Working in the busy sector of hospitality can be extremely taxing on your hard-working team. During peak seasons they will miss out on much needed time with their families, and they may have to deal with difficult customers too. There are so many ways in which your restaurant can use technology to get more organized, from tracking your expenses to managing your staffing schedule, so now is the right time to get on board with all of these innovative ideas. More importantly, technology can also help to keep your staff productive and motivated, which will create a better morale in the workplace. Here are a handful of ways in which you can boost the morale of your staff members.
- Give Plenty of Notice for Their Shifts
Your employees have a social and family life outside of work, so you have a duty of care to make sure they know their shifts ahead of time. You may find it useful to invest in an employee scheduling app for restaurants. This will help you to keep track of the tables that are booked in your restaurant so that you can assign shifts to your team members in plenty of time. As well as helping to keep your employees in the loop with their shifts, you will also save money and control labor costs.
- Support Them With Tricky Customers
All restaurant staff encounter tricky customers from time to time, and it’s your job to support your staff whenever these situations arise. The saying “the customer is always right” can often stand, but behind the scenes, you need to express how much you care about your employees. Make sure you are clear with how you react to these situations so that your employees know they can count on you when times are slightly trickier.
- Reassess Their Hourly Pay
Offering fair pay to all of your employees is something you should take very seriously. As well as reassessing the overall pay of your staff members you also need to carefully consider gender equality and diversity in the workplace. Your employees will discuss how much money they make an hour, and you need to ensure that they are paid according to experience rather than their gender, age, religion or race. This is a standard that you should hold yourself highly to and is the right thing to do regardless of your personal beliefs about a member of staff.
- Offer Progression
It is true that your employees will feel more motivated in the workplace if they have something to aim for. Offering some sort of progression through the restaurant will help them to aim higher and work hard to reach the next step. Having regular work reviews with your employees can help them to stay on track, and it can also give you a clear idea of where they want to go in their career. Allow them opportunities to try out new job roles within the establishment and open up internal applications when new vacancies come up.
- Reward Your Staff For Their Hard Work and Dedication
When it comes to rewarding your hard working restaurant staff, there are a number of different ways in which you can approach this. Giving rewards to those who have earnt the extra recognition can help to boost their motivation and morale, and give them a better sense of self worth. If your restaurant shares tips between members of staff, you need to make sure that everyone is working hard for their share. If you suspect that someone is slacking, you may want to talk to them about it in order to address the situation. Similarly, if someone is going above and beyond, you may want to award them with shopping vouchers, a bonus in the pay cheque or even an additional day off.
- Listen to Their Problems
Your employees are human beings with real-life problems that they may want to vent about. Having an open door policy and talking to them about anything that is bothering them can create a good relationship between you and them. This will not only improve their overall morale because they will feel supported in the workplace, but it will also help you to understand them better as a person.
Now you have a handful of ideas at your disposal that can help to maintain the enthusiasm and motivation levels of your team members. Talk openly about what kind of rewards and recognition they would like from you, and you will soon have even more ideas to work from.
