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Author Topic: Labor Percentage Blake Zaugg Film Handler Posts: 57 From: Lafayette, LA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 12-06-2003 06:41 PM                     What is a realistic goal for labor? and is it (or should it) be computed only from ticket & concession sales? (or include GC's, Slide Ads, etc....)  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-06-2003 08:35 PM                    A goal for labor? What do you mean? Like to make as much money as possible by doing as little as possible? Satisfaction of a job well done? Please clarify.  |  IP: Logged Dennis M Dow Jr Expert Film Handler Posts: 141 From: Bloomfield NJ USA Registered: Oct 2003 posted 12-06-2003 09:18 PM                       I think most chains shoot for a 8-10pct vs admissions. Concessions and intheater advertising are not a factor in figuring this out  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-06-2003 09:24 PM                        I'm more used to a "cost per customer" ... for most places ... $0.75 per ticket sold is a realistic and easy goal to make.  |  IP: Logged Blake Zaugg Film Handler Posts: 57 From: Lafayette, LA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 12-08-2003 02:14 AM                     Sorry Steve, I did't explain myself well. My question had to do with staffing levels. Obviously not enough staff and your service and revenue go down and too many staff breaks the bank. I was curious how other theatres tell if they are over staffed or not. At what percentage is optimal? And how they calculate it...ie only on admissions (bums in seats, or ticket revenue) Do they go by customers per employee, or per employee hour? I'm trying to make a grid so my less experienced managers will know when to send staff home. Not sure whether it should go by attendance, percentage of income, etc...  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-08-2003 05:24 AM                        i don't really like the practice of sending employees home. you pay them peanuts, they commit part of their day to work for you, and you deny them that. if someone wants to go home, great. but otherwise, how about setting surplus staff to work doing some maintenance, cleaning a hard-to-reach area, organizing storage, or training. it'll pay off later. i'm not a manager, but that's my take. carl  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-08-2003 07:09 AM                        Agreed with Carl. It's completely unethical to schedule staff for a day and then send them home in order to "cut the payroll." If an employer schedules an employee to work, then he has an ethical obligation to compenstate that employee for the time scheduled. And, anyway, I'm not sure how basing staffing levels on a per centage of customers or ticket revenue makes sense. It's not a linear relationship at all. Any theatre--even a small single screen on an "off" night--needs at least three staff members (concession, tickets, projection; one of these can also be the manager, and the ticket seller can usually leave soon after the final show starts). Above that, as customers and screen counts increase, staffing levels depend on many factors, including the layout of the theatre, the types of films playing (kids' films need more concession staff and usher/cleaning staff than art/foreign films), the quality/experience of the staff, etc. Instead of using ticket numbers to dictate staffing requirements, wouldn't it make more sense for the manager to actually _look_ at what is happening in his theatre? Are ticket and concession lines reasonable? Are auditoria (yes, with an _a_) being kept clean between shows? Are the restrooms clean, with good stock of paper towels and toilet paper? Are trash cans emptied before they overflow? If the above-mentioned conditions (and plenty of others not mentioned) are being met consistently without either having employees sitting around doing nothing or running completely ragged throughout the day/evening, then the theatre is adequately staffed.  |  IP: Logged John Scott Master Film Handler Posts: 252 From: Oakdale, MN, USA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-08-2003 09:44 AM                     Blake> Percentages of labor depend on the size of your complex and how busy it is. 15-20% might be acceptable one location, but 5-6 would be acceptable at another location. What might work for you is something that I do weekly. Create a payroll report using a spreadsheet program that includes formulas that calculate the labor percentages (I like Regular Payroll vs Box Office, Concessions Payroll vs Concessions, and Total vs Total). Go through your last 52 weeks and see where you are. By looking at that you can get a good idea of where you want to be and where you can cut based on the percentages, and what goals might be good for your location. This is definitely a good process to share with assistant managers you want to mold into being cost effective managers. I've found that if they see how the numbers look and trend and how this effect's the theatre's bottom line they are more apt to cut that extra person or two when business is slow and staffing levels allow. Trend the vending per-cap into that as well and you can also show what happens when too many staff are cut and your location is caught by suprise.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-08-2003 10:31 AM                        John, You don't, by chance, work for Carmike do you? Bill Enos: The same applies here. I've never asked if anyone wanted to go home and had everyone decide to stay. N-E-V-E-R. [ 12-08-2003, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Jason Black ]  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 12-08-2003 05:52 PM                     Where I work, if we are over staffed on what turns out to be a slow night, asking " anybody want the evening off?' usually results in too many volunteers. However, if nobody wants off, everybody stays, that has never happened though.  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 12-08-2003 08:04 PM                        When I ran theatres I came across similar instances. If you needed to send somebody home, eventually the staff would work it out amongst themselves as to who got to go. Of course I never ran theatres in an area where everybody needed to work. I too am curious as to what a realistic percentage is. At Cinema West the owner would always claim we had too many people working if we had more than Manager +1. I was always trying to convince him that we were making good use of the people and that it was helping our bottom line. I've never actually seen what various chains considered healthy, but I would be interested in learning payroll analysis someday.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-08-2003 09:39 PM                    I agree with those who say it's unethical. It's fine to ask for volunteers though since often someone will be glad to get out early. But asking someone to work and then sending them home to save a couple bucks is wrong.  |  IP: Logged John Scott Master Film Handler Posts: 252 From: Oakdale, MN, USA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-08-2003 11:36 PM                     Jason -- No I don't work for Carmike.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-09-2003 06:51 AM                        John, OK, I thought we had a 20 in Oakdale but I've been known to have been wrong before..  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-09-2003 10:14 AM                     We do have a 20 in Oakdale. John probably works for the Marcus just down the road.  |  IP: Logged

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