5405 Turn the Tables.indd - Red Book Solutions

Turn the Tables on Turnover
Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................1
How To Use This Book .................................................................................................. 3
Chapter One: Keeping the Best ................................................ 5
A Solid Foundation ........................................................................................................ 6
No Train, No Gain ......................................................................................................... 8
Positive Feedback ........................................................................................................ 10
Love ’em And Lead ’em ................................................................................................12
Fair Play ....................................................................................................................... 14
Power to the People .................................................................................................... 16
It’s Who You Know ...................................................................................................... 18
Field of Dreams ...........................................................................................................20
Fond Farewells ............................................................................................................ 22
Cut Your Losses ..........................................................................................................24
Bridging the Gap .........................................................................................................26
Think Sales! Teach Sales! ............................................................................................. 28
Eyes On the Prize ........................................................................................................30
Instant Gratifi cation .................................................................................................... 32
A Pat On the Back ........................................................................................................34
Hail To the Chef .......................................................................................................... 36
It Is A Real Job ............................................................................................................. 38
NOTES ..........................................................................................................................40
Chapter Two: Finding the Best ...............................................43
You’re Never Fully Staff ed ...........................................................................................44
Hire Advocates ............................................................................................................46
Ad It Up .......................................................................................................................48
Hire Education ............................................................................................................. 50
Here’s My Card ............................................................................................................ 52
Be Flexible ................................................................................................................... 54
Look Around You ........................................................................................................ 56
Birds Of A Feather... ................................................................................................... 58
Strength In Numbers ...................................................................................................60
© 2007 Red Book Solutions • 800-526-9635 • www.RedBookSolutions.biz

TIP
© 2007 Red Book Solutions • 800-526-9635 • www.RedBookSolutions.biz
52 Ways To Find, Hire, and Keep the Best Hospitality Employees
They’re Worth It ...........................................................................................................62
Takin’ It To the Streets ................................................................................................64
¿Habla Espanol? ...........................................................................................................66
Be Creative ..................................................................................................................68
High Tech Meets High Touch! .....................................................................................70
The Power of Perks ..................................................................................................... 72
The Young and the Restless........................................................................................74
Volunteer Or Be Volun-told ......................................................................................... 76
The Gang’s All Here ..................................................................................................... 78
NOTES ..........................................................................................................................80
Chapter Three: Hiring the Best .............................................. 83
First Impressions .........................................................................................................84
Great Expectations ......................................................................................................86
Be Prepared .................................................................................................................88
Been There, Done That ...............................................................................................90
What Do You Know? ....................................................................................................92
Personality Plus ...........................................................................................................94
Server Types ...............................................................................................................96
Note For Note ..............................................................................................................98
Form And Function ................................................................................................... 100
Hospitality Begins At the Interview ........................................................................... 102
Open Communication ............................................................................................... 104
When You Assume... ................................................................................................ 106
Check This Out .......................................................................................................... 108
Break the Rules ..........................................................................................................110
50 Second Opinions ...................................................................................................112
Scouting .....................................................................................................................114
Final Analysis ..............................................................................................................116
NOTES .........................................................................................................................118
Chapter Four: Action Plan ...........................................................121
Recruiting Strategy.................................................................................................... 122
Interviewing and Hiring Strategy .............................................................................. 122
Managing for Retention Strategy ...............................................................................123

Turn the Tables on Turnover
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11
Bridging the Gap
Communicating With a Younger Generation
If you’ve ever caught yourself asking, “Why don’t they just
grow up?” about your younger employees, you’ve got a generation
gap problem. No, they’re not getting younger every
year—you’re getting older. And with this industry’s fi erce
competition for employees, you have little choice but to hire
young people. So you’d better learn how to work with them.
Your challenge in bridging the gap is to take the time to
zero in on what makes them tick and what ticks them off .
Run down the following list of turn-ons and turn-off s:
Turn-Ons
• Recognition and praise
• Allowing employees to provide input or new ideas
• Learning how what they’re doing now is making
them more marketable for the future
• Opportunities to learn new things
• Fun at work, incentives, light competition, teambuilding
events and surprises
• Small, unexpected rewards for jobs well done
Turn-Off s
• Hearing about the past—especially yours
• Infl exibility about time
• Workaholism
• Being watched and scrutinized
• Feeling pressure to convert to traditionalist behavior
• Disparaging comments about their generation’s
tastes and styles
• Feeling disrespected
Source: Lawrence J. Bradford and Claire Raines
© 2007 Red Book Solutions • 800-526-9635 • www.RedBookSolutions.biz

The key to keeping your young hourlies turned-on is training
and incentives—and not the kind based on the outdated
principles of boot camp. Like it or not, today’s generation
controls their experiences—self-service kiosks, TV on-demand,
instant information online, and so on. Your training
should refl ect that. What you need is to ensure training
doesn’t suck. Manuals? What are those? If you’re purchasing
training programs off the shelf, look for ones that infuse a
lot of fun into the mix and appeal to multimedia sensibilities.
What was good enough for Baby Boomer training 30 years
ago won’t work for today’s generation. Think portable.
Think on-demand. Think on-going reinforcemen—training
‘what is needed, where it’s needed, when it’s needed.’
TIP
The Perfect Guest Check
© 2007 Red Book Solutions • 800-526-9635 • www.RedBookSolutions.biz
52 Ways To Find, Hire, and Keep the Best Hospitality Employees
“It’s not what you pay a man
but what he costs you that
counts.” — Will Rogers,
quoted by Richard M. Ketchum,
Will Rogers, His Life
and Times, 1973
While there’s still something to be said for a pat on the back for a job well done, you’ll get
more mileage out of incentives designed to motivate younger people. They’ll always want to
know “What’s in it for me to improve service, increase sales or cut costs?” The better you answer
those questions, the better you’ll retain your young hourly employees. To fi re up younger
servers: Challenge them to create a Perfect Guest Check, which includes an appetizer, a
beverage (not tap water), an entree with a purchased add-on or side item, a dessert, a coff ee
and an after-dinner drink. Each time a server turns in a Perfect Guest Check, award him or
her a small prize like a lottery ticket, and enter the server’s name into a drawing for a larger
prize. At the end of a certain period (say, a week or a month) draw the winning server’s name
and award gift certifi cates from local stores or dinner for two at another restaurant.
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