The recently published State of the Nation 2010 report by sector skills council People 1st has revealed that restaurants still have a higher than average level of staff turnover, at 36%. A third of restaurateurs in People 1st's survey (35%) said that it took new chefs up to six months to become fully competent in their roles.
Meanwhile, the average turnover in the rest of the hospitality, travel, tourism and leisure sector is little better, currently standing at 31%.
So how can you best reduce the constant churn of staff and manage the level of turnover? Here are some top tips:
● Understand why employees leave. All organisations should conduct a confidential face-to-face exit interview with an HR manager (rather than the line manager).
● Benchmark your organisation against current industry standards and geographical location. If you work in a restaurant business, you will naturally have a much higher turnover rate than a professional services firm. Context and location are key.
● Set clear promotion and development guidelines that are transparent and fair. If an employee feels they cannot progress in their role, and has no control over career development, after a certain period of time they will begin to look externally for a new position.
● Develop effective workplace policies and nurture a positive culture. Policies on grievance, bullying and harassment should be communicated to staff in an environment where employees feel confident about reporting problems.
● Invest in people management training for line managers. This will enable them to not only support and reward staff effectively, but also intervene before small problems or escalating workloads become a reason for leaving.
Tips courtesy of Caterer's sister publication Personnel Today