Reducing Staff Turnover

Let's talk about reducing staff turnovers in your restaurant business today. Restaurants tend to be notorious for high staff turnover rates but, they don't have to be. Wouldn't you love keeping your greatest Chefs, bartenders, servers and other high producing staff? Sure you would and we can give you our best advice on how to reduce staff turnovers for you and your business.


The cost of high staff turnovers and what it means for your restaurant:
     ~ Each time a staff member leaves your business, you're down one member of the team. This causes others to have to do more tasks, take on more responsibilities and will often cause poor morale amount the group.
     ~ Oftentimes, when employees are friends or are dating (which is even worse), when one employee leaves your business their friend also follows suit leaving you with now two empty job positions to fill. 
     ~ You then have to re-advertise for additional help and that costs time and money.
     ~ It takes additional time and investment to interview more candidates for the job opening all the while your current staff is getting bogged down with additional chores they probably aren't happy about.
     ~ It may cost additional money in salary and wages to bring on a new person to fill the vacant position.
     ~ When you find another staff member to fill the opening, it now costs more time in training to get them into the position and learn the ropes of your business.
      ~ Don't forget that the ex-employee is now probably working for one of your competitors and could very well be sharing your company information and secrets.
     ~ You may also lose important customers if the staff member that leaves had a loyal following of customers that will follow them to their new job and location.

So what can you do to retain the best employees? There aren't any guarantees that employees will stay loyal to your business but, with these key points in mind, you can make a difference and keep loyal employees on the payroll for a long time.

How to Reduce Staff Turnovers:

     Retaining employees starts at the interview process.  You're going to want to make sure to ask the right types of questions to potential employees to find out from the start if they'll make a good fit for your type of restaurant work, the pace, their motivation and their plans for long term employment. This is when you'll want to tell potential employees about your policies and procedures so they know from the start what is expected of them.  Review our tips on how to create a policy and procedure manual for your restaurant.

   Here are Eight Ways to Retain Employees you can start using today:

     Communicate your policies, plans, wants, company motto and goals to employees so that they can get on board with your ideas and implement them as their own. We hold a daily 'round up' meeting with the staff to explain anything new, give ideas to upsell, offer ways to reduce our inventory and offer an opportunity for the staff to ask questions and learn more. It's an effective way to communicate with the staff when it's done with everyone at the same time and reduces your one on one meetings. Read our tips on more ways to hire the right team for your start up restaurant.


     Show appreciation of your staff for even the smallest accomplishments. Many studies have been done that show that employees want and need to be shown that they are appreciated for their time, ideas, work ethic and accomplishments. When employees are not appreciated, they often will go elsewhere for work and you'll be back to square one in needing to hire more workers. Go compliment someone on your staff right now!

     Reward your staff for their efforts. We used to shop for items such as art, trinkets etc for the home and then found that was way too much work and effort on our part to keep gifts in house. Then, we got smarter and started using gift cards. We love the amazon gift card that employees can use in any way they like and it's offered from $10 and up and you can choose the card style you like. Get a bunch of them and keep them to give your employees for well accomplished tasks.
          We like to make contests within a certain time frame and for the different departments in our restaurant, say weekly, that help to inspire workers. In your restaurant, why not make contests for the most bottles of wine sold tonight, the most specials sold, the most desserts or any other items you are trying to sell more of. You'll be totally surprised at how great your sales are when the staff is motivated by the potential of winning your gift cards. Wait until you see how competitive your own staff will become with each other as they all try to win the prizes you've created. Keep the prizes a surprise or let them know what they're working towards - both ways have worked well for us so you can decide for yourself. You'll reduce the amount of call offs too, when your staff knows that a contest is in place and the only way they can win, is to be at work producing results!
          Look at your weekly, monthly and quarterly reports of sales and determine when you need to boost sales. Then, choose a big contest and share your idea with the staff so that they can help you when you need that bump in business. Offer a great prize for this contest - one year, we purchased an island home through a charity event and then took our entire staff for the weekend to play on the jet skis, in the pool, had a huge barbeque and an amazing time off was had by all. Do something similar and BIG for your staff and you'll see great rewards in your business.

     Maintain a kind and friendly atmosphere. Employees want to go to work in a calm and friendly work environment and not one that is stressful with yelling and fighting. Deal with problem employees privately and not in the middle of the restaurant for everyone, including customers, to see. Do all you can to keep the environment calm, relaxing, nice and friendly and you'll have better success at retaining employees.

     Make Employees feel Important, they are. Use our ideas on How to Make Business Cards to Boost Sales and make sure you create a business card for each of your staff. They can use them to draw in new business and to build their own clientele list. 

     Money talks! Look at the going rate of wages in your area and don't just match them - Beat them! If you want to hire and retain the best employees, pay better than others do. For example, servers typically earn $2.63 per hour plus tips. Start your new service staff at $3.00 per hour and they'll not only be motivated by money but, they'll also tell their friends in the industry and they'll help you find other key employees to hire.  Do the same for your chefs and kitchen staff, bartenders and managers.Give yearly performance reviews and offer a raise each year for positive reviews, even small raises will be appreciated.

     Recognize potential problems with staff. When your key employees aren't producing the typical results they normally do, take some time to find out what's going on with them and offer your help if you can. Everyone has bad days and you can't afford it when your key employees bring their baggage into work affecting sales. Find out what's wrong and sometimes, just talking to these employees can make a big difference in their attitude and the outcome is beneficial to you and the employee.

     Provide your restaurant with the Best Commercial Restaurant and Bar Equipment in order to keep the best staff. Good culinary and service workers want equipment that is in good working order, works efficiently, safely and effectively and doesn't break down on a weekly basis. Use our link above as we've shared our best tips on getting the right pieces of equipment in your bar or restaurant so that your staff will love working with and for you.

     Be a good role model in your restaurant. When your staff sees you working hard to increase sales and business, they're much more likely to follow your example and lead. No one likes to see the boss behind the bar drinking when they're busy trying to stay afloat of all the chores that need done. Be there and share your ideas and suggestions to your staff and you'll notice that they are more likely to want to be a part of your restaurant. It works so get to work yourself!

Handle with Care: Motivating and Retaining Employees is a worthwhile read for you and all your managers that could benefit from tips to hire and keep your top performing employees. Get it, read it and share with your team! Making investments in yourself and your employees is good for everyone and for your bottom line.

   Best wishes retaining your best employees, share your comments or questions below. 
Until next time, Cheers!