Is money the best way to motivate your staff?
We all know they wouldn’t show up for work each day if you weren’t paying them, but is money the most effective way to get the most out of your employees?
In a piece for Inc. magazine, Ciplex founder Ilya Pozen says not necessarily. Pozen details a handful of free carrots that could help you push your staff to be its best.
Here are a few of his ideas:
Don’t criticize or correct: Choosing different ways to handle a mistake – asking the employee to come up with better solutions on their own, should the issue arise again – can be superior to a strictly negative approach.
Questions you have to ask during interviews
We found an article on the CBS News website that could potentially be very useful the next time you are filling positions.
After interviews with a number of job placement and human resources professionals, CBS settles on a half dozen questions that will help in the process of selecting the best possible candidate. Here is what they came up with:
1. What’s important for you in a job? Since we know the candidate wants to work there, CBS points out the interview is a chance to assess the fit from both sides. If something about how you operate doesn’t gel with their goals this is the time to find out.
The advantages of opening a restaurant in a bad economy
Opening a restaurant or bar is a risky endeavor even under the most ideal of circumstances. So when the economy is in a downturn it would seem like the worst possible time to take the plunge into the uncertain world small business.
Not so fast, says Tony Marchese. In 2008 Marchese opened a restaurant called Trio in Palm Springs. In a recent article for iSante Magazine Marchese wrote that there are a number of factors associated with bad economies that can actually help the process.
Marchese pointed to:
Can you be too deliberate in making new hires?
It would seem basic common sense that you should take as long as needed to consider whether or not to add an new employee to your staff. But an article in Inc. Magazine this month argues that that “overthinking” a hire can be a mistake.
The article references a CEO who took a significant amount of time – five months – to fill a key position, only to fire that person three weeks later. Inc points out:
No matter how many times you interview candidates, there’s no way to accurately predict how well they will perform. Entrepreneurs who drag out the hiring process put off the ultimate test of a candidate: time on the job. Plus, as the months pass and pressure mounts to fill critical positions, entrepreneurs sometimes find themselves making the same hasty decisions they sought to avoid in the first place.
The article suggests setting a specific plan for the process and making sure to avoid redundancy with evaluation. It also says to keep the number of people with the hiring to a minimum and to trust your instincts.
The 10 most controversial restaurant policies
Here is an interesting read from the Huffington Post’s food department. The article offers up what it considers to be some of the most contentious industry policies and examines each side of the debate.
The subjects tackled are listed below:
-No Kids
-No Substitutions
-Auto-Gratuity for Large Groups
-No Reservations
-Credit Card Required to Make Reservations
-No Cell Phones/Cameras
-Dining Time Limits
-Dress Codes
-No Standing at the Bar
-Cash Only
Do you have a strong opinion that one or more of these are particular good (or bad) for business? Let us know in the comment section below.
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About Barry Chandler
Barry Chandler works with bars and restaurants to bring more customers in the door through effective use of social media, online tools and customer engagement.
Since 2004, more than 2500 bars, restaurants and hotels have used his tools and services to improve their bottom line.
TheBarBlogger.com contains daily tips and strategies to grow a profitable hospitality business.
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