From Resignation to Retention: The Evolution of the Labor Market Here are three ways to increase retention of your top talent this year. By FEBRUARY 13, 2023 | RAHKEEM MORRIS
From Resignation to Retention: The Evolution of the Labor Market Here are three ways to increase retention of your top talent this year. OUTSIDE INSIGHTS | FEBRUARY 13, 2023 | RAHKEEM MORRIS Tweet Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Forward via E-mail Restaurant employee holding tablet inside cafe. ADOBE STOCK It costs at least $1,500 to hire and train a new employee. As operators in the quick-service space hope to solve the industry- wide labor shortage, the best solution might just be to focus on who’s already in restaurants. It costs at least $1,500 to hire and train a new employee, so finding a retention solution is a financial game-changer. But how can you keep employees happy and motivated, with the table stakes for those seemingly shifts by the hour? As someone who worked more than a dozen hourly jobs while making ends meet and supporting my family, I learned that what motivates hourly employees differs person to person. There is tremendous value in learning the preferences of your staff and adjusting your management to motivate and incentivize in
line with those ticks. This early life experience shaped the way I approach work, and has fueled a lifelong passion to help transform and improve the lives of hourly workers and revolutionize what it means to work in the fast-food industry. Based on data and conversations with individual franchise owners who are seeing lower turnover rates and higher employee engagement, here are three ways to increase retention of your top talent this year. 1. Facilitate ongoing communication with employees The restaurant industry is an incredibly people-centric one, and the quick-service vertical is no exception. With numerous competing demands, focus on the hourly worker often gets outcompeted. This leads to a breakdown in communication between employers and employees that can leave workers feeling unheard, unappreciated, and unengaged, which is especially critical in the first 90 days of employment, according to data. The solution is surprisingly simple: create a means of communication that is ongoing, purposeful,
and provides an open forum for employees to voice their preferences, concerns, and questions. Facilitating two-way communication is a sure way to show employees they are cared for and valued. Expressing interest in their work as well as their personal lives helps humanize corporate culture and create more of a sense of belonging in the workplace. When companies prioritize communication, actively listening and quickly addressing feedback, they will see retention, engagement, and overall happiness of their employees increase. 2. Increase flexibility for employees to create preference-based, on- demand and accommodating schedules A driving force in “The Great Resignation” and concurrent labor shortage was an increase in people taking more control of their lives by quitting roles that weren’t fulfilling to them. It’s not that people don’t want to work, it’s that they want to work with purpose, feel valued, and have more work flexibility to offer more of a work-life balance. The gig economy is proof. During the pandemic, many restaurant workers left the industry to pursue gig work, finding the flexibility they were looking for while driving for
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