The Performance Dividend: How Tronc Design and AI Scheduling Are Reshaping Hospitality Teams
Overscheduling during busy periods dilutes tronc payments per person, meaning a harder shift does not translate into a more rewarding one. This breaks the link between effort and reward, directly affecting motivation and trust.
Katie Linstead, VP of Compliance and Operations at Grateful, has seen it happen.
"We've had clients in the past where they haven't quite got scheduling right, and they've had really busy periods, and the employees are really excited because they think they're going to get a bit of a bonanza payment from their tronc, and then been quite disappointed because the tronc hasn't been all they've thought it would be, and it's come down to overscheduling," she said.
Katie was speaking at The Performance Dividend: How Tronc Design and AI Scheduling Are Reshaping Hospitality Teams, a HOSPA webinar chaired by Jane Pendlebury, CEO of HOSPA, alongside Paul Watson, Vice President at Sona, and Samantha Hamilton-Green, Group People and Brand Director at Dakota Hotels. We've now turned the conversation into a practical whitepaper for operators.
The central point of the webinar was that scheduling and tronc cannot be treated as separate issues. Who works, when they work and how they are rewarded are closely connected, and getting one wrong can undermine the other.
Real life rarely follows the forecast
"We can build rotas on the best thought-out forecasts, and it might not be exactly what happens on the day," said Samantha.
The opportunity is to reduce admin without losing the human detail that matters to employees, such as knowing that Sally can't start before 6pm on a Tuesday, or Bill can't start before 9.30 on a Sunday.
For Paul Watson, scheduling is no longer just about putting names into boxes. It is about using data properly, understanding employee needs and helping managers make better decisions.
"When we talk about scheduling, we're in a beautiful space at the moment where there is so much data available. The danger of having so much data is what's important, and what are signals that you really want to bring in," he said.
"If you've got a really good shift, and you've got the right team, and they're engaged, and they're happy, they will put in that extra discretionary effort," Paul said.
But he was clear that operators should not expect technology to fix poor processes: the fundamentals must come first.
"It's not a panacea. If your managers aren't putting a forecast in, if you're not getting the right data into the system to start off with, the end result cannot be good."
No more blanket schemes
More operators are moving towards models that reflect how each site actually works, recognising that a city centre hotel, an airport site, a resort or a restaurant-led venue may each need something slightly different.
"A lot of what we do now with clients is really looking at what is the right type of scheme to retain or recruit the best candidates within that site, rather than a sort of blanket approach that doesn't really recognise those nuances," Katie said.
Pay is personal
For Samantha, the impact of a well-designed tronc system is clearest in the trust it builds with employees.
"Ultimately, what you can never do is muck about with someone's pay. That's the most... like, you cannot mess about with that," she said.
Her advice to other operators was just as direct. "If you think there might be any grey areas that you're operating in, review your tronc management processes and ensure you're wholly compliant," she said. "And if you're not confident in that, get external support if you need it."
Read the full whitepaper
Successful change depends on bringing the right people into the conversation: operations, payroll, finance, HR and communications. As Jane put it:
"Get that right, whether that's from implementing a system to implementing policies or sharing best practice. That's got to be the winner at the end of the day."
For hospitality businesses facing cost pressure, recruitment challenges and rising employee expectations, the performance dividend is not just better rotas or cleaner tronc processes. It is teams who understand the system, trust the outcome and feel motivated to deliver.
Inside, we look at smarter labour planning, fairer tronc structures and how better transparency can help reduce pressure while building stronger, more engaged teams.
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