How do you recruit and retain employees when employers down the street offer a higher wage and a job viewed as more prestigious? It’s the ever-present pressure on foodservice directors. Here are three stealable solutions that have worked in real-world tests.
1. A personal touch
Andrew Allen, director of dining services at Otterbein Senior Lifestyle in Ohio, can’t compete with the higher pay offered by other employers of hourly workers. So he focuses on engagement, like mailing employees short handwritten notes of appreciation. The letters are sent to their homes rather than delivered onsite. “I do this once a month and have received great responses,” said Allen. “One employee said it really put a smile on his face because he was having a bad day, while another stressed it meant a lot to receive a note from a director after working all these years for the company.”
2. Keep parents happy
The rhythms of parents’ lives aren’t that much different whether they work for college and university, K-12 or even health care foodservice operations. Plus, the culture matches their needs. That’s why Diane Pain, director of nutrition at Georgia-based Troup County Schools, focuses on the soft benefits of working in the noncommercial sector. “They’re looking for stable positions with health and retirement benefits, and school foodservice staff typically work in or close to their child’s school—and have the summers off with their children,” says Pain.
3. Offer a bounty
Operators say the recruitment of qualified staff is getting more difficult, and traditional advertising methods like newspaper ads are proving futile. That’s why executives like Lisa Poggas, nutrition and environmental services director at Parker Adventist Hospital in Colorado, depend heavily on current employees to recommend friends to fill open roles. “The person who has a referral that’s hired receives between $500-$1,000,” says Poggas. “They get half up front and the rest after the new hire hits three months of employment.”