Food service establishments have a labor crisis on their hands. The turnover rate in the restaurant industry is enough to make you dizzy: 75% in 2018. Yes, you read that right: Three out of every four employees hired were gone not long after training.
Managers feel like all they have time for is hiring and training, only to see their efforts go to waste and start all over with the next batch of short-lived employees. With so much attrition, managers also face a headache over scheduling. It’s difficult to keep schedules smooth and predictable when you never know who’s going to be showing up to work each day.
How can food service establishments halt this endless, frustrating cycle? How can they make their companies great places to work so that employees will stick around, vie for more responsibility, and help create exceptional customer experiences?
The answer is to put employees in control of their time and their careers. And the way to do that — while simultaneously reducing the workload and stress for managers — is to use a digital workplace to train, manage, and engage employees.
WorkJam Digital Workplace includes a wide range of tools that make employees more satisfied on the job and help managers enable that.
A key tool is scheduling functionality that allows employees to manage their own shifts. They’ll no longer have to work the phones asking for time off or looking to trade shifts, only to be told the manager can’t make it work. Through WorkJam, they’ll be able to drop, trade, or take on shifts with the click of a button on their mobile devices. Managers can approve changes with a click as well
Another useful tool is streamlined communications. The WorkJam app allows corporate leaders, managers, HR professionals, and frontline employees to communicate directly and easily. Managers can digitally provide info on the day’s specials or new promotions to the staff that are working on a given day, enabling them to feel prepared without a lot of fuss. C-suite leaders can communicate company policies, vision, and announcements directly to employees, providing everyone in the company a better sense of inclusion and cohesion
WorkJam also includes training tools, including gamification of training that helps motivate and reward employees for their engagement. Employees can access mini-training modules via the app so they can learn the things they need in a few minutes of downtime. They are awarded digital badges to recognize their progress as they complete each module, and their managers are notified about the trainings they’ve completed.
These are just a few of Work Jam’s tools that help frontline food service employees feel more empowered, respected, and satisfied on the job. Employees who know their needs are taken seriously will be far more likely to stick around, seek promotions, and work hard to make their establishments run well.
The efficiencies of digital scheduling, training, and communications, among other things, also free up lots of manager’s and company leadership’s time to work on priorities such as managing teams, building morale, setting strategy, and overseeing finances. Not to mention, they won’t have to deal with so much turnover
Can your food service business use this kind of transformation? Read our food service data sheet — WorkJam for Food Service — to learn more about how a digital workplace can help.
