Are you hiring?

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

The answer is, “YES, we are always hiring”. There have been times in my career where I had assembled a really good staff and things were going smoothly. It’s tempting at that moment to think that things are great and you don’t need anyone else to fit in the schedule. But then, a staff member announces they are moving, that they have decided to go back to school, they are pregnant or they have some other life choice that means that they are leaving. Suddenly, that server who handled five shifts a week is gone. And in today’s market, they rarely give you two weeks. So you are shorthanded and have to start looking for someone to replace them. If you were always hiring, you are constantly creating a deeper line-up of staff so youdon’t get caught short.

We have a policy to cross train the staff so that a Host is groomed to be a busser or potentially a server. In the back of the house, the dishwasher is trained to prep, then to work the cold side station and eventually handle other functions on the line. Then, when someone gets ill, injured or hired away, you have folks who are ready to step in. The more staff that you have who are trained to do different jobs, the better your operation will run.

Over the years as I look at my employees, I have looked back at some of the applicants that we interviewed who I thought weren’t going to be a good fit. Later, thanks heavens, they turned out to be one of the best servers we ever had. If you are not constantly looking and interviewing, you take a chance at missing talent that just might come your way.

We always look at the staff in the view that “If you had a boat and it only holds ten people and the entire staff is in the water, who would you bring into the boat?” Now, that’s not to say that you want people to drown, just that if you have to think about whether someone is vital, then you need to be looking for a replacement for them who makes a difference or work on training them. Too often we keep employees because it’s just too much trouble to hire someone else. We tolerate a mediocre performance and attitude because we are ok with getting by. But they are affecting your business if they are bringing value to your staff. 

Someday, I hope to have the absolute best bartenders, servers, bussers, hosts, managers, chefs, line cooks, and dishwashers. I’m not there yet. Until then, I keep hiring.

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