Keeping employee turnover as low as possible in a restaurant is no easy task. Indeed, the hospitality industry is known for its churn when it comes to personnel.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to lose the best talent if you’re a restaurateur; it just means you need to work harder to keep them engaged with the business and loving what they do.

This is where the annual employee review comes into its own. It gives you the chance to find out what is and isn’t working for employees, praise them when they get it spot on and guide them in areas where they can improve.

The benefits of annual restaurant employee reviews

If you’re not convinced that employee annual reviews are worth it, we’ve got three reasons they’ll be some of the best time in which you invest as a manager.

1. Employee satisfaction is a business winner

If your employees are happy in what they do and relish coming to work for each shift, they’ll generate more business for you.

Happy restaurant staff are infectious and will encourage guests to return if they provide a particularly memorable service.

2. You’ll grow as a manager

We all need to keep learning if we’re to improve our career prospects and develop our skills. It’s no different for restaurant managers; in order to grow within their role, they need to learn from the staff they manage.

An employee review provides you with the best opportunity to learn what the restaurant could do better to help its team and how your management style is either working – or otherwise.

3. You’ll all feel better

A big part of employee reviews centres on reward and recognition, and when you get to that part of the meeting, both you and the employee will leave the room in high spirits. And that counts for a lot.

How do conduct annual reviews

Hopefully we’ve convinced you that employee reviews are worth your time, and with that in mind, here’s some quick-fire tips on conducting reviews that will have a positive impact.

  • Be prepared. Go armed to every employee review meeting with performance stats and any customer feedback that relates directly to that employee.
  • Feedback and set goals. Balance your time in the meeting between providing feedback and setting goals for the next twelve months. Don’t focus too heavily on one or the other – they both need ample breathing space.
  • Don’t let the financials dominate. Unless there’s a specific reason to raise someone’s salary or provide a bonus for above-and-beyond work, try and keep wages out of the equation. The important thing for this meeting is current performance and goals; financial rewards will always come later.
  • Don’t lose it. If you have to provide poor feedback to a certain employee, avoid getting emotional about it – even if you’re particularly cheesed off. Stay cool, let them have their say and work out a way (together) to fix the situation.

Wrapping up

We’ve scratched the surface above, but if you’re only just starting out in restaurant management or have had the sudden realisation that staff reviews are long-overdue, our tips should help, big time.

Don’t fear staff reviews – relish them! The more you enter that room with a smile on your face and positive mindset, the more likely it is to go well.