A restaurant’s employees are vital to its success. After a new talent fills an open role, their performance is dependent on the onboarding process which should include training sessions to learn more about the role, expectations and potential blockers.
With an increasing hiring rate within the restaurant and hospitality sector, hiring managers breeze through recruitment processes and pay little to no attention to training new employees; in corporate terms, they are expected to “hit the ground running”
Having a thorough restaurant employee training program can make a significant difference between smooth sailing and a chaotic experience leading to bad hires. This has been made easier with digitization, restaurants and organizations in general have become creative by moving to online and blended learning for new staff training.
Here are some steps that can help make the training process seamless
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Conduct an Orientation
Conducting an orientation is the first stage of every onboarding process. This process should be utilized to give an overview of the company culture, introduce the new hire to existing staff members, and create an open communication system where the new employee can learn existing patterns from the experienced staff.
This will leave room for them to present key knowledge about your business, practices, and other relevant information about your staff’s basic performance. Usually, every orientation covers a variety of topics that are considered essential to start working.
The areas usually covered first in orientation are Human resource-related information, company culture, SLAs, and any other formalities new staff members are required to complete before they start working.
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Educate the trainees
After the orientation process, the next step is training your employees on the basics of every position. During the training process, trainers will teach and physically instruct new employees about key elements of their everyday activities. Ultimately, for your employees to succeed, building a foundation on education and instruction will help your new workers reach their highest potential. Take this opportunity to prioritize the uniqueness of each position and how they benefit the restaurant as a whole.
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Make your staff observe and assist experienced employees
One of the most productive ways to train any employee for a new position is to approach it by observing and helping other employees.
The significant step in this process is to pair new employees with experienced staff who are assigned to the same position. Before deciding who’s pairing with who, explain to your experienced staff that they should go about their day as they usually do.
This way, not only will your experienced staff be able to train and teach your new staff, but the new staff will be able to see common practices and less-used practices that your trainers might not typically teach them.
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Implement a cross-functional training system
Provide new restaurant employees training in every position in the restaurant. Have them spend time working in the food section, behind the bar, and with the dishwashers.
This will help them become more flexible in their duties and will give them a better understanding of what it takes to run the restaurant successfully.
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Emphasis Safety precautions
Safety precautions are key in every restaurant, ensure your new employees are well-trained and adhere to the safety rules for the best prevention of accidents.
Review safety procedures and rules throughout the training process to ensure they are understood. This should include how to handle food, how to store food, and how to clean food preparation areas. Restaurants also use a variety of machines, so knowing and understanding how to avoid mistakes in these areas is essential for safety.
Conclusion
Training is an important aspect of every new employee engagement, and the more effective the training, the easier it will be for employees to get acclimated to their new work-flow.
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