Successful restaurant owners understand that their employees are the solid foundation to their restaurant. Without this solid foundation, you’ll experience a multitude of problems that interfere with the success of your restaurant. Below is the cycle of what happens when you have disengaged employees working for you.
Disengaged employees aren't invested into their tasks, they don't put forth maximum effort into their jobs. Customers can easily pick up on when employees aren't invested into their jobs, it is very evident to them. This in turn leads to a lack of productivity, you'll often see disengaged employees on their phones hiding from their responsibilities.
Disengaged employees tend to be very inefficient, and they tend to not care about how their slow performance impacts the team as a whole. Their lack of productivity leads to a decrease in customer service provided.
There is nothing worse than having a horrible experience at a restaurant, and 51% of customers will never do business with a company after a single bad experience. You only have one chance to make a first impression, so if the first impression customers have is off putting, they will not return.
"U.S companies lose more than $62 billion annually due to poor customer service."
After a single bad experience of dealing with disengaged employees, those customers will not return. This means less people are coming into your restaurant to fill your seats, and this means you're generating less revenue.
Disengaged employees hurt not only your bottom line, but they hurt your reputation as well. Customers that have a negative experience will tell approximately 15 people about their poor service experience, negative word of mouth spreads like wildfire. How do you turn disengaged employees into engaged employees?
In our 15 years of working in the staffing industry, we’ve discovered that the most successful restaurant owners have engaged employees. Engaged employees have a better overall work performance, and according to the Harvard Business Review, engagement and productivity are more closely related than you might think. Restaurants with engaged employees experience:
The McKinsey Global Institute found that companies with engaged employees experience a 20-25% improvement in productivity. The graphic below shows how investing in your employees leads to higher profitability for your restaurant.
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Engaged employees provide better customer service to your guests, they’re more invested in providing exceptional service. From our years of experience, we’ve come to discover that customer service will be your brand differentiator, it will help you stand out among the sea of competition. Without engaged employees, it’s hard to provide exceptional customer service that turns guests into repeat customers.
We know that engaged employees provide better service, and customers show their appreciation for great service by opening up their wallets. According to UNC Kenanflager Business School, organizations with highly engaged employees have an average 3 year revenue growth 2.3 times greater than companies whose employees were only engaged at an average level.
"86% of customers are willing to pay for a better customer experience."
People are willing to pay more money if that means that they will have a better experience in return. Customers will never forget how you made them feel, that is something that will never slip away from their minds. When they have a positive experience, they are going to want to relive that memory, so they will come back to your restaurant again. You can build customer loyalty by having engaged employees who provide 5-star customer service.
How you treat your employees says a lot about you as a restaurant owner. We’ve learned that the most successful restaurant owners see investing in their employees’ future as a necessary step if they want to retain them. You can only become a restaurant of choice once you’re an employer of choice. You can become an employer of choice by providing your employees with recognition, positive feedback, and proper training. Providing your employees with the tools to succeed will vastly improve the level of engagement at your restaurant.
How engaged are your employees?
