Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - November/December 2023 - 9

car? " could be deemed as discriminatory, as car ownership
falls under " financial information. " Instead, you can ask
" Do you have a reliable way to get to and from work? "
* Avoid unconscious biases that may influence your
judgment. For example, you may have had poor
experiences with millennial employees in the past, and
thus assume most millennials will perform poorly. Try
to let go of these biases before interviewing. Evaluate
candidates solely based on their actual qualifications,
skills, and responses to questions.
Develop Employee Retention Strategies
Once you've got the employee in the
door, it's time to keep them there!
According to the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, the Accommodation
and Food Services industry has
had the highest quit rate of any
industry sector since mid-2021,
consistently above 4.9 percent.
This is far higher than the national
average of approximately 2.6
percent, illustrating a need for
better retention strategies.
An older systematic review in Work:
a journal of prevention, assessment,
and rehabilitation identified nine
factors that employees considered
part of a healthy and sustainable
workplace:
1. Collaboration and teamwork. This creates a sense of
camaraderie among employees, making them feel part
of a cohesive unit and touching on our innate desire for
belonging. A strong team means that employees can rely
on each other when it comes to workload and support. This
creates a less stressful working environment, which may
be linked to job satisfaction and retention.
2. Growth and development of the individual. This starts
with your new hire's first day on the job with a good
onboarding process. It's easy to gloss over this when
you're busy or short-staffed, but it's key for employees
to feel adequately prepared and comfortable with their
responsibilities. It's also important to provide regular
training and in-services to continuously improve your
department.
Thinking bigger, you can also offer additional
opportunities for professional development. Do you have
employees who hope to obtain their CDM, CFPP credential?
Perhaps you can cover those training costs. Professional
development helps with retention while an employee
is completing the program and may enhance their
performance.
PROPER RECOGNITION
helps employees feel valued
and makes them want to stay at
their job. Even among employees
with high intrinsic motivation,
research noted that verbal praise
still enhances motivation.
3. Recognition. Proper recognition helps employees feel
valued and makes them want to stay at their job. Even
among employees with high intrinsic motivation, research
in Behavior Analysis noted that verbal praise still enhances
motivation. Give authentic and specific praise to your
employees when it's deserved, both
informally and during performance
reviews.
Recognition could also refer to
compensation bumps and promotion
opportunities. Remember, pay is
currently the number one reason
that younger employees quit.
Performance-based increases
can help combat this, but it
can be difficult to pitch this to
administration. One selling point:
if you have exceptional employees
that can (and want to) handle more
responsibility, increasing their pay
with added responsibility likely costs
less than hiring and training another
employee.
4. Employee involvement. Employee involvement seems
straightforward in food service-every employee obviously
has specific duties that must be done each day. But
involvement can also mean engagement in their work
and feeling that they can contribute to the department's
success. Engagement creates fulfillment that leads to
longer retention.
Engagement can be difficult, but not impossible, to
cultivate. Try to include employees in problem-solving
processes, encourage them to share their perspectives,
and ask for regular feedback. Offer opportunities for
skill development and professional growth, as described
earlier. Making them feel truly valued in the organization
can cultivate a sense of loyalty.
NUTRITION & F OOD SER VICE EDGE | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023 9
Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - November/December 2023

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