The US unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, a 48-year low in September. According to the monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the last time unemployment was this low was December 1969. The food industry had 909,000 job openings in July, an increase of 161,000 from a year ago. According to the National Restaurant   Association Education Foundation, the restaurant industry faces a widening gap between the number of younger workers and the number of jobs it is creating. In the next 10 years, the restaurant industry is expected to create 1.6 million additional jobs; however, the 16-24 year labor force is expected to decline by 1.3 million.

In order to staff our restaurants, we need to know what attracts and retains today’s workforce. I would like to recognize Shawn Edmonds and his General Managers for doing an outstanding job staffing and retaining their teams. Shawn’s district consistently achieves an average management compliment of at least 6 per store and also consistently achieves their Team Member and Management turnover goals. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

A recent survey completed by the NRAEF of Gen Z and Millennial workers suggests that a strong culture is one of the best ways to attract today’s young workers.

The Pulse surveys are a great way for you to measure the culture inside your restaurant and identify specific ways to drive a better experience for your team and  customers. Some of the challenges that workers face are being overwhelmed and not knowing how to handle customers. Properly training your staff not only minimizes guest complaints, but also helps the employee gain more confidence in their job.  Receiving recognition and weekly feedback as well as having a mentor to help employees develop confidence and ease stress is important as well. Recognizing employees’ great work encourages them to repeat correct behaviors. Assigning the new employee to a mentor will help the new  employee feel like part of the team and become productive more quickly. Also, it will give the mentor an  opportunity to improve their leadership skills. As the labor challenges increase, understanding and providing what is important to our workforce will be imperative to staffing our restaurants. When a restaurant is constantly short staffed, it becomes very difficult to meet and exceed the standards of our organization.

Excerpted from the NRAEF study/Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

By: Mike Greco
Staffing Manager