Who’s having a hard time hiring and retaining qualified restaurant staff?
Everyone, it seems.
In the United States, 76% of casual dining operators, 78% of family dining operators and 80% of fine dining spots say they don’t have enough employees to adequately staff their restaurant. The same is true for 63% of fast casual and quick-service spots.
What is the most effective way to deal with the hospitality hiring crisis? Hang on tight to the employees you have. “If you don’t focus on retention, you’re always going to be focusing on attraction and hiring,” Dan Sines, CEO of applicant-screening company Traitify, tells Restaurant Dive. Retention efforts result in a significant ROI, he points out: if a large QSR chain has turnover rates of 100% to 200%, that could mean $20 million to $40 million in excess hiring costs. These three strategies can help restaurant operators retain the best members of their team.
Cross-train every employee.
What’s a surefire way to make an employee quit on the spot? Make them do a job they don’t know how to do. Tell a cook to work the register. Ask a server to fill in as bartender. When staff is undertrained and overwhelmed, they’re likely to quit.
The opposite is also true, however: Cross-training employees has a positive effect on employee happiness and can lower attrition. It also makes staff more efficient and promotion opportunities more attainable. Consider offering perks for staff who successfully master new roles, whether a raise, a bonus or another incentive. At Starbucks, the iconic black apron is issued to employees who complete the Starbucks Coffee Academy program, earning the title of Coffee Master. “The ROI I see in my store is that my partners that have taken the time to expand their coffee knowledge and earn their black apron are the ones that stay with us the longest,” one manager notes.
Empower staff to set boundaries with customers.
Sixty-two percent of hospitality professionals in the U.S. and 44% in Canada report that guests have become more demanding, a recent survey from Lightspeed found. Anecdotally, stories of pushy, entitled and even violent restaurant customers are on the rise. “If my manager had just once said 'please don’t speak to my employees that way,' it would have made a huge difference,” said one coffee-shop worker who quit.
Increasingly, operators are standing up for their staff and pushing back. In Philadelphia, for instance, up-and-coming restaurateurs are instituting policies such as adding automatic gratuities, limiting substitutions, and closing for staff vacations. The popular Middle Child Clubhouse posts signs that say “This Isn’t Burger King: Please Try It Our Way” and “The customer is not always right. Middle Child is not always right. By working together, we can make it right for everyone.” At Nok Suntaranon’s acclaimed Thai restaurant Kalaya, customers can’t skip the cilantro or ask to adjust the heat levels. Long story short, it’s OK to say no — and your staff will thank you for it.
Identify the worst parts of the job, and make them better.
Whether they work in a fine-dining restaurant or an ice-cream shop, every restaurant employee dislikes specific parts of the job. It’s worth identifying those most-despised tasks and seeking solutions. Some of the most common culprits:
- Tedious, time-consuming tasks: Prep work is repetitive by nature, but sometimes a simple equipment upgrade can minimize aggravation for your staff. If your juice-shop employees complain about hand-pressing lemons and oranges, maybe it’s time to shift to an electric citrus juicer. If chopping pico de gallo is everyone’s least favorite chore, a high-performance culinary blender could get the job done faster.
- Constant cleaning tasks: Cleaning is necessary and unavoidable — but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it more efficient. Mixing frozen desserts, for instance, is an inherently messy process. So when Hamilton Beach Commercial engineers designed the new MixStation™, they simplified every aspect of the cleaning process. Employees would no longer have to struggle to disassemble parts or reach into awkward spaces. A magnetic splash shield enclosure, rounded corners and sealed, capacitive buttons make wipe-downs a breeze.
- Ick-factor tasks: Cutting up raw chicken. Peeling shrimp. Cleaning out that one suspicious container in the back of the walk-in. Kitchen work is definitely not for the squeamish. One way to streamline the less-pleasant prep work (and reduce food waste, too) is to use a PrimaVac™ in-chamber vacuum sealer. Pre-portioned proteins and veggies can be seasoned, marinated and sealed in individual pouches, speeding up service and keeping things neat and sanitary.
Curious about how Hamilton Beach Commercial can support your business in becoming more efficient? Request a personalized demo today.
