AI scheduling is winning approval from restaurant managers, but efficiency gains are not removing questions from staff about their shifts. New research from restaurant technology platform Toast points to a practical challenge for HR teams: making automated decisions understandable and open to review.
Among surveyed managers using AI-driven scheduling, 95% said the tools delivered on their promises. Yet 73% said staff had raised concerns directly about issues such as fairness, hours or flexibility. These are managers’ reports, rather than a survey of employees’ own experiences.
Time savings alongside questions about fairness
A third of AI scheduling users (34%) identified less time building rotas as the biggest change, while 23% reported fewer scheduling conflicts and errors. Across the broader group of active AI users, 91% reported saving at least three hours of management administration each week.
The findings come from blind surveys conducted for Toast through Pollfish between 29 and 31 July 2026, involving 400 UK restaurant managers and 500 UK diners. Active AI usage findings reflect 227 managers; the published methodology does not give a separate sample size for the scheduling subgroup. The results describe reported experiences, not a controlled measure of AI’s impact.
“They explain how the rota is built, they make it clear a manager can override it, and they're honest about what the tool is for.”
Gaurav Nakhare, senior director of product management, Toast
What people teams can do
Toast recommends explaining the information used to build a rota, making managerial review visible and showing staff how to challenge errors. Managers should be specific about which tasks the software handles and how availability changes, shift swaps and time-off requests reach a person.
Why it matters
For recruiters and HR teams supporting shift-based work, a faster rota is only one part of successful adoption. Checking whether the system respects availability and giving staff a workable review process can help employers assess its effects on day-to-day working arrangements.
Read the full Toast research and methodology. For the wider recruitment technology context, see the UK’s first national standard for recruitment technology.
Image: editorial illustration created for Onrec.
