From The Ground Up: Hiring, Training, And Compensating Your Employees

Restaurant StaffUnfortunately a high turnover rate is not always a positive aspect in regards to the restaurant industry. When it comes to customers, turnover can be great for your revenue. When it comes to employees, if it happens often, turnover can fracture the once-smooth operation of your establishment.

Employee turnover is inevitable, but if you follow a few basic procedures you can maximize your employee retention. Keeping the employees you have, and making the most of their skills and ambitions, can be the key to reducing your costs and increasing your restaurant’s efficiency.

Cast a wide net.  It’s hard to weed out who will cost you more money in the long run if you’ve only got one applicant. Cast that net wide and pull in as many possible candidates, from as many outlets as possible, to increase your chance of finding that golden employee.

Use multiple media.  When it comes to finding a job we’ve come a long way from circling ads in the Help Wanted section of the local paper. Think outside of that Help Wanted box and you’ll be surprised how many places potential employees look for employment. This goes hand-in-hand with casting that wide net. Talk to your current employees and tell them to spread the word. Put that ad in the local paper, but also post it to online job search sites. Let people know you’re looking by looking everywhere!

Screen. Screen. Screen. It’s easy to avoid the embarrassment of interviewing a candidate who’s completely wrong for the position, and also find someone who fits best, if you take the time to evaluate each candidate. Going over a stack of resumes one-by-one may take a while, but it’s definitely worth the time in the long run. Look at what’s important. Relevant job experience, references, and salary requirements can all play a large role in how that candidate operates and if they’ll be able to adapt to the position you’re offering.

Interview. If you’ve screened your candidates well, letting everyone who will work with them weigh in somehow, the interview process should be an extension of that screening. This is where you make sure the person on paper is actually the person you’re interviewing. You may laugh, but all too often people exaggerate their skills to sound more marketable. Make sure to ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. If you do this, and listen actively, you’ll get a feel for how the candidate views the job and also where they are in their life. Are they looking to hop in and out of your position within a matter of months, or are they someone you can count on further down the road?

experienced chef giving culinary lessons to female traineesTrain with your best. Now that you’ve found your new employee, make sure that person has access to your very best in terms of restaurant equipment and resources. A well trained employee may take time up front but can end up saving you more time and money in the future. An excellent way to groom your new hire is by having them shadow your top performing employee for a few days. This helps them learn the ins and outs of the job and also shows them what a good employee looks like. Create clear expectations and apparent avenues to achieve those expectations. Nothing costs more, money and time, than a confused employee acting on that confusion.

Be an example. Your staff essentially looks to you for approval and guidance. Giving them cues as to how you’d like things done, or what works best in a certain situation, can help eliminate confusion and garner good behavior. The best way to provide a positive work environment and retain your employees is to set a good example for everyone to follow.

Compensate creativelyTraditionally, compensation strategy has been to pay hourly for your kitchen staff, and have your waitstaff make most their pay through tips. High turnover and inefficient operation have caused some restaurants to rethink how they compensate. Here are two outside-the-box compensation strategies that have worked:

  1.  Salary your waitstaff. You’ll be surprised how priorities change. When you make a living on tips you’re often trying to up-sell and raise check averages, and in doing this top-notch service and customer satisfaction can suffer. On the other hand, salaried servers don’t feel the pressure to keep those tables turning. Instead they’re free to focus on the quality of service rather than the speed.
  2. Share profits with back of house. Most likely your kitchen staff is paid an hourly wage, and those employees will make that hourly no matter how quickly or efficiently they work. An incentive to keeping those in the back of the house productive is profit sharing. Let your kitchen staff earn shares based on how long they’ve been there, then let them share in the profits each quarter. This will help reduce turnover because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want a job that pays out a bonus 3 to 4 times a year? When an employee shares in your success it’s in their best interest to add to that success.

As we’ve discussed, turnover can be the factor that makes or breaks your business. Handling this turnover, and taking appropriate steps to avoid turnover wherever possible, can give you a leg up on your competition. Having a plan for approaching and reaching potential employees, and then following that plan through your hiring process, training, and eventually compensation can be invaluable. It all starts with you!

About Andrew Call

Andrew is an aspiring writer and a former Product Upload Specialist for Tundra Restaurant Supply. He contributes to content marketing, copy writing, and product management all while helping to cultivate a creative culture. When Andrew’s not stuck behind a desk he’s involved in side projects, amasses his movie collection, reflects on writer’s of the past, and works on various publishing efforts whenever possible.

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