Restaurant Employee Lifecycle: 6 Ways To Optimize Them

Understanding the details of the restaurant employee lifecycle is a critical issue since the turnover rate in the hospitality industry is almost 73%. It means that nearly three fourth of restaurant employees leave. And organizations are bound to find new workers — preferably, as soon as possible and with relevant knowledge and skills.

What Is the Restaurant Employee Lifecycle? 

To better understand what employees in the hospitality industry go through, let’s begin with their lifecycle. It covers the entire relationships between an employer and an employee. There are seven stages of the restaurant employee life cycle:

1. Attraction – Prospects form an impression of a restaurant and learn information from different sources.
2. Recruitment – The stage when a prospect sends an application, undergoes an interview, and gets hired or rejected.
3. Onboarding – Once you hire a candidate, they must understand the specifics of work in the restaurant. That’s the moment when a restaurant manager establishes relationships with the employee.
4. Retention – The stage can be one of the longest since an employer frequently retains an employee while working in the restaurant.
5. Development – The stage links to the retention one. It focuses on learning and development – opportunities for the employee in the restaurant.
6. Offboarding – it’s the last impression the employee has about the restaurant. It’s better to remain “good friends” since the ex-employee is your ambassador on the labor market.
7. Happy leavers – A never-ending stage: staying in touch with ex-employees.

Once we understand the nature of the employee lifecycle, let’s find out what you can do to optimize the crucial stages.

1. Work Out a Strong Restaurant Culture

A restaurant’s brand (their reputation on the labor market and their employee value proposition) plays a crucial part in communication between employers and employees. These details are especially relevant in the early stages since a well-thought HR brand attracts relevant employees who share the same values and beliefs. Building a healthy restaurant culture, in turn, leads to higher involvement in work and developed enthusiasm. According to Gallup, these two elements make up the notion of engaged employees. It’s only logical that higher engagement leads to higher retention.

2. Resolve Hiring Issues

More restaurateurs claim that hiring is their biggest challenge. To succeed in hiring, it’s better to delegate the job to a professional rather than a hardly competent HR manager. A professional should work out a restaurant job listing that will tune your core values to prospects. You also have to specify the position to understand what they must do if being accepted.

3. Practice Advanced Leadership

Leaders inspire employees. Advanced leadership is a crucial step when it comes to restaurant employee retention. Leaders should show meaning in work, leverage connection, and convert fear and stress into opportunities during the onboarding and retention stages. Generally, a leader should focus on overall organizational health. Their job is to motivate and inspire employees and maintain integrity, assess, and manage risks. All this contributes to favorable working conditions.

4. Implement a Tech-Element

Restaurant technology is becoming key to an unforgettable employee experience. HR systems with rewards and bonuses maintain a competitive environment among colleagues. Therefore, waiters are more motivated to provide better service and become a corporate leaderboard leader. At the same time, technologies provide better working conditions. They can reduce the workload of a manager or a waiter. Therefore, restaurant technology minimizes employee turnover.

5. Get Accustomed with The Pain Points

You should adjust your HR activities per restaurant employees’ feedback. One of the best stages to collect this feedback is during offboarding. Work out a questionnaire that covers the working environment. Let employees respond freely, without predetermined answers. Their feedback will help to get more meaningful insights. After that, you can analyze the answers and find the pain points. Identifying these obstacles will help to improve the working conditions of the existing employees.

6. Give Them a Reason to Stay

According to Bridge’s data, 67% of millennials would leave a position that lacks growth and development opportunities. If you want employees to remain loyal, give them a reason to stay. It’s only logical that they want to know their growth opportunities. They should understand the structure of an organization and how to get a promotion.

Optimizing Restaurant Employee Lifecycle — Concluded

These six steps will help you to tackle high employee turnover and make your restaurant a better place to work. Which one do you find the most effective? Want to learn more about hiring your ideal restaurant dream team? Read our guide below!

Hiring Restaurant Staff: Building Your Dream Team

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About the Author

Yuriy Moshes is the CEO of mosheslaw.com and an attorney with broad expertise. He has two bachelor’s degrees. Being an experienced expert, he is considered one of the most in-demand specialists in the employment law field.