Best Way to Hire Restaurant Employees: 8 Mistakes to Avoid
Besides your customers, your staff is the lifeline of your restaurant. So, it’s important to treat your employees well. However, you might be making certain mistakes that will be bad for them.
What’s the best way to hire restaurant employees? And better yet, what’s the best way to retain them?
In this guide, we’ll talk about the common mistakes restaurant owners make when hiring and handling employees. That way, you can learn how to manage restaurant employees effectively.
1. Unclear Job Description 🗒
Restaurant staff have to do various tasks. You need to post a clear job description that clearly describes the responsibilities and goals of the role.
Without it, your employees will become confused about their job. They won’t know how to contribute well to your restaurant, stopping them from being productive.
Plus, unclear job descriptions can contribute to high employee turnover. Unhappy staff won’t stick around, so you need to make it clear what they will be doing in their day-to-day.
You should also post job openings on multiple channels, including social media, job boards, and more. That way, job seekers will find your business easily.
2. Insufficient Training 🤔
Whether your employees are experienced or not, you need to provide ongoing training. Onboarding training during the hiring process is not enough on its own. Your staff are human beings, and there’s a chance they’ll forget the things taught when they first arrived. Allocate time for training and upskilling, or at least a refresher course.
Source: LinkedIn
Not only will training help your staff get clarity on their job, but it will also enhance their skill set. It benefits the business as a whole.
Also, you should provide regular feedback on your staff’s work. If you let them know they can ask you anything about their job, there won’t be any confusion.
3. Communicating Poorly 🗣
Communication is the key to your restaurant’s success. A restaurant business is like a well-oiled machine with a lot of moving part. Each part needs to know its role in order for the machine to work properly.
Hold regular meetings to update your staff on the company’s goals so they can help you achieve them. If they know what goals to work toward, they can implement them in day-to-day restaurant operations.
Ask your restaurant team for comments and suggestions, too. They might see aspects of your business you haven’t noticed. When you open the floor to your staff and let your employees know they can talk to you, it will do wonders for your business.
4. Not Promoting Internally 🧑🏻🍳
When you need to fill a higher position, make sure you promote internally instead of hiring external candidates. By doing this, your staff will see that they have room for growth and will be loyal to you as well.
For example, if you want to hire an executive chef, consider training and promoting the sous chef. You will be surprised to see how many qualified candidates are right under your nose!
It will also save you time and money. Job posting in itself can be costly. Training external candidates can be expensive. But, because your staff already know the restaurant like the back of their hand, you can conserve valuable resources.
5. No Staff Appreciation ❤️
If you want to reduce employee turnover, it’s crucial to show your staff that you appreciate them. You can do this my complimenting them when they’re right and correcting them when they’re wrong.
You can also consider giving out awards, like employee of the month, attendance rewards, or bonuses for staying in their role for extended periods of time.
Alongside individual awards, consider implementing team building exercises and company days out to help your staff gel.
6. Improper Delegation of Tasks 😣
To help reduce the workload of some employees, you need to delegate tasks to those who can handle them properly. Providing them with more responsibilities shows you can trust them, and it will help improve their skills and knowledge.
However, you need to ensure that you don’t overload your staff with work because they may have a burnout – and that benefits nobody!
7. No Flexible Schedules 🕜
The restaurant industry is demanding, and some employees work very long hours. Because of this, they don’t have a healthy work-life balance. This can easily lead to burnout.
By offering flexible employee schedules and having an overtime policy in place, you can reduce overworking and provide more rest to your employees. Happy employees are productive ones, so keep this in mind when setting a rota.
8. Low Compensation 💰
If possible, provide your staff with market rate or higher salaries. This way, they won’t easily resign when they find another role that pays higher. By doing this, you’ll also save time and money hiring and training replacements.
The restaurant industry has a huge turnover rate, with roughly 75% churn.
When faced with low wages and long hours, many staff will leave restaurant jobs for something more fulfilling.
By making an effort to compensate employees, you will build loyalty and satisfaction. Plus, you’ll build long-lasting relationships with skilled and productive staff.
How to Motivate Restaurant Employees 😁
There are plenty of ways to motivate your employees. Try using the following suggestions:
Motivating your staff is about fostering a positive company culture that employees want to be a part of. An employee-centric mindset will help you keep employees happy and retain staff.
Summing up: Best Way to Hire Restaurant Employees
It’s not easy to own a restaurant. But, when you avoid these common mistakes, your business can grow and reach the peak of its success. It’s essential to prioritize your employees and make them feel valued. By offering bonuses, incentives, career paths, and more, you can motivate staff to work hard.
Use this guide as a checklist to make sure you’re on the right track. Avoid these common mistakes, and you’ll make your staff happy in no time!
If you need a one-stop shop for managing employee workload, check out Tommy to see how it can revolutionize your workplace scheduling.
- Best Way to Hire Restaurant Employees: 8 Mis
- 1. Unclear Job Description
- 2. Insufficient Training
- 3. Communicating Poorly
- 4. Not Promoting Internally
- 5. No Staff Appreciation
- 6. Improper Delegation of Tasks
- 7. No Flexible Schedules
- 8. Low Compensation
- How to Motivate Restaurant Employees
- Summing up: Best Way to Hire Restaurant Employees
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