High employee turnover in your restaurant is a significant issue, leading to increased costs and decreased efficiency.
But you can dial down staff turnover in your restaurant by keeping your employees happy and pumped up with simple tricks.
This blog spills the beans on five effective ways the hospitality gurus swear by to cut down on staff turnover in your restaurant.
Let’s start by figuring out why your restaurant staff calls it quits.
What causes high turnover in your restaurant?
The first step to retaining restaurant employees is understanding why they might leave your business.
Here are some common reasons for high turnover in your restaurant:
- Lack of communication: A lack of awareness of new regulations or processes can disengage and unmotivate your employees.
- Poor management: The inability of managers to communicate effectively with their employees can lead to employees quitting.
- Bad fit: Your employees often do not realise they are unsuitable for hospitality until they join your business.
- Stressful work environment: Employee turnover in your restaurant may be primarily due to excessive stress at work.
Once you identify the cause of the high turnover in your restaurant, you’ll need to figure out methods to retain your staff.
How do you reduce staff turnover in your restaurant?
There are simple strategies to combat the issue of your employees leaving your restaurant business.
Below are 6 actionable ways and strategies experts recommend for reducing employee turnover in your restaurant.
1. Make your managers committed
Justin Biel, Solution Manager at Chileno Bay Club, says, “The engagement and commitment of a manager directly impact the turnover rate and guest satisfaction.”
A Gallup study found that highly engaged managers lead to 59% more engaged employees. Sounds interesting, right?
So, if you want to build employee commitment and reduce turnover, It is best to find passionate managers.
How do you find the right managers to commit to your restaurant’s mission?
Here’s what Justin suggests:
- Recruit managers with the right talent through a targeted and selective application process. Look for people with past management experience or innate leadership abilities.
- Give managers the skills they need to build and manage successful teams through ongoing management training and development.
- Identify and help managers work with their strengths to engage their team more effectively.
2. Pay your restaurant staff well
According to Ivey Business Journal, companies that invest in the “bottom of their ladders” experience increased productivity, retention, and financial performance.
Employees who do most of the work at your company directly impact your bottom line.
Here are a few compensation best practices you can adopt to reduce employee turnover in your restaurant:
- Document the high and low starting wages for each job in your restaurant and the raise rates you get approval for. As a result, no one is underpaid or overpaid.
- When determining what to pay, consult the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ average hourly rates by the job.
- Compare the pay and benefits of other local restaurants to yours, and use this competitive intelligence to your advantage.
3. Recruit the right people
Brian Hassan, Co-CEO of Kickfin, says, “The key to preventing turnover is to hire the right people. Recruits who aren’t a good fit for the company in terms of experience, culture, and qualification will not last.”
What is the best way to hire the right people?
Brian suggests the following tips for recruiting suitable candidates:
- Be clear about qualifications: How many years of experience are required? Is there a skill set needed? Does it matter if they know a specific restaurant or service type? And high-level and daily responsibilities, as well as what success looks like.
- Include a description of your company culture: Describe the type of company candidates are joining. Are there behavioural standards? Which personalities and character traits will fit into your team?
- Ask the right questions: Ensure you know your candidate well. Ask them about their resume, experience, personality, and what they hope to gain from the job.
- Make your role stand out: You’re in a competitive labour market, and candidates may be considering other jobs. Is your pay or benefits above average? Can they access their earnings immediately? Do they have a flexible schedule?
If you refine your hiring process, you’ll create a happier, healthier, and more cohesive team in the long run.
4. Offer on-the-job training
Amanda Mcnamara — Marketing Manager at Toast, says, “Restaurant employees typically seek new jobs to gain more mentorship and training (particularly younger workers) to advance in their careers.”
“As part of this year’s Restaurant Success Report survey, a section was devoted to how restaurant operators train their new hires. Surprisingly, 70% offer no training at all,” Amanda continues.
“Most restaurant managers make online training available, but only 19% check in with new hires to see how they’re doing,” Amanda adds.
Learning new things is a difficult process without help and support. A new employee can’t master a role by reading your employee manual.
The best way to keep workers happy is to train, support, and give feedback.
With smartphones and tablets, you can start training your team effectively. Instead of workbooks, today’s employees prefer learning online or on their phones.
Consider the following training resources for digital hospitality skills:
5. Establish a safe and supportive workplace culture
If you establish a better work culture within your organisation, your bottom line will thank you.
So, how can you establish a safe and supportive workplace culture?
It’s simple. Ensure your staff feels as welcome, safe, and appreciated as your guests.
Donald Burns, the restaurant consultant, emphasises the importance of delighting both external guests (your customers) and internal guests (your staff).
Donald says, “There are two types of customers in every restaurant: internal and external. Our focus is so much on turning external customers (or guests) into raving fans that we lose sight of our strong, vibrant customer base right in front of us—our team.”
“Instead of focusing on external customers, why not turn your team into brand advocates?”
Gallup’s meta-analysis of employee engagement found that companies with high employee engagement experienced 28% fewer thefts or shrinkage and 21% higher productivity.
That’s what a great culture will do for your restaurant.
6. Prioritise communication
Workplace relationships require effective communication, which is particularly important.
For example, employee feedback is best delivered verbally and in person. You can pass other messages electronically.
Many small businesses still use paper or verbal requests for time off, which they can easily forget. Improved communication systems boost employee performance.
So, what communication systems should you utilise in your restaurant?
Employees in your restaurant may benefit from business instant messaging.
How?
If restaurant employees want to switch shifts or request a half-day off, they can contact you instantly.
You can use Talk Magnet to send and receive messages instantly.
Talk Magnet is an instant messaging app that meets all your communication needs.
It’s designed to make business communication easy and handy. It offers voice and video chats, file-sharing, and group messaging features.
Reduce your restaurant turnover and retain top talent with Talk Magnet
Now you understand how to reduce employee turnover with these 6 tips:
- Committed managers
- Fair pay
- Right hires
- On-the-job training
- Supportive workplace culture
- Good communication
Remember, smooth communication is the ultimate key to keeping your staff happy and retaining your employees.
You can achieve this by getting the best team communication app for enterprise businesses.
Our pick is Talk Magnet – the handy and affordable communication solution for teams of all sizes.
So, schedule a demo or sign up for free to experience it firsthand.
