record time using free software such as Homebase or When I Work. Below are four that also work with Google project management too: Clockify Project Time Tracking Clockify has a free app that lets you track time with a single click. By recording the activity you are doing, you can analyze and export the time to use for billing, tracking habits, or keeping an eye on your work hours. You’ll need to sign up for a free account, but it integrates with over 50 web applications, has idle detection, reminders, and a Pomodoro timer. Paid plans start at $9.99 per month. Users on the Chrome web store rate this app at 3.9 of 5 stars. Harvest Project Time and Task Management Extension While the Chrome app rates only 3.2 of 5 stars, we include Harvest’s time tracker because it can integrate with so many project management software solutions. You cannot only use it as a desktop app, but also within Chrome. It’s handy when working online with Google apps, tracking hours spent doing online research, or when recording time spent in a videoconference or online chat meeting. For full capability, you need to sign up for a paid plan that costs $12 per month per user. TimeCamp Project Timer for Google Project Management TimeCamp has one simple purpose: track and log time into your project management software. When used for your company, it makes it easier to bill clients, check attendance and on-task work done by freelancers or remote workers, and keep records on how many man hours a project actually takes. Individuals can use TimeCamp for free, but the paid versions offer extra features. These start at $5.25 a /month per user. Overall, Chrome app users give this time tracker 4.2 out of 5 stars. Toggle Button Extension for Google Chrome Toggle is another versatile time tracker and work timer that integrates with hundreds of other apps, including some of the most popular project management dashboards and Google tools. Toggl’s plans start at $9 per month per user with a 30-day free trial. Chrome users on the web store rate it 4.5 of 5 stars. How to Access Chrome Extensions for Time Keeping If you already have a timekeeping program like Homebase or When I Work, your best bet is to research the apps and extensions within the Chrome web store. Otherwise, search for “time tracking,” “timer,” or “time and attendance” in the web store. Chrome Extensions Best for Team Member Focus Project management software is all about boosting productivity, but sometimes, just having a project laid out for you isn’t enough. This is especially true when so much is a simple click away, including entertainment; it’s easy to get off task. The focus apps for Chrome offer reminders, tools, and some good old-fashioned enforcement to help you and your project team stay focused on accomplishing the tasks you need to succeed. What Chrome Extensions for Focus Cost The extensions we review below are all free to use. You may find others that link to productivity applications with more features, but for easy focus and productivity apps you can use in Chrome, these are excellent choices. Best Chrome Extensions for Focus These popular productivity apps may not integrate with other project management tools but are excellent for helping you stay on task. If you’re using Google tools within Google Workspace, why not add extensions to help your entire project team remain motivated and focused? PurposeTab Google Chrome Extension It’s easy to waste time on the internet when there’s the promise of some new entertaining distraction with every enticing link. But what if the new tabs opened to reminders of what you want to do and why? PurposeTab changes the standard new tab page on Chrome with one that includes images of your goals and a to-do/habits list. Envision your project completion, whether a closed sale or a healthier body, and track the steps you need to take. The extension has an amazing 5 of 5 stars with 45 reviews on the Chrome web store. Reminders for Project Management Reminders for Chrome lets you set one-time or repeat reminders that show up on your browser. You can set alerts about a task deadline, a client appointment, or a recurring stand-up project meeting. You can even set up a notification that will open up a specific URL such as when you have an online meeting or should be working on a document in Google Drive. There is also a task function that acts like a notification but lets you mark the task as done or put it off until later. Users rate Reminders at 3.9 out of 5 stars in the Chrome web store. Screentime for Project Time Management It’s so easy to tell yourself “I’ll just scan Facebook for five minutes” and lose a half-hour or more. Screentime controls how much time you spend on social media or entertainment sites. You specify the amount of time you want to use on the site, and once you’ve reached that limit, that’s it. You’re blocked until the next day. You can set times by days of the week and add or remove sites as needed. Users on the web store rate it at 4.3 out of 5 stars. Ultidash to Manage Task Urgency on Projects While most Chrome extension project management tools let you set priorities, very few let you set tasks by urgency and importance. One of Ultidash’s many tools lets you assign priorities according to the 4-square (Eisenhower box) style, so you can truly see your short- and long-term priorities. This Chrome extension also includes a site blocker to manage distractions, a timer, graphs to measure productivity, a site tracker that shows how you spend your web time, and even motivational greetings. With 191 reviews, it’s earned 4.4 of 5 stars on the Chrome web store. How to Access Chrome Extensions for Focus The best way to find a focus app for Chrome is to look in the productivity apps section of the Chrome web store or to search under a keyword like “focus,” “productivity,” or “prioritize.” You’ll find numerous free apps. Alternatives to Google Apps for Project Management Bottom Line Google’s apps were designed to improve productivity in an amazing number of areas and for just about any individual or business. They are great on their own to manage simple projects and tasks, and they complement external project management software by offering time-saving extensions. That said, if you manage your projects with documents, spreadsheets, and slide-creation tools, then Google Workspace is an excellent option as it includes meeting and team collaboration apps as well. Its prices run $6 to $12 per month per user, giving you cloud-based management, storage and sharing, communication and brainstorming tools, calendars, administrative and security options, and more. Go to Google Workspace and sign up for a free 14-day trial.

Holiday pay is not required, but to remain competitive, U.S. businesses voluntarily pay employees for an average of 7.6 holidays per year—typically New Year’s, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. When employees are required to work on a holiday, businesses often provide additional compensation or a floating day off instead. Holiday Pay Policy Template One thing to note is that paid holidays, like paid vacations or paid time off (PTO), aren’t required by law (but, at present, a handful of states do require paid sick leave). Paid holidays are merely a benefit that helps you hire, retain, and motivate your staff. Ultimately, your holiday pay policy and which days you provide as paid holidays is your decision. Here are two sample holiday pay policies you can download: The first policy template is most common for offices and professional environments in which the business (like a bank or consulting firm) is closed on the holiday and pays workers for those days off. It provides a list of the holidays that are paid (you can modify this). The second template is for businesses that require employees to work on holidays, as is common in retail, home services, hospitality, and restaurants. It provides sample text to support both paid and unpaid holiday policies. Template 1: Holiday Pay Policy for Businesses That Close on Holidays Template 2: Holiday Pay Policy for Businesses That Are Open on Holidays To use these templates, click the link and then make a copy to save, or cut and paste the text from these sample holiday pay policies directly into your employee handbook, adding each year’s holiday calendar dates before sharing the policy with your staff. Your small business employees will be delighted to know that you’ll pay for the time taken off on holidays. Here are five tips to help establish a holiday pay program for your team: Five Tips for Managing Your Holiday Pay Policy As a business owner, the phrase “the holidays” might bring up less than cheery thoughts. We’ve got a five-step process you can use to deal with the holidays at your business and to administer a holiday pay policy. 1. Create, Document & Share Your Holiday Policy You can use our holiday pay policy templates examples above, modifying the policy to your business work schedule and company requirements. Then, share it with your employees. We recommend you do this at least four weeks before the next holiday so they have time to plan. Consider which holidays you’ll offer as paid. For information on what’s commonly offered by small businesses, jump ahead to the sections below on most commonly paid holidays. Then, decide whether some employees will need to work those holidays. (It’s often based on seniority, e.g., your long-term employees get a paid day off, while newer employees have to work and perhaps take a floating holiday instead). You’ll also need to determine how to adjust the policy for part-timers, such as by prorating their holiday pay. In order to manage your holiday pay policy (once you determine which holidays to pay for), we recommend adding your policy to your employee handbook. Holiday Pay Policy Considerations by Worker Type Some companies provide different policies for different workers. For example, your retail employees who work in your stores may be required to work holidays so that your business can stay open on those days. Meanwhile, your office staff may not need to work on those days. And some companies, like plumbing and gas stations, provide 24/7 service, requiring workers to work on holidays. Further, if you have a lot of employees with school-aged children, you may notice that most schools observe all of the holidays we list above and many more. Therefore, you might want to consider flexible arrangements on those days even if you don’t want to give them as paid holidays. Workers who may benefit from various holiday policies include: Full-time office employees: These are the most common employees to be offered six to nine paid holidays, as you close your office in observance of those holiday dates. Full-time field or service employees: These employees may be offered paid holidays to allow them to spend time with family, although some may need flex holidays instead. Retail and restaurant employees: Depending on work schedules, consider giving full-time employees the day off while having part-time employees fill in or take flex time. Part-time employees: Part-time employees often receive a prorated amount of holiday pay; some businesses don’t offer holiday pay to part-timers. Freelance employees: Most small businesses don’t pay freelance workers for holiday pay, but it’s a perk you can offer, especially if your freelancer works full-time. 2. Track Time-off Requests & Holiday Pay Next, you’ll need some way to keep track of who’s scheduled to work on a holiday, what holidays you pay for, and who is to be paid on which dates. Make sure you’re properly tracking vacation time, holidays, and paid time off as well. One in three companies doesn’t and may be subject to large fines from the Department of Labor (DOL) or state agencies. In fact, we recommend using software to manage your holiday pay policy while staying in compliance with federal and state labor laws. HR software can not only track paid holidays, but also store your holiday pay policy document and the list of paid holidays online electronically, giving employees a mobile app to view this information themselves. That prevents employees from asking the same questions over and over, e.g., “When is our next holiday?” and “Will I have to work that day?” Below are four examples of different kinds of small business software tools you can use to manage your holiday policies, holiday work schedules, and holiday pay if you choose to offer it. Scheduling Software For scheduling hourly staff to work over the holidays, consider using employee scheduling software like , which costs just a few dollars per employee, per month. It can schedule your team, track holidays, and store your holiday policy online. In fact, When I Work offers some cool extras, like the ability to post an open shift that interested employees can choose to work, and shift swapping—giving your employees more control of their own work schedule over the holidays. When I Work is free for businesses with up to 75 workers in one location, and it tracks time worked too, making payroll processing easier. Timekeeping Software If you need time and attendance tracked for hourly staff (and overtime purposes) and also want to offer and manage paid time off, consider using a time and attendance app . It lets you preprogram paid holidays into the work schedule and passes employee time-worked data to your payroll software. You can also use it to manage paid time off (PTO) and other policies online as well as communicate with your team through an app. Payroll Software Payroll software typically lets you identify paid holidays in advance and automatically provides the correct holiday pay to both full- and part-time staff based on your holiday pay policy. Affordable small business payroll software like automatically calculates employee pay based on hourly rates and salaries, shift differentials, and overtime. It also pays and files your payroll taxes for you without you having to lift a finger. Try it free for 30 days. HRIS Software Human resource information system (HRIS) software (also called HR software) makes it easy to track holiday pay, personal leave, and more—all online and with many automated features. It’s often an upgrade from basic payroll software. For example, ’ HR and payroll platform include timekeeping, policy document storage, an employee handbook, and an employee self-service portal, all in one package. When you’re ready to offer benefits or a 401(k), HRIS software can do that too. This kind of software runs $6 to $12 a month and up, per employee. Plus, it often charges a monthly service fee of about $40 per month. 3. Remind Employees About Holiday Schedules in Advance It’s not a bad idea to send out a reminder one to two weeks prior to a paid holiday (or unpaid). Otherwise, your employees might assume that they have the day off, especially if they’re new to the workforce. Request that employees let you know if they need time off or have issues working their scheduled shifts during the holiday season. Early reminders prepare your salaried staff to plan upcoming work activities. For hourly team members, it may alert them that their schedule may change. In any case, it gives your employees a heads-up so they can clarify any holiday schedule or pay concerns beforehand. Nothing’s worse than having to tell your restaurant worker that they don’t have the Friday after Thanksgiving off when they’ve already planned to visit their parents out of state. 4. Consider Hiring Temporary Employees or Don’t Open If you run a restaurant and no one wants to work on Christmas Day, should you close or try to find temporary staff? Think of the costs and benefits of having the doors shuttered for the holiday versus staying open. Temps might be costly, but so might losing your team members if they start looking for other jobs that provide holidays off. Look at the big picture, including last year’s data on what staying open on key holidays did for you revenue-wise. If you broke even or lost revenue that day, investing in a day off for employees may be a better way to go, whether you provide that time off as paid or not. 5. Remind Yourself That It’s the Holidays Take a deep breath; the holidays in the U.S. are few and far between, and you can be prepared for the crazy Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holiday flurry if you plan properly. Remind yourself that holidays are important to people. They want (and need) to spend time with family and friends. In fact, employees from other backgrounds may be fine working on Christmas but prefer Yom Kippur or Ramadan off instead. Holidays provide a chance to build your company culture by honoring something important. And who wants to have to replace a steady, well-trained employee over the holidays in this tight labor market? Here are some of the most common holidays across all U.S. businesses: Most Commonly Paid U.S. Holidays Data from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows how many U.S. employers provide holidays for the six most common public holidays, which may not always be paid days off. The six most common days are: New Year’s Day (January 1): 95% Memorial Day (third Monday in May): 94% Independence Day (July 4): 76% Labor Day (first Monday in September): 95% Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November): 97% Christmas Day (December 25): 97% Many employers add either the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, making these seven or eight holidays the ones most commonly provided to employees or compensated using holiday pay. Because most of these holidays are clustered in the summer and early winter, adding paid holidays in the spring and fall can help even out seasonal breaks and keep your employee morale and productivity up. Here are some additional holidays that many small businesses observe: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January) Presidents Day (third Monday in February) Columbus Day (second Monday in October) Veterans Day (November 11) For more about paid time off (PTO) as a whole and how to provide it, use our PTO guide, which covers vacation, sick leave, holidays, bereavement, and more. In addition, some companies provide a different set of paid holidays to salaried workers versus hourly workers or to part-timers who don’t work a full-time or regular schedule. It’s also not a bad idea to be aware of PTO laws. Here’s a quick summary: Federal, State, PTO & Holiday Pay Laws You do not need to provide any paid or unpaid holidays for your employees, either per state or federal law. You also do not need to provide vacation time (although you may need to provide paid sick leave if your business is located in certain cities or states, such as California or Oregon). Even if not required, providing paid holidays and vacation time can be an important component of recruiting and retaining great employees. In addition, providing paid time off can increase morale and improve productivity. That helps you hire top talent and prevents them from leaving your business in order to get more time with their family. We recommend as free scheduling software to small businesses that can help you manage your holiday work schedules. When I Work allows you to build the schedule and then ask employees to sign up for shifts. It also allows shift swapping, which makes it easy for managers and employees to ensure shifts are covered. Cost to Implement a Holiday Pay Policy There are three primary costs that go into setting up and implementing a holiday pay policy. The first is the cost of developing, storing, and providing training on the holiday pay policy itself. The second is the cost to administer it. But the most costly aspect of holiday pay is that you are paying workers their standard wages on days they don’t actually work. Policy set up: It may take you a few hours per year to document, update, and share information on your holiday pay policy. Use our policy template to get started. Policy administration: You may need software to keep track of your employee schedules and paid holidays. This can run from free to a few dollars per employee, per month and up. Wages: To determine the cost of your holiday pay policy, multiply the number of workers you have by the number of holidays you pay, and then by the average worker earnings per day. For example, let’s say your average employee works an eight-hour day making $15 per hour. That’s $120 per day ($15 x 8 hours per day). If you have 10 workers and give them seven paid holidays a year, it will cost you $8,400 in payroll costs (holiday pay wages). Example: 10 workers x 7 days x $120 per day = $8,400 Rather than thinking of holiday pay in terms of costs, however, consider it an investment in your business. In fact, you’ll likely reduce your recruiting and hiring costs by thousands of dollars a year as you’ll be able to attract and retain workers who want paid holidays. Next to health benefits, paid time off is the most valued work perk that employees desire. If you want to offer additional perks besides holiday pay, check out . This small business software automates your payroll, lets you offer pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation insurance, and even affordable 401(k) and health insurance plans for your employees—all with flexible pricing to fit your needs. Pros & Cons of Providing Holiday Pay HR professionals will tell you that offering holiday pay to workers is going to save you money in the long run by reducing your turnover. Nonetheless, if you talk to business owners, you’ll find there are pros and cons worth mentioning. Pros of Offering Holiday Pay Here are the pros and primary benefits to your business of providing holiday pay to employees: Improved employee morale: Your employees won’t have to choose between spending time with their family or getting paid. They’ll get both. Reduced turnover: Your employees won’t be tempted to change employers to one that pays for holidays. It’s a competitive advantage you’ll have over other employers. Reduced absenteeism: Your employees are less likely to call in “sick” on a holiday, or to take a sick day before or after the holiday since they’ll be paid to take the holiday. Cons of Offering Holiday Pay The downsides of paying employees for holidays are less compelling and include: Costly: You have to determine, in advance, your payroll costs of providing paid holidays similar to any other PTO benefit you provide, like vacation pay. Schedule conflicts: You may need employees to work on holidays, and thus will need to offer a floating holiday or another means to make it fair to those employees, such as providing them a bonus for working on a holiday. Post-holiday absenteeism: Some employees take advantage of paid holidays and call in sick the day before or after in order to give themselves an extended vacation. Can’t differentiate: If you offer paid holidays to some, you must offer it to all workers in similar jobs and categories. You can’t discriminate against any legally protected classes, such as only offering paid holidays based on religion or marital status. How Holiday Pay Works Paying employees for a holiday works exactly the same as paying the employee as if they worked that day. Whatever number of hours they would have worked on that day (such as an eight-hour workday) is paid for that holiday date during that pay period. Of course, it’s easier if you set holiday dates up in advance within your payroll software, so that you don’t have to manually input the number of hours and pay rate for each employee each holiday. Your payroll software will typically have a category to track holiday pay as a separate paid time-off category. And your HR software can also be used to reinforce rules such as paying part-time employees an average number of hours or checking to see that the employee worked the day prior to a holiday if your holiday pay policy requires that. Alternatives to Holiday Pay Smaller companies that don’t feel they can afford to pay employees for all paid holidays might consider options, such as floating holidays, paid time off, or flexible scheduling. Another alternative is to provide the day off, but don’t pay for that day off—that gives your employees the time off they need, even if they don’t get paid while they’re taking that time away from work. Floating Holiday In lieu of standard paid holidays, you may wish to allow employees to take off days that are meaningful to them. For example, you may have non-Christian employees who don’t celebrate Christmas and would prefer to celebrate their own religious or family holidays instead. Here’s how to set up a floating holiday policy. Paid Time Off Many companies provide paid time off for vacation and family events. Like floating holidays, this gives employees the option to schedule multiple days at one time, perhaps allowing them to travel to see family for the holidays. Here’s how to set up a standard PTO policy. Unlimited Paid Time Off Some startups are experimenting with unlimited PTO as a way to attract and retain employees. They don’t, in fact, keep track of specific days that employees take off—instead, they provide employees with work expectations and a salary. There are some best practices on offering unlimited PTO, and, due to labor laws, this option only works for exempt employees. Flexible Schedule You may want to let employees flex their schedules around holidays based on who wants to work and who doesn’t. Or, perhaps employees can share shifts so that each person can spend at least a few hours that day with their family if they are required to work on a holiday. For example, one retail worker could take just the morning shift, while another picks up the afternoon shift. Unpaid Holiday Since paid holidays aren’t required by any federal, state, or local law, some employers don’t offer them. For example, if they close their business on those days, employees have the day off, unpaid. And some service businesses allow workers to sign up for those holidays they need to take off unpaid so that the work schedule (such as on-call) remains covered. Paid Holidays That Are Worked Some service providers and retail or food service establishments that must remain open on holidays incent their employees for taking those holiday shifts with differential pay. It could be a $100 holiday bonus for working that holiday, or it could be double time, meaning the employee receives twice their normal pay for all hours worked on that holiday. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Holiday Pay Here we include the most frequently asked questions about holiday pay. Is holiday pay mandated by any legislation? No. Some states mandate sick pay, and other states require short-term disability benefits to be provided. However, no federal, state or local laws require an employer to provide paid holidays (or even to allow employees to take those holiday days off, unpaid). However, if you’re in a union environment that specifies paid holidays, or your business states in its employee handbook, offer letter, or any policy that specific holidays are to be paid, then you must abide by that. What is the holiday pay rate? Typically, employers who provide holiday pay for days not worked pay the workers the same rate they would have received if the employees had worked that day. For workers who work on a holiday, you may want to consider paying a premium, such as a bonus or time and a half. (Keep in mind that no holiday pay rates or offerings are mandated by law. It’s always an optional benefit an employer can choose to provide or not—unless a union contract states otherwise.) Can unused holiday pay be carried over to the next year? It’s uncommon for holiday pay to be carried over from one year to the next. If an employee can’t use their holiday pay (because they work that day, for instance), you can either pay them holiday pay on top of their pay for that day (double time) or you can offer them a floating holiday instead, with the condition that they use it within a given time frame, such as that month or prior to year-end. What if an employee is sick or on leave during the holiday? Some businesses only pay holiday pay for those employees who work their scheduled business days prior to and after the holiday. That prevents employees from turning a holiday into a vacation and prevents you from having no-shows after a long holiday weekend. Employees on paid leave are generally paid the holiday as if they were working, while those on unpaid leave are not. In addition, some employees schedule their PTO around a holiday. In that case, for instance, they should still be paid the holiday as a holiday and the days before and after the holiday as PTO. However, before you add restrictions to your holiday pay policy, check the sick leave laws in your state to ensure you don’t violate any local leave laws. Should businesses with hourly employees pay out holiday pay? Businesses with hourly employees don’t always provide paid holidays or paid vacations—but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. If your retail store or cafe offers paid holidays or vacation, you can attract top talent for open positions and reduce the turnover of existing staff. Don’t believe that providing a day off or a paid day off might benefit your business? It’s been proven to increase employee engagement. You might also decide to host a holiday party instead. Should businesses pay out vacation time? In addition to paid holidays, it’s worth mentioning that having two weeks (10 business days, or 80 hours) of paid vacation time is standard in most salaried roles. That standard is also worth considering for hourly workers if you want to attract and retain a higher level of talent. What should my holiday policy look like if my business doesn’t close on holidays? If you own a restaurant, cafe, or small theater business, there are any number of reasons why you might not close on a “usual” holiday and remain open for business. If this is the case, you will want to instead establish a holiday pay policy around the following: Which holidays your business is open and what the hours and shifts will be on those days Whether you will pay a bonus or pay double time for people who work those days Then, you will want to establish a holiday pay policy and holiday work policy. Be sure your employees receive a copy. Bottom Line A holiday pay policy may feel stressful to a cash-strapped small business owner. But, consider the benefits of it for your employees and employer brand. Having a few paid holidays, or paying people extra to work on a traditional holiday, can help keep your employees happy. That reduces your overall employment costs and helps retain those employees who keep your doors open.

Don’t use spreadsheets to get organized in 2020. Project management software like Airtable and monday.com combine project management and database technology with spreadsheet simplicity—plus adds Kanban boards, chats, document control, and more. Airtable offers more creation features, while monday.com rocks automating tasks. They’re similar in pricing and run $0–$80 per user, per month. When to Use Airtable Airtable is best for firms like advertising or video production companies that manage creative deliverables. It offers planning tools and integrations especially suited for marketing and social media project planning and execution, which can save you time and money. Its Blocks feature has powerful collaboration tools for designing web pages, documents, organization charts, and more. When to Use monday.com monday.com is an all-around internal project management tool that’s suitable for just about any industry due to its customizability. With a bright, intuitive interface and excellent automation features, it’s a terrific choice for companies that communicate heavily outside the office, such as in service or retail industries, or for IT and small manufacturing companies. Zoho Projects: A Better Alternative for Regulated Industries If your company is in a highly regulated industry, such as pharmaceuticals or defense contracting, consider Zoho Projects. While not as easy to use as monday.com or Airtable, Zoho Projects offers features like a bugs-and-issues tracker, the ability to post common documents outside a task, and e-signature functions to help you stay on top of authorizations and notifications. Zoho’s pricing runs from free to $32 per user, per month and offers a stronger suite of business and document editing tools. Its free plan has fewer features and allows up to five users. Airtable vs monday.com at a Glance How We Evaluated monday.com vs Airtable Companies needing flexible project management software that won’t add to their workload will enjoy either Airtable or monday.com. Both offer customizable project management templates and strong collaboration tools to facilitate communication with remote employees, customers, and freelancers. Either tool will grow with your business, making them a good choice for small businesses starting out or established companies moving forward. Based on what small businesses need to manage their projects, we compared: Price: We evaluated monday.com vs Airtable (price per user) for plans with similar features and to give the best apples-to-apples comparison. Ease of setup and use: We compared monday.com vs Airtable in terms of how easy each is for setting up projects, making changes, and collaborating. Project methodologies supported: We considered how each project management tool supports different methodologies (for example, Agile) and planning (for example, Gantt charts). Collaboration: We compared monday.com vs Airtable on their available collaboration tools, including those that simplify communication, document sharing, team feedback, and commenting. Reports: We compared Airtable vs monday.com on how well they provide visual data for project status, standard reports, customization options, and data exports. Integrations: Airtable and monday.com integrate with different kinds of software; they also have apps and API or sync with Google and Microsoft. Resources and support: We compared monday.com vs Airtable on support tool offerings, templates, user communities, and customer service options. Other: Both Airtable and monday.com have unique features that may save your organization time or improve efficiency in ways far beyond project management. Based on ease of use, we find monday.com is the best all-around software for project management because it offers robust task workflow, numerous industry-and function-specific templates, and the ability to add up to 20 custom data fields to support unique project needs. Airtable vs monday.com: Pricing & Features monday.com and Airtable compare well when it comes to the value you get for the price. However, because monday.com prices in groups of five users, it becomes significantly cheaper the closer you get to maxing out each pricing tier. Unlike monday.com, Airtable offers a free plan with limited features and 2GB of storage. Both give you excellent planning and collaboration tools that work for Agile methodologies as well as good old-fashioned lists. Commenting tools make it easy to communicate and keep notes within the projects to save confusion and searching for information later. Airtable Pricing & Features Airtable costs between $0 and $20 per user, per month. The Free plan, while not as powerful as the paid plans, nonetheless has enough features for any team needing basic project management tools. However, you will need a paid plan for its most powerful features, such as Blocks, custom-branded forms, and restricted shares. View-only access is free for your casual users and is a nice feature when working with customers or a senior manager who simply needs to keep abreast of a project’s status. There is an Enterprise plan with unlimited users and more extensive features and support. Airtable Plans by Price & Features Here are some of Airtable’s most notable features and how they compare to monday.com: Where Airtable Beats monday.com: Social Connectivity While both monday.com and Airtable offer social media templates, Airtable takes social planning to the next level with social connectivity. You can plan out your campaigns fully on Airtable, then use the integration features to post on Facebook or LinkedIn. It also works with Twitter to archive posts from people you follow, a great tool for tracking trends or planning retweets. Airtable’s Standout: Blocks Designers and number crunchers will love Airtable’s Blocks function. You can use it to add maps that also link to interactive visuals of the area, an excellent tool for real estate companies. The page designer is great for creating web pages, invoices, or other documents. The 3D modeler can let you design a room or a model. There are countdown clocks, video chat, and analytical tools. It’s truly a powerful feature, and one monday.com does not offer. Airtable Project Management Tools Like monday.com, Airtable offers a wide variety of pre-made templates, and its Airtable University has user-made examples, with templates you can download and make your own. (monday.com has similar downloadable user-created templates.) Airtable supports calendar and Kanban views, as well as list views. It also has a gallery view that you can modify and publish to your website to let everyone know about your project initiatives. When you click on a task, you can see the information, status, and comments. Airtable shows images in a thumbnail view and uses them in gallery view to provide a more attractive layout. It lets you link projects so that you can share common information, such as a graphic or maps of a particular location. It’s an excellent way of tracking elements, contacts, or other resources that span more than one project, and it also saves time by not having to recreate the same information in a separate task. Airtable Charts & Reports The Blocks function is Airtable’s version of interactive charts for tracking progress and analyzing data. It even offers pivot tables for drilling down on the information you need. Airtable gives you a calendar view and records search. You can create Gantt charts as well as bar, line, and scatter charts. If you need an organization chart, Airtable offers that too. Airtable Mobile App The mobile app lets you organize projects, store files, collaborate, and do the basic project management functions from a smartphone. Airtable’s mobile app works for Android and iOS, although it seems to work better on iOS. Primary complaints on the Android app include it freezing and crashing. Also, the view options are limited. Airtable Integrations Airtable integrates with over 30 popular third-party apps, exceeding monday.com's total integrations. These include integrations with other marketing project management tools like Asana and Basecamp, file management tools like Box, Evernote, and Google Drive, event tools, and forms. In addition to the already mentioned social media, it integrates with Tumblr and YouTube. If you need an integration Airtable does not provide, you can use its API to create one. Airtable’s Plans for 2020 & Beyond We did not find a posted roadmap of future upgrades or tool additions for Airtable. A look at the Announcements thread in the community forum shows they do update features a few times each year and take user suggestions for new tools and functionalities. monday.com Pricing & Features The plan prices for monday.com are set in groups of five users, with four guests counting as a single user. This results in a wide cost difference per user. For example, a basic plan costs $39 per month, meaning it costs $39 per month for a single user, but only $9.80 per user, per month if you have five users. The closer you are to the top of a tier, the more cost-effective it is. Nonprofits and educational institutions can request discounts on their plans. Here’s what you get at each plan level: monday.com Pricing Tiers for 1 to 5 Users Below are the most notable task management features of monday.com and how they compare to Airtable: Where monday.com Beats Airtable: Automations Project management software should save you time, and monday.com does this by offering an extensive list of templates and task automations. You can program automatic notifications, task status changes, and more. This feature can save hours of busywork and prevent you from forgetting small but important administrative tasks. monday.com intends to capitalize on this strength with more customizable automations in 2020. In contrast, Airtable has some automations, but nothing close to the customizability and range offered by monday.com. monday.com’s Standout: In-app Walk-throughs If you’ve ever watched a video on how to do a task and still not been able to do it within the program, you understand the importance of software support. While monday.com offers the standard help features, it also has walk-throughs for many on-screen tasks. When you click on the help button in the application, monday.com leads you step-by-step, highlighting the buttons and tabs and offering simple instructions on what to input. It’s like having an online coach. monday.com Project Management Tools monday.com offers standard project management tools in a simple and flexible format. You can start with a customizable template or build your own. monday.com has 20 data fields you can modify for specific projects and task information you need to track. The chat functions within a task work like any common chat, allowing you to attach documents and images. You can set up boards (e.g., Kanban view), timelines with dependencies (e.g., Gantt chart), create calendars, and more. Like Airtable, it has a map function for locations. It also has a powerful but easy-to-use forms function for creating tasks from client input. And, with automations, you can automatically send a thank-you note and redirect the customer to your website after a form is completed. You cannot create documents within the software, like you can with Airtable Blocks, but you can load files, pin them, and assign attachments, such as a form or instructions, to multiple tasks. monday.com Charts & Reports monday.com lets you visualize your project data in pie, bar, and line charts. You can customize charts to track progress or team member workloads. monday.com does not have standardized or shareable reports, but you can download information and charts as images, CSV, or SVG files to create your own project analytics. monday.com Mobile App monday.com has a mobile app for iOS and Android. While it handles the basic needs of project management, it’s not as flexible or function-rich as the desktop version. Also, users found they had problems with loading and onboarding. monday.com Integrations monday.com has 20 applications (fewer than Airtable). It offers apps for file management (Dropbox), email (Gmail), collaboration tools (Slack), and other project management software (Todoist, Basecamp). Unlike Airtable, it also integrates with Salesforce and Shopify, both popular programs for sales and ecommerce. If you need an integration it does not have, you can program it with its API. monday.com Plans for 2020 & Beyond monday.com intends to capitalize on its strength by adding more customizable automations in 2020. It intends to build even more standard software integrations for finance, marketing, design, and customer-facing industries. It also will focus on improving the mobile apps. Airtable vs monday.com: Ease of Use Both Airtable and monday.com are easy to use with templates, a simple but powerful user interface, and plenty of ways to learn the software. Between the two, monday.com is the easiest to set up and use, especially compared to Airtable’s more unique and complex functions. Airtable Ease of Use If you’re familiar with the versatility of Excel, you’ll find Airtable easy to get started with. The data entry is similar. The advanced features, like Blocks, will take more time to learn. One nice feature is Airtable University, which gives you practical examples of the software at work by companies across a variety of industries. monday.com Ease of Use monday.com is built with ease of use in mind. The setup is simple, data fields are easy to add and see right on the task list, and the color-coding is perfect for calling attention to important pieces of information. It’s not hard to set up automations and let them take the organizational busywork off your plate. The user interface is bright, fresh, and intuitive, and the help features are first rate. Airtable vs monday.com: Customer Service One should expect any project management software to have clear instructions, examples, and places to seek help and ideas. Neither Airtable nor monday.com disappoints in these areas. It’s another reason both are such popular project management platforms. Airtable Customer Service Airtable’s help center offers guides and a searchable database with written and video instructions. You can also sign up for free live webinars or use the online contact form for answers to specific questions and help. There’s an active and monitored community forum. In sum, all the usual help features are handled very well. monday.com Customer Service monday.com has excellent help options. You get 24/7 phone and email support no matter what plan you have, and the Enterprise Plan provides a dedicated customer success manager to assist you beyond simple help desk issues. In addition to the easy-to-follow, in-app tutorials, there are regular webinars and a community forum. You can also hire monday.com team members for consulting, special training, and custom integrations. Airtable vs monday.com: Customer Reviews Users rate both monday.com and Airtable highly and praise the user-friendly interfaces and features. monday.com users are especially loyal, many having remained with the product since its launch as dapulse. User review sites give both project management tools around 4.5 out of 5 stars. The mobile apps for both project management tools, however, are not as highly favored. Airtable Customer Reviews Readers who reviewed Airtable enjoyed the desktop version. They said the options and customizations available allowed them to fit the project to their needs. The forms function was great for collaborating with customers, and the spreadsheet-style interface was popular among those who like Excel. However, even those Android users who love the desktop version found the mobile app disappointing. monday.com Customer Reviews Monday.com software reviews all point to enthusiastic, loyal users. People raved about monday.com’s ease of use, templates, and flexibility. Companies whose number of users was on the low end of the pricing plan complained about price, however. Mobile users found it hard to use and sparse on the features that make monday.com so great. Bottom Line Small businesses with big project needs will find either Airtable or monday.com a great asset to their project management and organization. Both are easy to use and offer some excellent project management tools. They’re both affordable, have numerous charts you can use to get organized, and a ton of software integrations. However, for saving time and keeping organized on just about any kind of project, we recommend monday.com because of its customizable automations, built-in tutorials and guides, and cost-effectiveness when your number of users is on the higher end of the pricing tier. It’s also visually engaging and almost “fun” to use. Go to monday.com to sign up for your two-week free trial.

A restaurant manager job description outlines the duties and responsibilities of a restaurant manager’s role. Restaurant managers schedule workers, ensure excellent food quality, provide friendly customer service, and keep food and labor costs under control. A restaurant manager job description template makes it easy to modify restaurant manager job duties to your specific restaurant. If you’re looking to hire a restaurant manager, consider software that posts jobs and tracks applicants. offers a free tool for businesses with one location like a restaurant. It helps you find a restaurant manager faster and onboards them once they accept your job offer. From there, Homebase makes it easier for your restaurant manager to schedule and manage staff. Try Homebase for free. How a Restaurant Manager Job Description Template Works Our restaurant manager job description template serves as a starting point for you to document what you want in a restaurant manager in terms of skills, experience, and education. It also describes the functions of the job, such as building shift schedules, maintaining the facility, and ordering food, beverages, and smallwares from suppliers. The restaurant manager job description then becomes the foundation for you to advertise the job when you’re ready to hire a new restaurant manager as well as to describe what the restaurant manager job is all about formally. A well-written restaurant manager job description can also reduce your risk of discrimination or wrongful termination claims should the person you hire not work out. Here’s a restaurant manager job description template you can download and customize: Restaurant Manager Job Description Template Features A restaurant manager job description should include specific information about your foodservice establishment and the job duties that need to be carried out. It will typically include sections typical to any employee job description with the specific responsibilities focused on people, food and labor costs, safety, and customer service—to name a few. Download our free restaurant manager job description template. Here are the sections to include in your restaurant manager job description that explain the duties and responsibilities of a restaurant manager. Our Restaurant It’s often helpful, primarily when recruiting, to describe your business and what makes it unique. You might want to include information on the kind of food you serve, the type of customer service you provide, or how the business was founded. This information helps applicants understand your business better and helps new managers support your business model. Here’s an example: Our pizza restaurant is top-rated each year for its great food and fun atmosphere. We strive to use only high-quality ingredients and live by the motto, “the customer comes first.” We treat our employees like family, ensuring that if they’re having a great day, our customers will too.   Restaurant Manager Job Duties This is the section of the restaurant manager job description template that tells your new hire or applicant what is expected of them in the job. It speaks to the myriad of responsibilities that a restaurant manager has, from keeping employees happy to making sure food is delivered to the table. Restaurant managers oversee multiple people relationships: employees they hire, vendors they buy from, and customers who dine. They also are the person who solves problems, such as being out of food items, the register jamming, or needing to call a plumber. Here are the duties to consider including and customizing in your restaurant manager job description: Customer service: Must interact with the general public in a way that inspires them to recommend our eatery to their friends. That includes providing a warm welcome, asking about their dining experience, and showing interest in their concerns. Excellent customer service must extend to internal customers (employees) and suppliers (vendors) also. Leadership & supervision: Must set the tone in terms of employee safety, customer service, food quality, organization, and follow-through. Works to inspire employees to do their best through onboarding, training, coaching, and supportive feedback. Cost control: Oversees food ordering, supplies, maintenance, and labor costs to ensure that the restaurant remains profitable—in line with annual revenue and profit goals. Food safety: Abides by food safety requirements and ensures that others do so by monitoring first-in, first-out (FIFO) inventory and visually inspecting food prep and delivery activities. Detail orientation: Manages the intricate details of scheduling, shift swaps, new hire paperwork, product inventory, cleaning schedules, and unannounced health inspections. Accounting: Ensures adequate cash in registers and point-of-sale (POS) systems, runs daily reports, updates food and labor cost data, and makes bank deposits each day by a specific time.   Education A college education may not be required of your restaurant manager unless, for instance, they’ll also serve as the culinary expert, creating new menu items, or as a marketing expert, using social media to grow your business. Because managing a restaurant requires that you know and have done almost all the functions within the business, you may not want to restrict your candidates to college graduates. Here’s an example of what you might consider in the educational requirements section: A high school education or GED is required. A two- or four-year degree in management, food service, culinary or business (or any related discipline) is a plus.   Experience People management and foodservice experience are the most sought-after kinds of experience for which you’ll want to look. You want someone who understands the importance of customer service and who will be liked by diners as well as your staff. Someone who comes up through the ranks of a restaurant operation you respect might be your best option. Consider a simple statement of restaurant experience requirements (tailored to your operation): Around five to 10 years of experience in the food and beverage industry is required as is a similar number of years of experience managing employee, vendor, and customer relationships. Family dining restaurant management experience is preferred. Bilingual skills are a plus.   Interpersonal Skills Just as people-management experience is essential, so are other interpersonal skills. Most of what a manager does is lead people. Managers get work done through others—the kitchen staff, the wait staff, the bar staff, and the hosts or hostesses. Therefore, relationship and leadership skills are crucial. Your restaurant manager needs to be able to notice and address people nuances like a customer who has been waiting too long for a beverage refill or an overwhelmed waitress. Consider a statement like the one below in your restaurant manager job description: The restaurant manager will be friendly, approachable, and open to ideas from customers, suppliers and staff. They will prioritize customer service and quality while using leadership skills to motivate and support both existing and new employees. Excellent listening skills are a must as is attention to detail, smart decision-making skills, organizational skills, and coaching abilities.   Minimum Required Skills & Abilities To protect yourself from possible legal action or discrimination, it’s best to describe the kinds of physical skills you need in your restaurant manager job role. Some examples are provided below, along with a general statement about the nature of the business environment. Consider having a statement and list like this to clarify physical job requirements: Our restaurant is busy, fast-paced, and may require long hours. The minimum required skills include: The ability to read and speak English to interact with employees, vendors, and clients. The strength to stand and walk for up to 12 hours a day to assist customers and employees with all restaurant duties— from helping to unload the delivery truck to serving customers during rush hour. The ability to lift boxes up to 50 pounds, including cases of frozen food, wine, and other heavy items like chairs and tables. The ability to tolerate temperature extremes and fluctuations— both hot like in the kitchen or on the outdoor patio) and cold like the walk-in freezer throughout each day. The examples described in the restaurant manager job description template are meant to be customized for your business. They should provide examples and specifics on your restaurant management job duties—allowing the job description to cement the understanding you and your manager have about your expectations. Ways to Use Restaurant Manager Job Description Templates A restaurant manager job description template is ideal for any business that prepares and serves food to customers. It is a tool for communication that can jump-start your hiring process by getting clear on what you want a manager to do. It clarifies expectations—even if the person managing your restaurant is a family member—by spelling out the specific duties required. Here are examples of businesses that will benefit from using a restaurant manager job description template: A small restaurant hiring its first manager: Business owners benefit by starting with a template that helps them think through precisely what they want their new restaurant manager to do before they advertise the position on a job posting site. A growing establishment: You may need more than one manager—perhaps for a new location, increase in existing business, or to cover a different shift. The restaurant manager job description can be customized for day and evening shifts, for example. An existing business wanting to clarify the restaurant manager job role: Some businesses start without a formal job description only to find that people interpret the job differently. A restaurant manager job description gets everyone on the same page. Foodservice businesses wanting to promote an employee: Your bartender may seek to be promoted. The job description will help you convey what’s required. Other businesses similar to restaurants: For example, a catering company may find the requirements spelled out in the restaurant manager job description template are identical to what they want their catering manager to do. Smaller foodservice businesses: Even a snow-cone kiosk or a food truck may need someone to manage operations. Documenting what’s required to handle your food and beverage business on a job description will reduce employee misunderstandings. The restaurant manager job description template helps you when hiring and managing restaurant managers—by making clear what the job entails. Some eateries may use a different job title, such as “cafeteria manager,” “food truck manager,” or “cafe manager”—the restaurant manager job description template can work as a starter document for those job roles too. If you’re looking to hire a restaurant manager, you may want to use software that posts jobs online and tracks restaurant manager applications. offers a free forever version for businesses with only one physical location. It posts jobs, keeping track of applicants and interviews until you find the right person. From there, it can schedule all of your employees by shift and track time worked. Try Homebase for free. Restaurant Manager Job Description Document Costs There’s no cost to use our free restaurant manager job description template. Software like offers free templates too. Therefore, your template costs are minimal, including the time you spend customizing the job description and how you store it. Some businesses prefer to have all their hiring documents reviewed and approved by a human resources (HR) expert or labor law attorney at an extra cost. Here are costs you might pay to finalize your restaurant manager job description: Template: Using our template is free. However, if you sign up for a site like HR.com or SHRM.org, you’ll pay an annual membership fee of a few hundred dollars per year to get access to job description templates of all kinds. Consulting: If you outsource your HR needs, you might pay a few hundred dollars to have your restaurant manager job description modified for your business and location. Some legal services will review your documents for as low as $39 each. Storage: You’ll want to keep your job descriptions for at least two years as part of your hiring documents— these days most businesses use an online service for HR or payroll (most offer online file storage). But a locked filing cabinet may cost less than $100. It doesn’t cost much to develop and maintain a job description. Some think of it as a cost-avoidance tool more than an expense. That’s because a restaurant manager job description will help you make a better hiring choice. That’s likely to result in you onboarding a restaurant manager who can do the job well from day one. It can also prevent you from making a costly hiring mistake. Restaurant Manager Job Description Template Providers You’ll find experts in HR, payroll, and restaurants that provide job description templates for restaurant managers and their staff. Also, you can often “borrow” samples from neighboring restaurants or online job boards. Then, tailor them to your restaurant. Here are some great places to find restaurant manager job description templates and more. 1. Time & Attendance Providers Because many timekeeping software vendors support the shift scheduling needs of restaurants, they may provide job description templates you can start with. Two of the top scheduling and attendance software, and , both offer templates as well as free job posting and applicant tracking to help you fill open positions for restaurant managers and staff. 2. HR Software Vendors Many of the best HR software platforms for small business offer job description templates. is an example of an affordable HR system for small businesses that includes an HR library full of prebuilt templates plus job offer letters and an employee handbook. All can be customized for your restaurant. 3. Online Job Boards Free job boards like and paid job advertising sites like offer hundreds of downloadable templates to subscribers. Once you find a restaurant manager job description template that you like, you can download and modify it to suit your exact business needs. Check out this list of free job posting sites. 4. Industry Websites Online industry groups, like the , are designed to support restaurant owners and their operations. You’ll find restaurant-specific job descriptions like food and beverage manager, kitchen manager, and dining room manager. Furthermore, an industry website connects you with like-minded business owners. More experienced restaurateurs may help you refine exactly what to include in your restaurant manager job description. Restaurant Manager Job Description Template Pros & Cons Starting from a template nearly always saves time as you don’t have to think of what to include in your restaurant manager job description from scratch. However, each restaurant operation is different. For instance, a fine dining establishment that serves cocktails is managed much differently than a barbeque sandwich shop in a strip mall. Thus, you’ll need to do some customization. Pros of a Restaurant Manager Job Description Template Here’s the upside of starting with a template: It’s faster: By starting with a template, you don’t need to think about how to format your job description. Instead, you need to download and edit it. That’s a time saver. It’s more likely to be complete: It’s easy to miss something when you try to think of all the things a manager might do. A template helps you consider all aspects of the restaurant manager’s job, such as training employees, food safety, and making bank deposits. It’s objective: Using a template helps you avoid disputes with your existing restaurant manager about what’s expected in a restaurant management role. Cons of the Restaurant Manager Job Description Template On the downside, here are some negative considerations: It’s not your style: Whenever you use a template, you may find that it doesn’t match how you would write it exactly. For example, you may want to include your logo or add a section to describe your organization's culture, work style, or promotional opportunities. It may not be legal: If you’re ever sued for discrimination or wrongful termination, a court may want to view the job description. If you pull a template off the internet, you run the risk that it may not hold up as a defense for your business. Having your template reviewed by an HR or labor law expert in your state and industry is never a bad idea. It must be updated: Once you create your job description like any employment document—offer letter template and employee handbook, for example—you’ll want to keep it updated, or it will lose its value over time. An annual update will typically suffice to keep it current. Alternatives to Using a Restaurant Manager Job Description A job description is one of the most common HR tools used to describe work that you need to be done in your business and the required skills and experience required of job applicants. However, you may wish to use a more formal document or take an entirely different hiring approach. Here are alternatives to using a restaurant manager job description. Employment Contract You may choose to develop a full-blown employment contract with your restaurant manager instead of a job description. This document will often be longer and more detailed with information included like a nondisclosure statement, bonus opportunity, or guaranteed severance payout. Similar to a restaurant manager job description template, you’ll likely have to modify your employment contract template to suit your business and any requests of the person you’re hiring. Contractor Agreement Using a contractor agreement makes sense in addition to or instead of a restaurant manager job description when you’re hiring an independent contractor to manage your restaurant instead of hiring an employee. Hiring a contractor may make sense if you’re trying to turn around a poorly managed operation or you want to “try before you buy,” by seeing how the manager does over a limited timeframe, such as one year. Other Job Description Templates Instead of a restaurant manager job description template, perhaps your business needs to divide the work being done into more distinct roles, such as banquet manager or kitchen manager. Job description templates with those titles may be a better fit for the exact work you want your restaurant manager to do. For example, if you do all the hiring, bookkeeping, and cooking and want someone to oversee the servers, a restaurant shift manager or assistant job description might be a better fit. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Restaurant Manager Job Descriptions Every restaurant is a little different and, therefore, your restaurant manager job description may need information that’s not required in other foodservice establishments. Here are some common questions answered below about a restaurant manager job. Please post any additional queries to our forum. What are the most important duties of a restaurant manager? Restaurant management is a balancing act in terms of being able to be both organized and flexible. A restaurant manager has to hire, train, encourage, and motivate their workers. They also have to keep food quality high while keeping food costs low and reducing waste. They need to be good at planning—both staffing and inventory—as well as have a customer-friendly disposition. None of these duties are more important than others—it’s a balance of all of them. What should I look for in a restaurant manager’s resume? There’s no one educational program that is needed to be a restaurant manager. You might find the best restaurant managers are those who have come through the ranks. For example, they may have worked their way up in a larger fast-food chain, or they may have managed a smaller gourmet restaurant with a very demanding clientele. What’s most important to look for is their expertise in the areas you find most important for your business. That may be staff management, customer service, and brand reputation, or it may be food and labor cost control. The best restaurant manager candidates will be those with expertise in all the core functions of a restaurant manager job. What should I pay a restaurant manager? Job boards like provide salary tools to determine what the average job pays. Restaurant manager pay range is from $15,000 to more than $100,000 annually with the average being slightly more than $49,000 per year. Factors that affect pay include restaurant size, manager experience, and location. What kind of interpersonal skills make for a good restaurant manager? Like any good manager, people skills are paramount. A restaurant manager should be approachable by staff and restaurant patrons alike. They should have excellent organizational skills, solid numbers skills—for negotiating with vendors and managing costs—and be open to feedback. Restaurant managers need to be able to manage their own stress while also helping their workers manage the demands of the job. Having a good sense of humor helps too. What are the duties of a restaurant operations manager? A restaurant operations manager can have the same duties as a restaurant manager, or they may have more. For example, they may manage more than one restaurant, which is often referred to as a general manager. They may manage the bookkeeping and office duties—accounts payable and payroll—as well as the restaurant staffing and onsite management. Conversely, someone with the title of restaurant operations manager could also have fewer duties but a larger scope. An example might be in a larger restaurant when a restaurant operations manager manages the operations of the restaurant—front of house, scheduling, and customer service—while a kitchen manager manages inventory, food prep, product quality, and the kitchen staff. What other job titles might be used in place of a restaurant manager? To attract the candidate with the best-matched experience to your open job, you might consider posting jobs with more specific titles like fast-food restaurant manager, restaurant and bar manager, restaurant general manager, food and beverage manager, assistant restaurant manager, or restaurant operations manager. Bottom Line A great restaurant manager is crucial to the success of your restaurant operation, whether it’s a family restaurant or a quick-serve establishment. Having a solid restaurant manager job description template is the tool you’ll need to find and manage that critical staff member. It serves as the foundation of discussion for duties and responsibilities when talking with your restaurant manager and makes it clear what you’re looking for when hiring. By the time you’re ready to bring on a new restaurant manager, it may be time to consider new restaurant management software too. platform is an all-in-one restaurant management solution with payment processing, POS, online ordering, inventory management, and valuable insights to boost your margins. It integrates with scheduling and timekeeping software like Homebase to save you time. Plus you’ll have United States-based support experts available to you 24/7.

A mission statement is a short, meaningful phrase that summarizes the purpose that drives your business. Similar to your business’ vision (the "what") and values (the "how"), your mission statement answers the question of why you do what you do. We’ll take you through a simple six-step process to develop your business mission statement. We’ll also provide you with a template and examples to inspire you. Once you create your company mission statement consider posting it on your business website. Mission Statement Template Here’s a mission statement template that will take you through the process described below to create your business mission statement in six steps. As you go through the template, think of your mission statement as a haiku or tweet — less is more. Download Template as a DOC or PDF file Here are the six steps to help you create your company mission statement. Step 1: Ask Questions You may want to do this alone, with a business partner or with a group of trusted advisors like your top managers, business coach, accountant or even your spouse. The point is to start asking questions about what your business does and why. Ask yourself and your team basic questions like these about your business: What is it we do? What do we create? Why does it matter? Who does it matter to? How does it make a difference? Take your time. In fact, it may be best to schedule a meeting or two to accomplish this. For example, in one meeting you may want to review other business’ mission statements. Look on the internet for companies that you admire, or those that do work similar to yours. Then ask yourself and your advisors: How is our business different than our competitors? How could we improve upon other’s mission statements? Which mission statements resonate with us? What kind of description feels right for our business? Here’s an example: Let’s say you own a tire store and want to come up with a mission statement for your business. These are the answers that you might give to the questions above: What is it we do? Install tires What do we create? Safer vehicles Why does it matter? Fewer accidents Who does it matter to? Vehicle owners and their families like parents of teen drivers How does it make a difference? We make traveling within our community safer Nothing in those questions or answers refers to how much money you make or how many tires you sell. They’re about your customers' needs, as a mission statement should be. Next, ask some competitor questions: How is our business different than our competitors? We’re locally owned How could we improve upon other’s mission statements? Example: Big O's mission is to offer better service than customers can get anywhere else; we could say instead that we care about you and your safety Which mission statements resonate with us? Superior Tire in California says, “Value pricing and feel-good customer service.” What kind of description feels right for our business? One that focuses on keeping your family safe providing hometown service Step 2: Brainstorm Based on Your Answers This may seem like the easiest part, but it can prove difficult because people tend to edit themselves. Instead, just write. Ask yourself or your team to start saying words or short phrases out loud. Some words and ideas will be great while others will be silly. Don’t judge. In fact, don’t edit at all as you’re brainstorming. Just write down the words that pop into yours or their heads. Write exactly what they say. Don’t reword their ideas or 1) they’ll stop contributing and, 2) you may miss the nugget of their contribution. This is a data gathering phase only. What you’ll end up with are some common feeling words or short phrases that begin to make sense and start to resonate with you and others. Step 3: Cull Your List of Words If you alone are coming up with the words (not a recommended approach), it’s easy to edit by crossing out the terms that you don’t like or don’t fit. However, a fun approach is to do this in a meeting or group setting and give attendees the chance to “vote” on words or phrases they like. Consider posting the words on a chart or document and then let your team vote with stars or checkmarks next to the terms or descriptors they like best. This feedback provides the benefit of getting the “buy-in” of your staff, which we’ll discuss the importance later on in this article. This process will cull that list of words to the ones that are most representative of your company and most important in representing what your company does and why. Step 4: Create a First Draft This is the part of the process you or your marketing, public relations, human resources or another creative-writing resource may want to take charge of. It’s not done as a group — it’s best done alone. Here’s an example of five first-draft ideas for the tire company mission statement. You can summarize your thoughts into one first draft mission statement. Alternatively, you can come up with a few first-draft mission statements from which to work. The point is to get your mission statement/s on paper. You can edit later. Step 5: Solicit Feedback Oddly, this is an important step some business owners skip. It’s important because you want to be sure that what you mean to say is understood by others. If you publish your mission statement without asking others what they think, you may end up with something that inspired you but no one else. Another mistake is to let a PR or HR person alone craft your mission statement without yours or other’s input. It’s your mission statement and should be reflective of your voice, so take the time to get it right. Again, a meeting works. You can also type up your mission statement and shop it around your office. Get feedback from customers, employees and other business owners. Listen to their input on how the mission statement makes them feel. Note that some people will not want to hurt your feelings, so they’ll simply nod and say, “it’s fine.” A few good questions to get them to open up with honest input are: How does this make you feel about our company? What would you change in the wording? What about this phrase isn’t working for you? What is it missing? Steps four and five may need to be repeated until you end up with something everyone can agree gives purpose the business and that they can buy into. Author Brandon Peele explains why: Brandon Peele, Author, 'Planet on Purpose' “People who are connected with their purpose are four times as likely to be engaged and are five times more productive than those who are not connected with their higher purpose. This research and much more (on the effects of purpose in the workplace and in health and society) is available here: http://scienceofpurpose.org.” Just keep editing and getting feedback until you and those who you trust all agree that you’ve nailed it. Step 6: Finalize & Share It Once you’ve firmed up your mission statement, it’s time to finalize it. You’ll probably feel relief once you decide, “this is it — this is our mission statement.” Be sure to write it down somewhere so that you don’t forget the exact words you used because the next step is to begin using your mission statement in company communications. Example: Our Tires & Service Keep You & Your Family Safe on All Wheels   Communicate Your Company Mission Statement There are many ways to share your mission statement, so we’ll focus on some of the more common. Keep in mind that you have more than one audience. Your mission statement should be shared with your employees. It should also be shared with your customers and perhaps even your vendor-partners. The communication vehicles you use to share your mission statement may serve multiple audiences. Here are two examples: Employee-facing documents: You can include your mission statement on workplace posters, your company handbook, offer letters, your company careers page or employee paycheck stubs. Also, include it in job ads and print it on employee swag like t-shirts, hats and coffee mugs. Customer-facing materials: You can include your mission statement on business cards, product brochures, business proposals, your company website, advertising billboards, mailers and even on company vehicle vinyl decals. Document Where Your Mission Statement Is Posted Make sure you document every place that your company mission statement is displayed, communicated or shown. If you ever modify it, you’ll want to make sure it’s revised consistently everywhere it’s used. 3 Examples of Mission Statements from Top Companies We asked some business experts for mission statements that inspire them. We hope these three mission statement examples give you a flavor of what one should look like. Notice how they make you feel about the business. Check them out: 1. Investor Carrot: Add Humanity to Business and Help People Regain Time for the Things That Matter Shawn Breyer, Owner, Breyer Home Buyers The best one I've seen is Trevor Mauch's at Investor Carrot. “Add humanity to business and help people regain time for the things that matter.” 2. Tesla: To Accelerate the World’s Transition to Sustainable Energy Luke Vincent, CEO, BeLucent The best mission statement I’ve ever read is Tesla’s: "To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.” What makes this so amazing is how selfless it is. The company is first focused on the good that it does and then on profit. It has identified a real problem in the world and is building their entire company around solving that problem. The result is it sold 250,000 model 3s in the first week without spending anything on advertising, and it has overtaken Porsche in value. 3. Nike: To Bring Inspiration and Innovation to Every Athlete* in the World James Reeves, CEO, Diefendorff, Inc. When I think about great mission statements, I almost always think of Nike: "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world." "*If you have a body, you are an athlete." From a customer's standpoint, I value it because it rings true in a number of respects. First, it's matched by great advertising — how can anyone with a pulse watch a Nike commercial and not feel inspired in some way? Second, through the statement's second line, it evokes a psychological effect of inclusion through tribalism. It reinforces my belief that I don't have to have a six-pack to be considered an athlete. Being an athlete is mental, not a physical or age thing. This is particularly good for me since I am now 40, but I digress... Finally, it's also great from a business strategy standpoint. You'll notice that the words "sneakers" and "apparel" aren't in there at all. This doesn't constrain them into its evolving category and allows Nike to expand into technology and apps. In addition, Nike has led the way for decades, since the mistakes of the 1990s, in innovating with sustainable design and social responsibility. By including the word "innovation" (not as a cliche, but as a real deal kind of thing), it allows it to explore new materials and new methods; which it has done to great effect. Benefits of a Mission Statement In addition to helping you convey the purpose of your business and serving as a branding tool, your mission statement can be used to attract customers and employees to your company. Use it to inspire your employees with internal branding. Use it as external branding to motivate customers to call you instead of the competition. Internal Branding Your mission statement can help you establish your employment brand and encourage top talent to work for your company. It can motivate and engage employees if they buy into your mission statement. It’s not uncommon for employees to share where they work with their friends and family. Social media takes their enthusiasm far outside your four walls. If you’re lucky, they may share what they like about your company and its mission with their social network, improving your brand reputation. Here’s an example. External Branding Your mission statement is yet another tool in your marketing arsenal as well. It can be used to promote your brand, social media campaigns and community engagement initiatives. Frequently Asked Questions 1. Why write a mission statement down? Your mission statement is out there already. It exists. It’s just not written down, and it’s being misinterpreted by those who don’t yet know your business well. In other words, if you don’t give your employees and customers the words or phrase to convey your mission, they’ll do it in their own words. By writing down your mission statement, you control the message. You control the brand. 2. How best to share my mission statement? In addition to sharing your mission statement on your website, business cards, job postings and the side of work vehicles — get creative. Ask your employees where would they like to see your mission statement posted. On the back of their work jackets? On buttons they wear? On packing slips inside boxes they ship? Your mission statement can be shared whenever or wherever you’re interacting with others. Ever been to a trade show? Mission statements are everywhere. 3. What if my mission statement changes? Sometimes, it happens that you find a better way to convey your mission or your company mission actually changes. Think about all the places where it’s posted, from your employee handbook to your highway billboard. If you followed step six above, you’ve already documented all the places that your mission statement can be found. Plan to make the changes all at the same time. Updating your mission statement may warrant a press release to promote your new updated mission. You may also want to recommunicate your mission statement in a company meeting (to employees) and in a customer letter (to clients). Use that opportunity to explain the rationale behind the change, and you may earn additional admiration and loyalty. 4. What is different when writing a personal mission statement? Instead of focusing on what the business does and why, focus on what you do and why. Otherwise, the steps for writing a personal mission statement are mostly the same. The only difference from the six-step process above is that your group of advisors may be small — perhaps you and your partner, you and your business coach or you alone. Here are personal mission statement examples from a business leader and a sports hero. Oprah Winfrey: To be a teacher. Merlin J Olson: The focus of my life begins at home with family … 5. What is different when writing a mission statement for a nonprofit organization? Instead of focusing on the for-profit products and services of a business, a nonprofit mission statement will focus on the nonprofit product or services. Because both are outwardly focused (on those they serve), nonprofit and for-profit mission statements are very similar and can be created by following the same six steps above. Two samples are provided below by one of our nonprofit contributors: Amanda J. Ponzar, CMO, Community Health Charities Hands down, the best mission statement is from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: "All lives have equal value: we are impatient optimists working to reduce inequity." What more is there to say? That’s inspiring. [Also,] Sarah Adolphson’s company, The Artemis Agency; I connected with her recently regarding her celebrity clients who are ambassadors for causes. Her mission: "Actively helping clients change the world." It struck me the first time I read it. The Bottom Line A mission statement is nothing but words. They should be your words. They describe your business — the reason your business exists, what it does, who it serves and why it matters. We hope you create a mission statement that inspires you, your team and your clients. Once you’ve created that mission statement, share it with us in the comments; will you?