Pittsburgh, PA � May 2003 � Swirled within the scroll of personal faxes that I receive, a business associate sent me a copy of a news article regarding anticipated restaurant labor shortages which is being projected as a result of many new restaurant chains scouting the area. The article also discussed how chains, recently, are almost universally adding profit-sharing and stock to attract and retain long-term employees nationwide.

And that is not all chains are doing. What was not published is that other lures � such as cash sign-on agreements, hefty incentive bonuses, contests with magnificent prizes, unique employment agreements, team-building outings, generous expense accounts, etc., are being offered as well. Not just nationwide, but in certain markets, on a management level, worldwide.

Hardly news, right? Wrong. This should be a BIG reminder to independent restaurant owners who haven�t considered new recruitment and employee retention strategies. The larger message is to be cognizant of continued increasing competition for professional foodservice labor at every level and all segments. As the labor shortage continues, owners must find ways to have and to hold those employee stewards who are pivotal to the continued success of their businesses.

• Right now, you can�t afford NOT to take care of your employees. You may lose your staff if you do not open up the coffers and stop deliberating over whether or not you should co-pay employee health plan A or B and add it to the benefits package for your management staff. Now is time, if you never did, to award vacation days for years served and give should-be salaried employees real salaries, instead of having them punch a time clock and nickel and dime them over 20 minutes. It is also the time to make the work place alive with other incentives to stay such as either providing uniforms or an allowance and holding contests to bonus exceptional employees � particularly those employees who drive sales, no matter what their employment level is within your organization.
• Consider a �Job Sharing� initiative for otherwise needed full-time employees. This could be the subject of an article unto itself, but essentially it involves one position shared by two employees, giving each work partner better work time flexibility. For the owner/operator, job sharing provides the strength and balance of the skills of two professionals and necessary back-up if both employees are able to work. Suggesting this in the past has resulted in comments such as, �Oh, I don�t want to get involved with all of that and start any kind of trend.� Or, �I just need one good person full-time and it�s too complicated to do the schedule that way.� The best reply: �Are you nuts? I can�t find one person and now you want me to find two.� An adequately developed and promoted flextime working partnership program, specifically suited to your restaurant and reviewed by your attorney, may provide an additional way to fill scheduling gaps.
• We are in the food business and the least we can do is serve our staff what we would choose to eat ourselves. I was in attendance at a reception in a very fine restaurant and overheard one of the wait staff say, �Wonder what Chef has in the trough for us today?� All the other servers burst into laughter. Your employees work hard and after a seven hour event should not have to stand single file, soup-line fashion, for your leftover version of �Create-A-Meal� in an unkempt dining room. Another owner I met allows staff to choose menu items based on position and/or years of service, but only if they work six hours or more, even though the majority of the staff are not scheduled six hours. The same owner wondered why expensive entrees were regularly missing when he took a day off. The one day, onsite �pilferage investigation� revealed his employees were eating.
• Your wait staff is not your restaurant�s maintenance department. Shoveling snow, ironing linens, replacing light bulbs, fixing appliances, asking staff to run errands in their own vehicles and so on, without being compensated additionally, will discourage any employee from staying at your operation.
• Let your employees know you care about them every day. Take time to get to know them and bond with them. Invite one or two employees at a time to your box at the stadium for a game or to enjoy a meal at another restaurant. Take them all on an interesting employee outing. Involve them in your business decision-making process. Assist them in their own personal struggles and demonstrate empathy. And, of course, tell them all directly and openly how much you appreciate their many contributions.

Maren L. Hickton is the principal of Maren Incorporated, a hospitality consulting company based in Pittsburgh, PA. Maren can be contacted by e-mail at mareninc@aol.com or by phone at (412) 833-4639.

Maren Incorporated
320 Zara Street
Pittsburgh, PA
Phone: 412-833-4639
Fax: 412-885-8280
www.mareninc.com|