Food & Beverage

Restaurant running short of workers? Experts say brands must look within for answers

While many believe the answers to the current labor issues in the restaurant industry lie in bringing vast amounts of new workers into the restaurant sector, two restaurant workforce experts say the real solutions to the problem might just lie with the workers brands already have and how they are treated.

The signs of the restaurant labor shortage are literally everywhere, but two experts say brands are overlooking the real wealth they already possess in house. (Photo: iStock)

June 25, 2021 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

The latest data indicates that a breathtaking 40% of restaurants today report they are understaffed. And, since national figures show that the industry is actually down 2.5 million workers over the course of the pandemic and 4.2 million new positions have been created in the industry over the past 18 months, the severity of the situation becomes even clearer. In fact, given this type of data, it's entirely understandable why so many foodservice players are being forced to cut operational hours, or close completely, due to staff shortages.

But two restaurant labor experts, who spoke during a free webinar sponsored by Nudge, said much of the energy and money restaurant brands are investing in interview incentives and other unproven means of attracting and hopefully retaining workers, might be better used to retain and energize current employees as they can end up being a brand's best "magnets" in attracting quality talent.

In the webinar, "Solving the labor crisis: How to tap into the potential of your current workforce and be an employer of choice," participants learned the current status of the labor crisis, as well as how best to address it on the frontlines of their restaurants. Relaying that important information were Michael Fiato, senior vice president of guest services at dining services company, Eurest, along with Brennan Wilkie, chief revenue officer of Nudge, a digital employee communication provider. The webinar is available to download at no charge.

What brands don't know can hurt them

Wilkie began the session by urging brands to get to know frontline workers better, which he said are probably some of the world's most "disconnected workers," based on the fact that they are both desk-less and constantly barraged with an ever-changing list of standard operating procedures needed to maintain restaurant customer health and safety.

On top of that, Wilkie said, very little of the investment in employee communication tools is actually aimed at addressing the needs of the so-called desk-less workers that are the mainstay of most restaurants.

But Wilkie said savvy restaurant leaders understand that how brands treat their employees not only ends up being key to a healthier bottom line, but increasingly is an extremely important issue for customers. And key in improving that treatment is — at least in the minds of 96% of frontline restaurant workers — is better communication and communication tools on the job.

To help better understand why communication is critical to not just retaining current employees, but attracting new ones, Eurest's Fiato provided examples from across his company where communication improvements have yielded just those kinds of results of a more productive workforce that in turn attracts productive new workers to its ranks.

Or as Fiato told the webinar attendees, "If we really want to create an incredible experience for our guests, we need to create an incredible experience for our teams."

Part of doing that at Eurest included deploying some of Nudge's communication tools, but it also involved leadership taking a real kind of employee-first mindset at every turn, weighing what is best for the team versus what might seem to be best for the bottom line alone.

For instance, Fiato — who recently released a book that addresses some of these topics, "The Hospitality Edge: Stories to Delight Your Guests, Spark Your Culture and Ignite Productivity" — said that in the case of the labor crisis now, many brand leaders are simply assuming a "do-more-with-less" attitude toward their people shortages.

"There's this desire to do what they've always done only with less people, and I can assure you that just doesn't work," Fiato said during the webinar. "You're just going to burn out your people."

Instead, he underscored the importance of really playing to the current team that brands already have on their frontlines by learning their needs, desires and what makes them tick in ways that then allow the brand to answer those needs and desires. That, he said, takes a real intentional effort on leadership's part.

"Retaining talent means spending time with talent and showing them they're valued. … Just look at many family businesses," which he said tend to have a truly devoted team and often more longevity overall than non-family businesses. "Everybody has a place. Everybody has value. Everybody has an opinion. And that works."

But these are just a few of the subjects touched on in this interesting session that includes some great questions from the audience that really highlighted how some of Wilkie and Fiato's ideas work in real restaurant life.

Download the free webinar here.

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.