Did you know that in some hospitality operations, 60 – 100 per cent of staffers leave voluntarily on an annual basis? For many operators, our true competitive advantage is delivered through the human-to-human interaction that our front-line staff shares with our customers. If there is the chance that six in 10 or even three in 10 of your staff are considering leaving your company this year, how is that affecting your guest experience, your social media ratings and your profit? 

These lamentable statistics are also true for management turnover. Yes, it hurts if a disengaged front-line staff member is interacting with our guests, but what if a disengaged manager is leading your front and/or back-of-house staff? Poor or unhappy leadership is like a cancer in your business, preventing it from reaching the level of success and profitability you dream of attaining.

Recent statistics show that replacing a staff member costs a business one to three times the staff member’s annual salary. In my experience, most operators do not measure employee turnover or employee engagement. Merely by taking steps to install measurement systems in these two areas on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, you can completely change the culture of your business. Introducing employee engagement surveys to our clients’ businesses is one of the exercises I most enjoy about my job because it’s one of the most visible and high-impact things we do for the happiness and profitability of people in our industry. I first got excited about this process when reading the book, First Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham. One of the key lessons I learned from the book is that staff quit most often because there is a problem with managers, not necessarily with the business.