The biggest fear of restaurant owners is the flow of employees and their retention in their businesses.

It’s the lack of incoming workers to fill in openings in restaurants that is worrying employers. With the rise of technological jobs and wide virtual opportunities, working at restaurants for a part time job after school or university is becoming less appealing to this young generation. 

Restaurateurs are struggling to find employees and it’s either hired people don’t show up for their jobs or they quit pretty quickly.

Employers aren’t even quite certain about the reason for this shortage.

They are going above and beyond though to avoid this shortage and to keep their good performers.

Employers are being innovative in their onboarding and training sessions for their employees for this purpose.

They need to focus on training because it reflects their values towards employees.

Skill-based training shows your employees a culture of empowerment which they need the most for their continuity.

Benefits of training your employees periodically 

“Employees are as good as the training they receive”.

And guess what?

 It’s totally true!

Imagine giving your employees tasks that they’re not aware of or asking them to upsell without teaching them smart techniques to do it.

Retains staff

The job field is evolving a lot even in the hospitality sector. Restaurant Employees are no longer looking for a temporary fix to earn some extra pocket money.

Employees are now looking for something steadier with room of improvement and development.

Training offers your employees this sense of self-achievement and worth. They feel appreciated and valued so they are more likely to stick at their jobs.

It creates a learning culture pushing employees forward. 

Attracts new employees

Employee training builds a reputation for your restaurant and this reputation brings in potentiel workers to your business.

Potential employees are always looking for restaurants that value their employees. Training is one of the factors that reflects and shows this. 

In this manner, you’ll be attracting the employees that are more interested in acquiring a permanent job.

Improves operations 

A well trained team knows what is required to get the tasks done and knows how to get things done in the most efficient way. 

Trained employees work in coherence to accomplish their jobs. They enhance overall work performance and procedures and lead to better operations. 

Helps in upselling

Only properly trained employees can upsell and increase your income. When getting the proper training, employees master upselling techniques because they’re simply fond of ingredients and platters. They are trained to deal with customers and know when to upsell and when to stop.

Training tips to attract and retain employees 

Constant feedback

You cannot train this generation’s employees like you used to do earlier.

Millennials expect different ways of learning and respond to different approaches.

You can’t just train an employee to work as a waiter and then just drop him in your dining area without feedback.

They need more collaborative work to improve their performance. 

They expect regular feedback on their training sessions, on their progress and on the training effectiveness overall.

Set specific goals over the course of the training for a period of time and whenever you reach the end of the specified time, give them constructive feedback showing them their achievements and what they still lack.

Play games

Millennials are more interested in creative training. 

Have you ever heard of taboo game?

Well, if not it’s maybe time to do so.

Taboo is a game similar to charades but with talking.

Employees can guess the names of dishes without saying it.

This game can be played among employees about menu descriptions where they become fond of the ingredients and allergic items.

For a cocktail, you can tell them a refreshing drink with a certain amount of alcohol in it and it contains mango. For a steak platter you can tell them a main dish item served with a special sauce.

Pop quizzes

Another way to create staff engagement is through pop quizzes.

Give them a pop quiz related to new menu additions, new allergens, biggest customers and your different menu categories.

Which item is a star? Which one is a puzzle?

These quizzes should be periodic to test employees’ continuous engagement.

Do you have a night on specials? 

Set 10 or 15 minutes to train your employees on the specials, maybe give them historical information about the origin of the dish and its benefits in addition to the basic knowledge that they should have about the ingredients.

This way, you keep your employees informed and interested in their jobs. 

Know your employees

You can’t treat all your employees equally!

Some of your employees are overachievers and some of them need a little push to go above and beyond.

It’s your job to know your employees and give them training accordingly.

You might realise that certain employees need more training than the others or you might realise that employees respond differently to training so instead of wasting money on useless mass training, you can personalize it to be more effective. 

Role play 

We’re back to playing games but role playing is essential to observe your employees' reaction to usual and unusual restaurant situations.

Have all your employees, the potential and the existing ones take part in this game. Face them with situations where they have to deal with rude customers or demanding customers.

Have your staff role play a conflict among them so you see how the new ones might handle a conflict with their colleagues.

How do back of house employees deal with a wrong order that needs a replacement? How do they deal with a wrong order or with sudden peak times?

These group activities give them real life examples and set their expectations.

POS training

As we said earlier, this generation is all about technology and luckily we have all the tools for it.

Your employees need a fun yet fruitful POS training. Have them fill others’ orders with different situations such as voids and discounts or gift cards.

A verbal test on the knowledge they acquired about the POS is helpful as well.

Hiring staff for your restaurant isn’t an easy task to do anymore. This process is challenging and requires you to go above and beyond just like the employees you’re trying to attract. 

Offer them a healthy and fair environment where they are valued and where they can make progress on their career path not to mention attractive pay and benefits.