The second post in our series poling the opinion of hospitality industry professionals (read the first post HERE) is again related to how management handles its staff. Last month we posed the following question to our friends on Facebook:

“Should staff be allowed to have a few drinks after work in the bar?”

The response was just about unanimously in the affirmative, with a few even adding they favor a free round (or two) for staff following a difficult shift. Most of the respondents felt keeping staff at the bar following a shift was an effective means to build staff morale.

“It is perfectly fine to allow staff to enjoy a cocktail after shift,” Christian L. Bee Sr. wrote. “Drink eat and be happy!” Shawn Kowerko-speicher agreed, adding “I think a few is no harm. You need the wind down.”

As mentioned, team bonding was offered as one of the reasons post-shift drinks can be a good idea. “My staff deserves (to) wind down after each shift,” wrote Sam Richard Last. “Have a laugh at situations during the night.” Brigid McCabe concurred: “It heightens morale . . . and takes the edge off.”

Dylan Kelly went one step further, saying that bars should give their staff the first one for free: “You should give one round on the house,” he wrote. “And after that a small staff discount for the rest. The company makes a bit of money and staff can relax as long as they don’t get hammered.”

A point made by Jon Russ was that it is less likely your staff will promote the business if they don’t enjoy spending time there when off the clock. “You can’t expect them to sell your bar to friends and acquaintances if you don’t allow them to use the facilities socially,” he wrote. “As long as they are out of uniform, they are customers the same as anyone else.”

Another benefit several commenters mentioned was to make use of this time as a means to get ideas for the bar in an informal setting. “I get some of my insight and ideas from staff when we stay for a couple drinks post shift,” Russ wrote. “My coworkers are my best customers, and my most honest critics when trying new things,” offered Brad Smith. “It’s good for business and morale to have employees out of uniform in your bar.”

A few thought it should only happen after the bar has closed and at least one brought up the issue of drinking and driving. As a counter to that point Alex McDowell pointed out that: “Your staff are adults. If a problem arises where they don’t act adult, you may want to reconsider their status as ‘your staff.’”

Andrew Lynch mentioned that hard-working people are still hard-working people, regardless of when they end their business day: “Other people finish work at 5 and go for a beer (what is) wrong with having one at 3 o’clock when we finish?”

In summary, the industry seems generally to support the notion of allowing staff to have drinks in their place of business. Rewarding a job well done and taking advantage of a chance to bend the ear of employees seem to be logical reasons for such a policy. Like most things, however, one of the goals should be moderation. Keeping your staff from getting “out of control” will help them be safe and guard you against liability.

As always, please feel free to add thoughts or stories below.

Staff rarely have the same enthusiasm or drive for their work like you do as the business owner. I was reminded of this when a staff member came to remove my empty glass in the middle of my lunch yesterday, but didn’t offer me a refill. Had she offered, I would have taken another.

With staff members on duty, serving additional drinks doesn’t cost any more. So what can you do to make them more productive? Well training is obviously the first step; showing staff that upselling and increasing sales is part of their duties is the first step, followed by supervision. However, in my experience, incentives work the best.

In Ireland and The UK, tips are actually rare for service staff, because the law provides for a higher minimum wage. Compare this to the US, where a server’s wages are almost completely dependent on tips.

Modern cash registers/POS systems can track sales per staff member so that at the end of any shift, you will see at a glance which staff members are generating revenue. Why not offer a monthly bonus to staff based on the revenue they have generated. Perhaps a small percentage of their takings? Staff members who see that heir upselling results in increased wages will certainly make more of an effort with customers. You will see then which staff are motivated and which staff are not buying into the system.

What else should you consider?

Make sure to rotate where you assign staff so that all staff get a fair share of customers and that no staff member is left working in areas where they have no chance to generate extra takings.

Let’s face it, staff are one of the most important aspects of running a successful hospitality business. While recruiting the right staff is essential (and sometimes difficult), retaining staff can be even harder. This is particularly true in the hospitality industry where staff turnover can tend to be high.

Keeping your staff happy will not only make them likely to stick around for longer, but you will find that happy staff are more productive which has a positive effect on your profits.

Don’t panic! Keeping your staff happy isn’t necessarily about being the most lenient employer with the highest wages.

Communicating with your staff

Communicating with your staff is important for many reasons. It is your opportunity to gain insight into how they feel their work is progressing as well as to ensure staff are kept up-to-date with policies, issues and day-to-day events in the business. This in turn has the effect of making your staff feel involved and provides them with an opportunity to have an input.

As well as regular one-on-one talks when you can with your staff, there are also methods of communication you can establish to make sure that communicating with your staff is regular and effective.

Team meetings are a great way to ensure that your staff are kept informed and involved with what’s happening with the business. Staff can use this opportunity to provide you with their feedback.

You can also use team meetings as an opportunity to provide with training such as new legislation or new policies for the business.

Organising team meetings can be a difficult process. It is best to organise them at the beginning or end of a shift and if attending staff are no rostered on it can be a good idea to provide incentives such as food and drink to reimburse them for their time.

As well as staff meetings, staff notice boards can be a good way of providing staff with information about upcoming events, industry newsletters and so on. The trick with notice boards is to keep them updated and eye catching to help ensure you can capture the attention of your staff.

If your hospitality business is large, you may want to consider developing your own internal staff newsletter featuring achievements from staff (both inside and out of work), upcoming events, policy updates and so on. Staff could be incentivised to contribute to the newsletter and photos etc could also be included. This is a fun way to keep communicating with your staff.

Whichever method you employ to communicate with your staff, the most important thing is that staff are also given the opportunity to have input and involvement. Keeping your staff feeling like they are involved in your business is a key step in helping to keep your staff happy.

Incentives

Incentive is a great way to encourage staff to keep motivated and working hard. Incentives don’t always have to be monetary and sometimes the best incentives are more about recognition.

If you are looking to include incentives to help keep your staff motivated you need to be clear about what it is you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to improve sales of a particular item? Less sick days? Better time management? Whatever it is decide first what the measures of success will be and choose a reward that reflects the values of your staff. You also need to be clear about whether you want the whole team to be rewarded or one person in particular.

Incentives such as sports events, nights or days out as a team etc can be great way to reward your staff as well as provide a great team building experience at the same time. Whatever incentive you choose, recognising your staff achievements is a great way to help keep your staff happy.

Turnover

No matter what you do to keep your staff happy and motivated, staff turnover is an inescapable part of the business. Clearly the higher the turnover, the higher the cost to you as an employer.

In most cases, where staff morale is high the turnover tends to be lower so staff communication and incentives can go a long way in helping you keep your staff turnover down.

Providing reasonable wages and working hours and providing your staff with career advancing opportunities can also help to keep the turnover down. But remember it all starts at the beginning so make sure you employ a stringent recruitment process so you can find the right staff with the best fit for your business and they’ll be likely to stay with your business for longer.

Good luck!