When Jamie’s Italian group announced 22 restaurant closures, around 1,000 hospitality jobs were put in jeopardy – and they were not the first under threat this year.
Yet unlike some industries – steel or car production, for instance – there was little outcry about the job losses.
The hospitality industry is the third-biggest employer in the UK, according to figures from UK Hospitality. It’s also been responsible for around 15% of jobs created since 2009.
So is the country – and even the restaurant industry itself – guilty of underestimating the value of hospitality employees, and ignoring the need to invest in them?
Productivity has historically been low in hospitality, but it has recently begun to rise.
Restaurants struggling to find workers are keen to hang onto recruits and know creating a good working environment with wellbeing and collaboration helps.
In an industry that operates at break-neck speed in demanding conditions, that’s tricky.
Epos software has risen to the challenge, and has evolved to provide support in operational areas – here are 5 ways aids your staff productivity, satisfaction and retention.
- Reducing tedious admin
- Freeing training time
- Engendering team spirit ambiguity and human error
- Raising team performance
- Promoting trust
1. Reducing tedious admin
Duplicating head office functions in a restaurant group can drain resources, with people in each location carrying out the same managerial tasks such as reporting.
Restaurant epos software with online access provides head office management that allows your managers to see data from any location, reducing role duplication admin tasks so staff can be deployed to more meaningful and satisfying work.
On the restaurant floor, your serving staff can be given tablets or smartphones integrated with the epos software so they can take orders and payments tableside. They spend less time running back and forth and enjoy more valuable interaction with guests.
2. Freeing training time
Training has been a low priority for some roles in hospitality, which as the UK Hospitality Commission points out, has led to a perception of the work as ‘low-paid, low-skilled.”
Using epos software to streamline operations and control labour properly allows you to invest more time in training your staff.
Improving key skills, such as customer service, pays off directly by making staff more capable, and it also creates a sense of worth and engagement – a well-trained worker feels valued.
3. Engendering team spirit
Teamwork is crucial to staff wellbeing and productivity in any business. It creates collaboration and innovation; if your colleagues become friends, they are happier and less likely to quit.
Hospitality teams bond better from front to back of the house in an epos software supported environment where clear communication and great workflow remove ambiguity and human error.
4. Raising team performance
Using a restaurant management system to monitor your individual staff performance puts managers in a good position to hand out the recognition that drives excellence, or identify areas where extra training is needed.
5. Promoting trust
Employee fraud costs UK businesses more than £40bn a year, and while that’s across all types of companies, hospitality takes quite a chunk of the hit.
What’s often not taken into consideration is the detrimental effect cheating has within a team. Suspicion and distrust make for an uncomfortable working environment.
Epos software with fraud prevention technology that flags up unusual staff behaviours and transactions in your restaurant provides a deterrent and builds trust within the working environment so everyone can feel confident and comfortable.
Hospitality? It’s a people business, first and foremost.
Staff in the hospitality industry deserve a better deal, with greater investment, more job satisfaction and a greater sense of career involvement.
Giving them a technological helping hand with epos software makes recognition, development and training an inherent part of their daily lives.
Getting conditions right means they feel better, take less sick time, stay longer and work harder.
It’s good for them, good for customers and good for you because happy customers and staff help drive up revenue. Result…
* See how epos software and digital dining works all day for your restaurant
