Employee turnover in the hospitality industry hovers around 74 percent, making staffing a perennial challenge for operators. While employee compensation and benefits are important to attracting staff, they may not have as much power as more human elements of employee retention. That came through during a panel discussion at the National Restaurant Association Show earlier this year, where restaurant operators with higher-than-average retention rates spoke about how they find and keep talent. As Foodservice Director reported about the discussion, operators emphasized the importance of figuring out your message before recruiting, having a people-first mentality, and offering a clear career path. Operators who do this know and understand their brand purpose and message before hiring, ensure employees know what the business stands for, and illustrate how each employee’s role contributes to that message. They lift up the team over the individual, taking politics out of the equation by supporting each person’s value to the team. They also prioritize hiring from within and showing each person a roadmap of where the job can lead.
In a recent podcast, Ed Daugherty, executive campus chef/regional director of dining at the University of Tulsa, demonstrated how he uses all of these approaches – and has achieved 71 percent employee retention as a result. During a multi-part candidate interview process, he focuses on the organization’s core values and on finding candidates who possess related traits: friendliness, teachability, and a “willingness to do the next right thing” over cooking skills, for example. As soon as an employee is hired, they are wrapped in the message that they belong there – through pre-shift huddles, promotion of employee wins, the sharing of staff ideas and feedback with management, the celebration of employee milestones, and the use of multiple communication channels to share ideas and promote staff successes. Each month, managers nominate employees of the month for a random gift drawing and must explain why the person is valuable to the team. Their comments are shared with the employee whether they win or not – and winners come from across the larger foodservice operation at the university, highlighting roles and opportunities that employees can consider in their longer-term career plan.

It’s a challenging task for any service business: How can you best attract, retain and allocate workers while meeting highly variable demand from guests? Cross-training workers to handle a range of tasks can help you manage the variability of business and make jobs feel more worthwhile to staff, though there can be a downside to it. According to a Harvard Business School study, cross-training may lead to a lack of ownership or specialization if not managed thoughtfully. It’s best when applied in ways that are aimed at improving service and job quality – and not necessarily applied across the board. The study cites examples of how several foodservice businesses have used cross-training to zero in on bottlenecks and adapt on the fly to demands. Case in point: Moe’s Original BBQ once had a clear boundary between front- and back-of-house teams that made it challenging to handle high-demand periods. But by cross-training the teams on certain tasks, like answering phones, serving food, bagging to-go orders, restocking the line and preparing basic sides, the business made it easier for the full team to manage during busy shifts. Having some overlap helps each group get to know the other better and understand what they do, making them more motivated to help each other out. It can also provide staff with a glimpse into other areas of the business that they might want to pursue – and reasons to stay with you.