First Jobs & the Restaurant Employee Experience
Can you remember your first job? I remember my first job that wasn’t babysitting or doing odd jobs around my neighborhood. It was at a roast beef sandwich fast food joint that had a salad bar. With no real work experience, I was so nervous when I interviewed. Somehow, the shift manager looked past my naivete and took a chance on a shy, 16-year-old kid.
My roles in the beginning were salad bar attendant, dishwasher and front counter cashier. But as I proved my eagerness to learn how the restaurant operated, my responsibilities grew. Before long, I was crushing a drive-thru rush that was backed up into the street with ease and later moved into the kitchen. I spent three years there. That job taught me not only restaurant operations skills but also vital soft skills in service, communications and teamwork that I use now. To this day, I believe that restaurants are the absolute best first jobs.
I challenge you to evaluate your employee experience through the eyes of a first timer. Remember: You are shaping how they view restaurant employment and imprinting how they develop as an employee.
Think like a first-time new hire. Do your communication methods meet them where they are? Does your current employee onboarding and training develop young talent, or is it a “sink or swim” approach? Does your employee schedule offer shift stability? Is the process for shift changes easy to access and use? Is there a simple way to ask questions and get information about processes that’s readily available even during a shift rush? Are career paths well-defined?
This issue of Pizza Today is focused on the employee experience. Set up your team for success. Leave no stone unturned in developing and updating your employee programs. Create the workplace you wish you had at your first job. Kate Lavin shares secrets of the best workplaces. I dive into employee-management tools. We look at creating and updating pay scales and evolving employee programs.
Have you developed a robust employee program that has led to great results and low turnover? I want to know about it. E-mail me at [email protected].
With gratitude,
Denise Greer
Editor-In-Chief
[email protected]
