Why does your restaurant have such high turnover?

Of all the things that can hurt a restaurant's quality, reputation, and bottom line, high employee turnover is among the most widely discussed and hardest to remedy. High turnover means servers and kitchen staff are constantly in training, learning the menu, learning the POS system, and making mistakes. There are few things a diner wants to see less than two servers walking over to the table, one in charge and the other in training.

Turnover is, unfortunately, the nature of the industry. Good employees aren't necessarily hard to find, but they are hard to keep. Follow this guide to lowering turnover in an industry synonymous with the phenomenon.

Train Managers to Be Staff Members

During World War II, General Omar Bradley was known as "The Soldiers General" because he led from the front and asked his men to endure no hardship that he himself wasn't already enduring. He rejected fancy officer's quarters and slept where the troops slept, ate what the troops ate.

There is nothing that gets a good server to go home and log onto the jobs section of Craigslist faster than a manager who spends more time trying to assert his or her dominance than he or she does helping to get the job done. There is nothing that makes an employee want to work harder and stay longer than a manager who rolls up his sleeves and washes dishes, busses tables, runs food - does whatever is needed whenever it's needed to make the place function.

Your manager isn't the boss. He's the senior staff member on the floor on any given shift.

Honor Seniority

If you constantly hose the new guy, the new guy won't be there for very long. But by initiating a fair and consistent system in which your senior servers get the best shifts and best tables more often, you set a good precedent. Your senior employees will know that their loyalty is recognized and appreciated, and your newer workers will understand that if they stick with you, good things are on the horizon.

Create a Sense of Family

You own a restaurant. Once in a while - maybe every quarter - close it down and invite the staff to forget titles and just hang out. Don't let them bring their girlfriends or roommates; this is just for the staff - the family. Bring the kitchen and the front of house people together, get some of the surplus food that isn't selling anyway and - God forbid - maybe even crack a few bottles of the booze that isn't selling. If you really want to up the ante, see to it that you and your managers are the ones serving them.

Workers are much less likely to stray if they feel like they're part of something intimate that outsiders can't enjoy.

Employee turnover is bad for business. Customers like familiar faces, and the place runs better when it's in the hands of staff who know the routine, know the menu, and know the politics. As much as getting the best possible deal from your vendors, finding and keeping good employees is key to keeping your business afloat.