The restaurant industry is a very fast-paced one, with employees coming and going constantly, and new stressful situations finding their way into our lives every day.
Restaurant managers, waiters, bartenders, and chefs can all agree in one thing: they’re all exhausted of the restaurant scene. The main reason for this discomfort that has been rising turnover rates over the past years is the industry has become very impersonal. Restaurant staffs rarely connect with each other on a personal level due to their highly dynamic jobs, with interactions between managers and employees being the most irregular.
That’s why, today we’ll talk about effective ways to improve communication, and therefore, the motivation of restaurant teams with the help of technological tools that are affordable, convenient, and simple.
- #1 Check on your employees regularly
Many employees quit their jobs because of bad or non-existing relationships with their superiors. Of course, we understand managers are always busy. But, you must never forget the importance of prioritizing your employee’s growth and cultivating company loyalty.
Try scheduling weekly or monthly meetings for every manager and their respective team. It doesn’t have to be a long one, just a genuine discussion about their specific needs, goals, and even complaints. That way, your team feels support from their superiors and believes they have a chance to grow with the restaurant.
A great method for programming these meetings and not forgetting about them is implementing scheduling software like Mr. Tomato. Within the app, you can assign specific times of the day for any task and any employee and make all kinds of modifications.
- #2 Implement a work-only communication tool
The amount of communication apps today is quite overwhelming, to the point where it can be distracting for your restaurant staff. Stop scattering conversations between emails and social media chats and designate one single app for work communication.
There are many softwares specialized for in-office chats. But Mr. Tomato is an app specifically crafted for restaurants that, among other team building features, also offers a dynamic messenger with direct messages and group chats for restaurant staffs.
- #3 Digitalize staff training documents
For constant work improvement and employee satisfaction, training shouldn’t be a one-time meeting. It’s very important for your staff to always have access to your restaurant’s menus, recipes, procedures, policies, and information on their coworkers and their roles.
As you might’ve thought by now, paper isn’t the most effective method. With Mr. Tomato, you can also digitalize your restaurant training by uploading all your documents to the app and allowing the AI platform to auto-generate practice screens and tests for your employees to go through.
- #4 Create a work newsletter
We know the restaurant industry is unpredictable and every day is a different adventure. It’s completely necessary to have a medium to communicate important news, updates, modifications, team member’s birthdays, and special occasions with your restaurant staff. Creating a newsletter is the perfect way to keep your employees posted and let them know they work in a place where they are valued.
Mr. Tomato also offers a feature for exactly this. The Smart Feed allows any team member to share information on a social media-inspired timeline, scroll through the latest posts, and interact with random learning checkpoints that are automatically created by the LXP software.