Good help is hard to find, even in the best of times. Acquiring managers and personnel for a restaurant is more complex than ever before. With tougher competition and fewer qualified applicants, restaurant owners are finding it increasingly hard to fill roles. Not to mention the fact that worker turnover is at an unprecedented level.
Add in a pandemic, growing overhead expenses, and “the great resignation” to the mixture, it’s easy to understand why so many restaurants are having a difficult time discovering (and preserving) loyal employees. What can a restaurant owner or manager do in the face of these obstacles? How can you locate dependable staff who can give (both literally and figuratively) the quality of service and food that your restaurant is known for?
Lots of restaurants and other hospitality businesses are having a hard time getting workers who fit their brand qualities. However, there is still a big pool of talented candidates out there for managers and restaurant owners who are willing to adjust their techniques. Yes, it’s a competitive marketplace, but with the proper approach and hiring methods, you can make your restaurant a great workplace, attract excellent job applicants, and create a remarkable team.
It might be beneficial to recognize and identify why there is an assumed “labor shortage.” Knowing this will help you tackle the underlying issues and make the restaurant a more desirable place to work for both new and existing staff.
Let’s look at the current challenges in restaurant recruiting and what strategies can help you beat them so you can keep on recruiting, supporting, and preserving top talent on your team.
Challenges Restaurants Face When Recruiting
It is not only the pandemic that has caused a lack of restaurant workers; problems leading to high staff turnover have been developing for years. In 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found a five-year high of 75% annual turnover rate. Of course, the pandemic has made this labor shortage much more pronounced. With the extra strain on restaurant employees to abide by health and safety protocols and the risk of any job involving face-to-face interaction with the public, workers are becoming exhausted and leaving their positions.
Here is a UC Berkeley study carried out between October 2020 and May 2021. It revealed some primary factors for restaurant staff leaving their jobs:
- 76% left due to low wages and tips.
- 55% were concerned about COVID protocols and safety.
- 39% reported harassment and hostility from customers.
- 26% left due to harassment from colleagues and management.
- 31% moved to a different industry.
In order to bring in new team members after the pandemic, restaurants need to tackle the standard issues that always lead to turnover. Restaurant managers need to revamp their recruitment process to stay competitive, which requires the use of proper strategies and tools to make their establishment stand out.
One of the ways is to hire a restaurant recruiting agency. They are experts in the industry and have valuable contacts. They’ll help you understand the market trends, salary requirements, and skills necessary to run a successful restaurant.
Keep reading to find out how to upgrade the hiring process, present the restaurant as a desirable place to work, and bring in the right people to form an exceptional team.
Strategies to Optimize your Recruiting Process to Attract Top Talent
Having established why certain individuals are not keen about working in the food service sector, let us explore how your restaurant can effectively draw in talented personnel. After having worked in the restaurant recruitment business for decades, we’ve discovered some approaches to help hire, retain, and support the most capable restaurant staff.
Start With Your Employees
Your personnel knows more than anybody else what makes your restaurant an attractive workplace and what needs to be improved. If your staff is fighting with inconsistent hours , unreliable new employees, and irate customers because of understaffing, that’s a very obvious warning sign for any potential worker.
Invest time in speaking to team members alone and encouraging open communication. Ask for opinions on current working conditions, where staff feel more help is required, and how content they are with their present pay and benefits. For more open-ended reactions, you can phrase the inquiry as, “What could we do differently/better to keep you long-term?” We recommend asking your current employees these questions, as well as anyone who may be resigning. It’s not always possible to do exit interviews in this type of high-turnover sector, but you can motivate feedback with a gift card or discount for future use.
If your staff don’t feel comfortable critiquing your business’s culture face-to-face (or if you want to ensure total honesty), let workers to give anonymous feedback via a website or an online survey.
Create Growth Opportunities for Employees
How often do your restaurant personnel receive raises and/or more responsibility? Do they have any inkling of when their next pay bump will be? Or are they looking at years at minimum wage? Establishing a customary raise schedule and inviting hourly employees to apply for management-level roles are some fantastic methods to retain your current staff. You can also advertise these advantages to applicants during the hiring process. This can increase interest in working at your restaurant. Offering job stability, regular raises, and chances for career advancement can all make your restaurant more alluring to potential staff and help you sustain the great team you have.
Have Something That Makes You Different From Others
Think of what you can offer staff members that sets your restaurant apart from other employers. List out your basic amenities, aka the elements that most other food establishments will be offering to their personnel (e.g., staff discounts, shift meals, and so on). This is where a restaurant recruiting company comes in hand. They know the ins and out of the industry so they can tell you the trends in the market.
Then, examine what you can provide that could make your restaurant unique—these are your special offers. Is it possible to give a higher hourly wage? Health insurance and/or paid time off? These kinds of benefits usually require more effort, so select one or two of them to be excellent at. Better offers lead to a happier and more committed workforce, which in the end translates into an improved dining experience for your visitors.
Create a Timetable With More Predictable Hours
If your restaurant staff are not getting the amount of hours they would like, even if you are paying them well, they may decide to look for a job elsewhere that has more stable hours and income. To prevent losing your employees, you should make sure they are getting the hours they want. A good way to do this is to reduce last-minute shift cancellations. It is common for managers to over-schedule staff in case of no-shows, or send them home early if business is slow. This is not a good way to maintain employee morale and can be punishing to the reliable workers. Instead, try to predict slow days and times in advance and plan the schedules accordingly. Offering a reliable schedule in advance will keep your staff happy and be attractive to new hires.
Create Magnificent (and Precise) Job Descriptions
A job posting should not only provide prospective employees with all the necessary information they need to determine if they meet the job requirements, but should also be inspiring and motivating enough to attract the best applicants. You should use job postings to promote your organization’s culture, advertise the advantages and benefits of working there, and showcase the values your company upholds. Here are some pointers to remember when writing a job description:
- List the duties, responsibilities, and qualifications clearly to get the right talent with the needed qualifications and experience.
- Encourage applicants who haven’t met 100% of the qualifications in order to expand your talent pool. Have some “nice to have qualities” and experiences.
- Be honest about working hours and starting salary in the job ad.
- Sell your restaurant. What makes you stand out as an employer? What are the values, culture and benefits of employees?
- Have a link to your career page, and an application form or email address for them to send their CVs.
Promote Your Job Post to Increase Awareness
If you want to recruit the right employees, you need to make sure they know your job posting is known. Use your social media channels to publicize the job vacancy and post it on online restaurant job boards. You can also list it on LinkedIn, or place a sign in the window of your restaurant. Adding a notice to your website or updating your online menu can let your guests know you are hiring. Some of them may be looking for a job or know someone who would be suitable for the position, as they already have an affinity for your restaurant.
Forge an Alliance With Nearby Culinary Institutes
Working together with local educational institutions is an astute approach for finding regional talent. If you have a culinary school in your area, connect with officials from the career services or alumni relations divisions. Inquire whether they organize job fairs (either virtual or on-campus) and discover how your restaurant can take part. If the school has a pre-arranged job board for alumni, ask about submitting an employment opportunity. Think of offering internships to students and urge recent graduates to apply for open roles in your kitchen.
Have a Referral Program
Experienced personnel in the restaurant industry are more likely to know people looking for a job. Unfortunately, people are unlikely to make a recommendation unless some kind of reward is offered. To motivate your employees to bring in new recruits from their network, launch an employee referral program. You can offer a bonus to the staff member who recommends a successful new hire. For example, Chipotle offers a bonus of $200 to its employees for referring a new team member and $750 for apprentices and restaurant general managers. Besides cash, you can also provide staff members with restaurant-related items, extra time off, gift cards, or even priority scheduling for the next two weeks as an incentive for referring new talent.
Simplify the Application Process
When a person spots a job listing on social media and clicks the link, they should not have to wait until they are at home or on a computer to submit their application. If an individual sees your job advertisement but finds it difficult to apply, you have lost the chance of hiring them. Avoid this by ensuring that your website and job page appear great on mobile devices, are easy to navigate, and plainly state which jobs you are actively recruiting for. Keep your job page updated so you can fill vacant positions as quickly as possible.
Go Digital
If you want to employ the top talent in the restaurant industry, you have to use technology. The best potential candidates want to work with restaurants that offer great experiences both in-person and digitally. Finding qualified people is one task that can be simplified using the right tech. Here are some ways technology can help in all aspects of running a business:
- One can use tech to speed up and streamline the hiring process and simplify operations in the restaurant so your staff aren’t overwhelmed.
- Offer guests convenience and consistency. Tech allows restaurants to have a contactless ordering process and create interactive online menus.
- The morale and productivity of your staff increases if the restaurant runs like a well-oiled machine.
As you’ve seen, investing in technology is advantageous to everyone involved; owners, managers, workers and even customers.
This article was published by LevelUp Recruiting LLC.
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