Restaurants are still touting hiring and retention as their biggest headaches. In a free webinar titled “Three Steps to Level Up Your People Strategy” sponsored by HR platform HourWork and hosted by Networld Media Group, Jack Hannah, vice president of HourWork, took a look at why employees quit and what makes them stay.
HourWork serves more than 10,000 restaurants and has had more than 3.2 million text conversations with employees. The brand has also delivered and audited more than 80,000 exit surveys and has spoken to thousands of restaurant owners.
Hannah said the top five reasons team members have quit restaurant jobs in the past 12-plus months include: managers; scheduling; wages; the work environment and their teammates.
“The number one thing I’d like to point out with this (is that) managers come up twice as often as almost anything else including wages,” Hannah said, adding that HourWork hears that employees are leaving for 50 cents to $1 in wage increases. “The reality is that is happening, but it’s happening less often than people might think. It’s only about 10%-11% of the time. Far and away, the most common reason why people actually leave one of these jobs is because of their manager.”
Hannah said good managers are the face of the business and help drive the performance and the feeling of what it’s actually like to work at any individual location. It can be difficult to hire good managers or train current staff members to manage a team.
So what can you do to level up your people strategy?
First, automate team member outreach so managers can focus on solving problems instead of only identifying them. HourWork sees an increase in retention of 25% or more when this is done.
Second, brainstorm solutions and create action plans, turning feedback from employees into results.
Finally, don’t wait until someone is hired — start this process with candidates. Asking them what they want from your position allowed you to sell them on your company, which is critical as restaurants fight for the same pool of applicants.
“Labor for some folks has been getting better, but there’s still twice as many jobs as folks willing to work them,” Hannah added.
Click here to view this free webinar.
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
