Employee Turnover
Employee turnover is common in every business. Every year there are people who will simply not be satisfied working in the organization. Employee retention is important as it helps cut costs. Restaurants that experience high levels of employee turnover will find themselves incurring high staff costs. There is the cost of recruitment which starts with announcing a vacancy to the time the human resources department finds a suitable person for the job.
There is also the cost of training the employee and orienting him to the company values. Restaurants are already facing very high competition in the market as they strive to make profits. They should therefore seek to reduce their other costs such as staff recruitment costs. A company that therefore gives employee retention a high priority seeks to gain a competitive advantage. It will attract and retain the most hardworking and qualified employees.
The employees will demonstrate high levels of employee loyalty. Secondly, in the restaurant companies, being a service industry, retaining customers depends on the quality of customer service that is given. Employees who are motivated will serve customers with vigor and great charm. Employee turnover is high in restaurants because of the lack of recognition systems, poor pay, and long and tiring shifts and management should address this.
Employee Retention
The Texas roadhouse company uses consistent and varied staff recognition to award its employees. All the employees in the different departments understand that if they show superior performance they will be awarded for their efforts. It also has awards for the people who have worked longest for the company, showing them that they are appreciated. The company also trains its staff in customer service. The new staff is also trained in the culture of the company so that all the people are displaying the high quality of customer service to their staff. There are other actions that senior management can take to increase employee retention.
Employee turnover is a result of job dissatisfaction. This refers to the discontentment that arises in an employee concerning his or her job. There are different causes of job dissatisfaction. If there is no clarity for the employee concerning their role in the company, he will become frustrated. The management should ensure there is no role ambiguity or role conflict. The job description should be clear highlighting his duties and responsibilities. The management should also come up with meaningful and complex jobs for the employees.
Staff love being challenged in their profession and getting a sense of achievement when they accomplish certain tasks. The management should also have systems of career progression and succession. This will help employees define their career paths and know what they need to do to climb up the corporate ladder. Job dissatisfaction may also be caused by conflicts between the employees themselves or the employees and their supervisors.
The company should at all times monitor the teamwork and flow of work between the different departments to ensure that there are coordination and cooperation. The management should let and even encourage the employee to have informal meetings to increase a sense of belonging and family amongst themselves. The Texas Roadhouse should ensure that in the retreats there is a high level of teambuilding exercises or roles. This will help employees get to know each other a bit more. Teambuilding also breaks the job monotony enabling the staff to get adequate breaks.
Job dissatisfaction is also caused by dissatisfaction with pay. Retreats and other incentives are good for the best employees however what is the regular take-home pay for the employees? A major cause of employee turnover is dissatisfaction with pay. An employee may have the perception that he is not being compensated enough for the work he does for the company. It could be he feels other employees who do less work than him are being more than what he gets.
The company may have to adequately analyze the pay system to ensure that the workers are adequately compensated and it is at a competitive compared to other similar companies in the market. To avoid the actions associated with high job dissatisfaction such as physical and psychological withdrawal of employees, the company should make employee retention strategies one of its highest priorities. Employees are bound also to lodge complaints and conduct strikes if their needs are not addressed. Others just give up and simply quit. There are times that an organization may hire an employee who is experiencing job dissatisfaction due to personality dispositions or personal problems such as depression.
The management may have to refer the depressed employee to a professional counselor. This is because at the end of the day the company needs to get results out of the employees. Those with personality problems have to be oriented to an organizational culture of teamwork and cooperation as they are the ones who cause conflict between their colleagues, supervisors, or subordinates.
Staff Compensation and rewards
Motivational retreats are okay for employees even in times of recession. The Texas Roadhouse chose to reward employees regardless of the recession (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2011 p 319). The management came under serious criticism but they stood their grounds since they had tasted the fruits of great employee compensation programs. Staff recognition in form of awards and retreats is part of the organizational culture.
The employees worked the whole year to assist the company gain market share and earn higher profits. The employees should therefore not be penalized. The senior management has realized that the staff is the business’s biggest asset and it is imperative to invest them. This action will go a long way in motivating employees and increasing their loyalty towards the company. They will continue even working harder as they understand that the company values them greatly. In times of recession, many companies reduce or eliminate retreats and other perks for their best employees. It has been argued that it is ethical to save costs at that time.
However, refusing to reward the best employees yet the recession is out of their control is unethical. Staff should only be penalized for events that are within their control. It also goes to reducing employee turnover in the company. At the end of the year, the company will record-high revenues. If a company invests in an employee it is bound to get a return on its investment in the form of high sales or profits.
The company will perform better in the industry and get recognition in the form of company awards. The retreats are not the only way that the company recognizes its staff. There are awards given to the exemplary staff. The company management sparked debate when it said that even the retreats were not enough to appreciate their staff. This shows the extent to which the company values its employees.
References
Noe, R.,Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B. & Wright, P. (2011) The Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. United States: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.