Restaurant employee turnover has always been an issue within the hospitality industry. However, we’ve seen a significant increase over the years – a plethora of restaurant employees have quit because of low pay, inefficient benefits, burnout, and more.
Although some factors are out of the operator’s control, there are specific areas that can be fine-tuned to improve staff retention. To help you out, here are some tips on keeping your restaurant staff happy and content with their roles.
9 Tips to Improve Staff Retention
1. Set Realistic Expectations During the Hiring Process
As an employer, you might feel the urge to entice applicants with attractive offers. However, it’s crucial to provide realistic expectations on job postings and interviews to ensure that you and the applicant are on the same page.
Remember: adding extra hours, responsibilities, or processes outside of what they were told will easily discourage your staff, ultimately lowering their morale. In addition, this will push them to seek other jobs that deliver what they promise.
2. Offer Salary Increase
Although a standard wage can be offset by normal levels of above-average tips from customers, there’s no way to guarantee it. Therefore, as a resolution, it would be best to offer a salary increase to let your staff know that you appreciate their hard work. It doesn’t need to be a drastic increase; even an additional dollar or two per hour can go a long way to motivate your staff.
3. Provide Better Benefits
In this day and age, providing employees with good benefits is considered the bare minimum. However, according to this survey, only 31% of restaurants offer health insurance to their staff, a grueling statistic amid a global health crisis.
Offer your employees adequate health insurance to make your restaurant stand out from competitors. Plus, here are some other employee benefits you may look into:
- Paid sick leave
- Paid vacation leave
- Stipends for childcare
- Free meals
- Education assistance program
- Cash bonuses
4. Make Your Staff Feel Appreciated
It’s no secret that the hospitality industry demands long hours, tedious work, and irregular scheduling. So don’t add salt to the wound by disregarding your employees’ continuous efforts to do their roles well.
Instead, acknowledge the efforts they put into their assigned tasks. Whenever possible, praise your employees by honoring the value of their hard work. By managing your restaurant staff with utmost appreciation, your employees are more likely to work harder.
5. Provide Opportunities for Professional Growth
Did you know that organizations with strong learning cultures yield 30-50% higher engagement retention rates? You’re showing restaurant employees that you believe in their potential by providing them with various opportunities for professional growth.
And as an employer, it’s essential to know that professional development isn’t limited to job promotions. It also encompasses effective training and taking on new tasks to further improve their skills.
6. Value Mental Health
Restaurant workers experience burnout due to being stressed and overworked, and your employees are no exception. To help them out, make sure to value their mental health by:
- Providing mental health awareness seminars
- Asking employees’ consent before adding new shifts/schedules to their calendars
- Having regular check-ins with the entire team, both as a group and individually
Although these things won’t completely eradicate your employees’ problems, they will show them that you care.
7. Organize Team Events
It has been proven over time that team building is a critical element of building a healthy company culture and developing stronger relationships among your staff. Because even though it’s important to work hard, having fun is still essential to a good work environment.
8. Practice Healthy Communication
Leaders who want to retain top-performing members should learn more about practical communication skills. By having constant discussions with your staff, you can keep your finger on the pulse of your restaurant.
Here are simple communication practices that will benefit the entire operation:
- Knowing how your employees are feeling
- Providing clear and timely updates on restaurant policies
- Having your staff feel confident and encouraged to speak up
By communicating with your staff in a warm and welcoming tone, they will enjoy working despite the stressful nature of the industry.
9. Streamline Processes Using Technology
Writing long order notes, using paper chits, and manually calculating and splitting bills among different parties should be a thing of the past. Nowadays, restaurant logistics technology is readily available to improve your business’s efficiency and reduce employee stress.
For example:
- Kitchen display systems (KDS) to keep things organized and readable
- Tablets to punch in orders at the table
- Streamlined point-of-sale (POS) terminals to reduce customer checkout times
By incorporating useful technology into your operations, employees will have a lesser headache. Moreover, they’ll have more time to make money by having more time on their hands.
The Takeaway
No matter how much you try, you can’t stop every employee from leaving – it’s one of the unfortunate realities of running a business. However, there are numerous things you can do to create a positive work culture that your employees will surely appreciate.
Take it from us – the best way to run a business is by having a healthy relationship with your employees. Knowing that you’re a reliable boss makes them more likely to stick around during difficult times.
Also, read: 5 Reasons Great Benefits Will Keep Good Employees Around
