What's your best tip in encouraging employee engagement?

[SVLFever]

Hello Square Friends,

As many restaurant owners know, the key to the business success lies in your staff.  A great staff makes for a great business.

Keeping employees engaged in the success of the business can be a challenge at times.   As captain of your ship, you are well aware that everyone rowing in the same direction will get you to your destination much quicker. 

What tips/tricks/suggestions do you have that helps keep  your employees engaged?   Public recognition?  A special perk for a job well done?  Goals with rewards?

Let's hear your best suggestion, big or small. 

[Donnie-M]

@SVLFever Single most important thing in 95% of all business is this question...the people.  I find one of the most effective things is to greet each employee you can personally each day and ask about their night/weekend how are things going and genuinely just care about them as a person.  Give positive feedback especially if you give negative.  So many managers just always criticize. 

[SVLFever]

Great point Donnie!   Too often we fail to catch and acknowledge them doing something right.  Your response is a great reminder for all of us.

[Kurlykurtosh]

I have a small team of 8. However, my mantra is to treat people the way you want to be treated. Most things are not that complicated; however, they are extremely complex to execute especially when you are operating in an emotional state which happens often in this industry.  Always ask yourself, is this how you want to be treated? Plus, what's meaningful to you (i.e. more money) is not meaningful to someone else (i.e. just being recognized for being an asset to your community).  I have very low turnover, my staff is always invested in offering new ideas and they will work to help us out whenever we are in a bind.  With that said, we are a small mom and pop business so I recognize it's easier when you are smaller but I also believe if I am small and mighty with one product that yields multiple revenue streams,  I can create an enjoyable yet highly profitable business.

[SVLFever]

Thanks @Kurlykurtosh for some very sound advice.   You are 100% right.  We are all diferent.  What's important to you might not be important to me, and recognizing that when it comes to what's meaningful is something we all need to be aware of.

With that being said, some might consider it a challenge to try to determine what's important to each different team member, when in reality, it's not a challenge.  Quite simply, just talking with your team members and learning a bit about them goes a LONG way in helping develop that culture.  As you mentioned, treaing people the way you want to be treated is a great mantra to build a culture around.

Thanks for sharing another great tip!

[SSB_YVR]

We sacrifice profit for staff happiness. We put our staff ahead of anything else as they are the driving force behind our epic burgers.

Both myself and my partner have worked in some very very very toxic kitchens, so when we were forming Super Smash Burgers we decided that if we wanted to see change in the industry then we were going to need to be the change we wanted to see. We treat our staff with the utmost respect, pay them above industry standards, tips are split equally across the board no matter if you're a host or a dishie, we regularly give bonuses, we will close the restaurant on a Monday every so often and have a big staff/family dinner.

I do not expect my staff to work harder than me, its my business so why would I expect them to put in 100%?

BUT the downside is that staff can get comfortable and if you become too buddy-buddy it makes reprimanding harder.

[SVLFever]

@SSB_YVR .  Thanks for sharing your thoughts.   It is amazing how many "toxic" kitches are out there, and I'm guessing many of us have experienced being in one and it's never any fun.

Again, another great example of treating people the way you want to be treated and I think you are doing a fine job of that Josephy.  Take note everyone!

[Lovewell]

We love this question! 

Honestly we have been in a weird season where our staff and business are growing. We also are "growing up" as business owners as well and we are starting to see the divide of actually being the boss and being treated like it haha. So now that it's the holidays we plan different staff nights and we are always worried no one wants to come and hangout with their bosses but turns out they do! 

We hosted a Thanksgiving dinner and are doing a Christmas Gathering as well. 

I think the key is reminding each employee and the team how valuable they are as people to this business. Not just because they make sales etc but because of their unique qualities they bring. That their presence matters. 

We have done a couple times a Star Player award and we have an actual trophy we give out. The team and leadership send in nominations if they see someone do something awesome and they get the award and usually some cash! 

We then shout them out on IG and the customers show them love too! 

We use the team app to stay in communication not just about work! We remember we all have identities outside of what we do. When someone feels they are seen they tend to desire to come into work with confidence because they know they are genuinely making a difference not only in our lives but our customers lives. 

[SVLFever]

I'm glad to hear that your business and team are growing @Lovewell !  That's awesome!

You have sharead multiple great ideas (thanks for that) and the one you mentioned on IG is something similar that we have done as well.  We have done a couple Tik Toks that seemed to pick up some traction where we asked our staff "What was Jenny's phone number?", and one where we asked them all four of the same questions and then posted a picture of them with their responses.   It was great to hear customers talk about some of the employee responses, as it helped build some sense of community between our team members and guests.   

Again, as you have so eloquently mentioned, we are all different people.  Recognizing our team members as people and not "just staff" goes a long, long way.

Thanks again for sharing and I hope you keep growing!😎