Fast food restaurants are known for having a high employee turnover. Working in fast food is usually considered as a temporary job and managers have a constant pressure to recruit new staff. While you will always have some employees who consider their job as temporary, there are ways you can improve morale and reduce employee turnover in your restaurant.
How to reduce employee turnover in fast food restaurants:
- Provide fair work schedules
- Reward hard workers
- Have an 'open door' policy
- Provide plenty of training
- Add variety to work schedules
- Show career development opportunities
- Create a fun and safe working environment
Provide fair work schedules
Organising work shifts for all your staff is time consuming, especially when employees ask for holidays or alternative shifts. But one way you can help encourage employees to stay longer is by trying your best to meet their needs.
As many of your employees will likely be students or teenagers, they will likely be working to fund their social lives. Even if they're hard workers, they're probably not invested in their job and if they start to think their job is interrupting their life outside of work, they could end up looking for an alternative job.
When an employee asks to take a holiday or have a different shift, try your best to accommodate them. While it's understandable you can't always meet their needs, tell your staff they should give you at least a week's notice so you can alter work schedules.
Reward hard workers
Feeling unappreciated is a common reason why employees decide to leave. As a manager, it's your responsibility to oversee your employees' happiness. Reward hard workers.
This is why having an Employee of the Month is a good way of celebrating an excellent member of the team. Every month you can celebrate hard workers and provide gifts (like gift vouchers or holidays) so people feel like they have been rewarded.
Have an 'open door' policy
When you're looking for ways on how to reduce employee turnover in fast food restaurants, just by being approachable can do wonders for your turnover. A bad manager is a common reason why many employees decide to leave. If employees feel like you're making it difficult to work then they will feel like they have no other choice but to work elsewhere.
Be a great manager! Make an effort with your staff, get to know them and encourage them to speak to you when they have a problem. This will give you the opportunity to fix any problems they have.
Provide plenty of training
While you can get a job in a fast food company fresh from high school, employees are expected to have lots of responsibilities from the first day they start. If this is their first job, it can be nerve-wracking and stressful. Managers need to provide training for their employees and if necessary, provide extra sessions if an employee is struggling to understand the process.
Add variety to work schedules
Being responsible for grilling burgers for eight hours is incredibly boring. If that's an employee's main role every week, they could become unhappy in their job and decide to look for employment that has more variety. It's important you offer variety to your staff's working week so they are working on different stations. Move people around every few hours so they don't have time to get bored.
Show career development opportunities
Many people think working in fast food is a temporary occupation but in many companies there are career development schemes available. When you have monthly meetings with your staff, let them know about any approaching schemes. Some people might be interested in the opportunity and want to further their career with the company.
Create a fun and safe working environment
For many employees, they may not necessarily enjoy their job but they do love the restaurant. By making your restaurant a fun place to work, more staff will be happy to stay. If they have concerns about their job, they will more likely go to you for advice rather than just handing in their notice.
Along with creating a fun work environment, it's also your responsibility to ensure it's a safe place to work. Make sure health and safety is properly followed. Encourage employees to invest in slip-resistant footwear for work to help reduce in slips, trips and falls.
Old School Low Rider IV: is popular with fast food staff.
Slip-resistant work shoes for managers
Stay safe at work with your own slip-resistant shoes. At Shoes For Crews (Europe) Ltd., we provide high quality slip-resistant work shoes for managers. Made to a high standard, our professional footwear look smart, provide excellent support and possess incredible slip-resistant grip on slippery surfaces.
Have you seen our latest catalogue?