Meetup on Growth Hacking in Asia

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Pragya Gupta

Yesterday, Aulia and I stepped out of the office after work and headed to Ayer Rajah Crescent for a Meetup. It was on Mastering SEO to Boost User Acquisition, hosted by Growth Hacking Asia and Silicon Straits Co.Lab. Growth Hacking Asia is an organisation that advises Asian startups on how to succeed. The speaker was Jeff Li, SEO Manager at Expedia Asia and Head of SEO at AirAsiaGo. Jeff gave us some invaluable insight that we thought we should share and spread the love a little bit.

Jeff first explained to us how Google crawlers work. Page rankings are based on how relevant the page is according to Google. The factors that make up relevance involve keywords, links that lead to your page, quality of links, responsiveness of your page and site structure to name a few.

While keywords are important, Jeff says:

“SEO strategy has shifted from
keyword focused to topic focused”

Content in your website is key to bringing in traffic. The search user’s journey begins with the Search Interest, then to the Search Engine Results Page, followed by the landing page and finally the conversion from just a page visit to the action that we want the user to take. Therefore, having content that is relevant and useful to your target audience will get more hits and pull up your rankings.

A good reminder about content: Content should be shared in a way that makes your site look original, not in an attempt to crack Google’s algorithm.

Next, focusing on content will get you nowhere unless you know where to put it. Spamming is a big no-no because it creates a bad name. Paying a blogger a minimal fee to write about you may backfire if the channel that the blogger posts it on is not relevant to you. However, asking a guest blogger to write on your site may bring links back to you. Similarly, writing about another blogger and going by a pay-it-forward philosophy is great for both parties’ site traffic and creates goodwill: something like good internet karma.

While we are on the topic of linking, we never forget to link our site’s homepage to different parts of the site like the product category, the merchant page and general content pages. These pages are further linked to our products. However, linking these pages back up the chain is important too. A good internal linking strategy keeps the user on the site by giving more relevant information, which could lead to a higher conversion rate.

Jeff then gave some neat tools to learn how to optimize websites. Screaming Frog is a tool that simulates search engine crawlers. It helps you understand whether your site is accessible by crawlers. Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmaster) is a great tool to pull up your page rankings and “be found”, as Google puts it.

With all these tools, the 2 biggest challenges with SEO are the following:

Understanding the huge amount of data that you have on your site
Figuring out what your competitor is doing

While the second point is an inevitable evil, we can do more about the first point. When asked what an SEO team should aim for, Jeff gave us some KPIs:

Conversion rate
Traffic
Rankings

The second and third points lead back to the first: how to generate leads by first generating traffic, then pulling up your page rankings and eventually taking off your business from there. Simple in theory, but an elusive concept at best.

5 Sure Wins When You Come To PayrollHero Meetups

Posted on May 27, 2015 by

This meetup is all about HR and payroll management in the cloud for businesses of any size. Today, more companies are getting smarter and are transforming the way they manage their time, attendance, scheduling, payroll and HRIS to a systematized cloud based solution. To make sure your company does not fall behind on this trend, you need to discover why choosing a better management system helps increase your bottomline.

During the meetup, we will be focusing on tips and tools you can use to better optimize HR and payroll processes, while cutting costs on time and creating a happier work culture.

Let’s solve those problems! We want to share our expertise together with you at our next PayrollHero Meetup!

We will have Steve Jagger, co-founder of PayrollHero!

Hello there!

Sure Wins!

Know the tools that can increase productivity in your business by eliminating buddy punching and ghost employees.
Gain new tactics to effectively improve scheduling, time and attendance, HR and payroll management for your employees.
Business Intelligence tools to use for your business to make informed decisions on human resource.
Get to learn about new tools that can help you gain insights and better understand your customer segment.
Our event is free of charge with FREE wine and snacks!

10th June, 2015, 4pm- 5.30pm
Ocean Financial Centre

Part I on Cloud Computing: 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Cloud Computing Now

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Pragya Gupta

Cloud Computing, by definition, is “the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.”

Let’s be honest, that sounds terribly boring. And you’re probably wondering: I don’t even know what half of that means.

As an intro to cloud computing, take a look at the infographic we have for you. Now, let’s talk about why your business needs to upgrade its IT infrastructure and adopt cloud computing with arms wide open. Using cloud computing services helps you increase efficiency, cut down on costs, and change the way you do business.

Demand-Supply management: Cloud computing gives you the opportunity to be ridiculously client focussed using big data and data analytics. Imagine owning a gaming store that sold console games. If Game A was trending that week and Game B was not doing so well, data analytics would allow you to identify that trend, allowing you to stock up accordingly. Not only would you improve sales, you would manage inventory better and improve your turnover rates. For your business to be flexible and sustainable, you need solid data to back up your decisions. Cloud computing offers insight into your customer’s preferences. Using this data will give you the competitive advantage that you need.

Cost reductions:

By using the Cloud, you can cut costs by moving from the CAPEX model to the OPEX model. This is particularly useful for companies that have a high debt burden. Initial capital expenditure on IT assets or building your IT infrastructure is not fully deductible, which leads to higher taxes. On the other hand, operating expenses on running services through the cloud are fully tax deductible. By moving your system to the cloud, you will be able to free up capital for other investments.
There is another benefit to cloud computing on your balance sheet. Think about the IT infrastructure you have set up for your business. You have 10 servers that work perfectly well on a regular basis. All of a sudden, during a special discount that you are promoting through your website, you notice greater traffic. Now you need 5 more servers to sustain the traffic. However, the investment is too expensive for the limited amount of time that you are using it for. If you could rent and pay for servers for just a short period of time, wouldn’t that make more sense than investing in assets that will not pay off in the long run?

Remote-monitoring: This one is easy. By using the Cloud, you can access your company’s data anywhere and at any time. When you’re on that much needed holiday in the tropics, your spreadsheets back home will be of no use to you. With Cloud Computing, you can get back to your business at a moment’s notice and respond to any emergency, all this while sipping on some mai tais and preparing for the beach volleyball game.

Now, if you already knew all of the above, then you have probably contemplated the next question. What about security? We understand, recent security breaches that have led to disasters for some companies do not instil confidence in what we are talking about. Sensitive information is at risk when you are using Cloud Computing. But here is what’s important for your business: if IT is not your core competency, then no matter how much you invest in security, a company that rents out servers probably has a more secure system in place. Again, this is about how you want to use your resources to focus on your business.

Singapore is a great example on how Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs) have adopted cloud computing. Cloud Comrade, a company that provides solutions on cloud management, says that around 63% of businesses in Singapore turn to companies like Cloud Comrade for cloud technology solutions. Singapore is one of the fastest adopters of cloud computing services.

Altogether, the reasons for cloud computing, especially for SMBs was put very simply by Pavel Ershov, Parallels’ vice president of service providers business for the Asia Pacific and Japan regions:

“SMBs today have the best of both worlds to help them grow their businesses–cloud services offerings with enterprise-grade capabilities at affordable costs”

Southeast Asia Cloud Computing Infographic (PayrollHero.com) from PayrollHero

Want to learn more about PayrollHero? Check out our country specific websites:
Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand | Canada, USA

Where does South East Asia rank on Maternity Leave?

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Pragya Gupta

baby photo Employee benefits are a growing concern for human resource (HR) administrators. South East Asia (SEA) lags behind the global average in terms of providing employee benefits. However, when it comes to maternity leave, the situation has been improving.

According to the International Labour Organization’s report: Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world, there has been a shift towards increasing maternity leave periods that go further than the 14 – week standard suggested by ILO. However the coverage is neither sufficient nor long enough for mothers before they have to get back to work.

SEA ranks in the middle to lower half in terms of length of maternity leave. On average, around 12 to 13 weeks are given as leave.

Singapore: the Ministry of Manpower lays down conditions for eligibility of maternity leave. This leave can be paid by the employer or can be reimbursed by the government. The length of the leave depends on certain conditions. A maximum of 16 weeks is allowed if the following criteria are met:

The child will be a Singapore citizen
The mother is legally married to the father of the child
The mother has worked in the same establishment for a minimum of 3 months.

The last condition is mandatory for eligibility. MoM also takes into account the number of children the mother has to judge eligibility and coverage.

Malaysia: The 1955 Employment Act gives mothers 60 days (8 weeks) of maternity leave as long as the employee has worked in the company for 90 days prior to taking leave. The employer needs to pay the employee in full during leave. There are certain concessions for civil servants. Malaysia does not provide maternity leave for the sixth child and following children. Because of the short leave provided, mothers often work up to the due date in order to spend time with their child during leave.

Indonesia: Three months (or 12 weeks) of paid leave are given to mothers. At least 1.5 months of this leave must be taken after the birth of the child.

The Philippines: Article 133(a) of the Labour Code states that an employee who has worked in the establishment for at least 6 months is entitled paid leave 2 weeks before the due date and 4 weeks after delivery. The employer is required to pay for only the first four children.

Under SSS law, a woman member of the SSS is entitles to maternity benefits. While the employer must pay these benefits to the employers, it can be reimbursed by the SSS. In order to abail the Maternity Benefits, the employee must pay at least 3 monthly contributions within the year before the semester of childbirth.

Thailand: An employee is entitled to 90 days (or 12 weeks) of maternity leave. However, the employer must pay a maximum of 45 days. The remaining 45 days are paid from the Social Welfare Fund. In order to avail payment from the Social Welfare Fund, the employer is expected to make contributions to the Fund for at least 7 months before pregnancy.

Here we have a list of countries and the maternity leave that they offer:

Duration	Countries
< 12 weeks	· Hong Kong · Malaysia · Papua New Guinea · Philippines · Taiwan
12 – 13 weeks	· Cambodia · China · DPRK · East Timor · Indonesia · Laos · Myanmar · South Korea · Thailand
14-17 weeks	· Brunei · Japan · Singapore
> 17 weeks	· Mongolia · Vietnam

Source of Cash Benefits: Historically, Asia has seen a higher percentage of the maternity leave being paid by the employer. However, the trend is moving towards cash benefits coming from mixed sources: from the employer and social security services. To put this in perspective, Europe, a region that has led the way for right of the employee, has always provided cash benefits from social security.

Paternity Leave: Rights offered to fathers are fairly limited. Countries offer just a couple of days of paternity leave as a shared provision between parents. Usually this leave is taken by the mother. Sometimes this leave is not paid. Approximately 28% of countries in Asia provide paternity leave.

What is the future of POS for retail?

Posted on May 25, 2015 by

Image by squareup.com

The mobile point of sale system seems to be the buzzword circling around today’s retail industry. But the real question is if the mobile POS system is going to take over the traditional hardware?

We have notice recently that there is a movement towards the mobile POS option, however most retailers still find comfort with the traditional hardwired POS system for their business. Probably for this simple reason- business owners find the traditional machine more familiar to manage, secure and it comes with all the bells and whistles (eg, bar code scanner, receipt printer) at one price.

But do small businesses need to invest a large sum of money to get an all-in-one POS system from the get go? Or would it be wiser to have software that grows with your business, and add to the hardware as they need it?

Let’s think about the concerns of a business owner when choosing the right POS system.

The most common concern shared by most owners is that the traditional hardware gives them the sense of security and familiarity. The POS machine itself is built to withstand the daily grind of business. The POS is plug-in to a power point and does not require charging. The mobile POS system option can only last up to 3-4 hours on the phone or tablet, after which an hour downtime to charge. For a restaurant, this arrangement might not be suitable because POS system must be up and running from start to finish.

Next, a report by the Federal Reserve reveals that security concerns is another main reason why traditional POS system triumphs over mobile systems. Identity theft has been the top complaint on the Federal Trade Commission’s list of complaints for 13 years in a row. This shows that when it comes to credit card transactions, owners have more trust in POS systems than the mobile systems.

Additionally, the mobile system depends completely on the signal strength from wireless provider or a Wi-Fi connection which isn’t as reliable and secure compared to a hardwired connection. While some owners are skeptical about mobile POS not having security to protect cardholders data, business owners can be assured that mobile apps like Square adhere to the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

Another worry with mobile devices being small, it can be easily misplaced or stolen. Comparable to the bulky POS system- it is definitely harder to run out the door with that.

But, owners might not need to choose after all.

Although POS systems might be the better option for retail businesses, it doesn’t mean that the mobile software should be disregarded. The smart business owner would see these 2 systems as mutually exclusive and use both methods to provide better service and enhance customer experience. One does not need to replace the other.

Take for example, a restaurant having their waitresses carry personal tablets to ring up food orders at the table within seconds, that information is also automatically reflected on the main POS system. By cancelling out the time they would usually take to key every order at the machine- this saves time on service and improves workflow. The customer can then physically pay for their meal using the traditional POS system at the cashier once they are done.

Retail outlets in Singapore are doing just that! Taking customer experience to another level through an integrated POS system. Restaurants like Sakae Sushi improves efficiency and flow by installing iPad Minis at the table for customers to ring up orders on their own, without waiting for a waitress. The central POS system at the cashiers handles all the payments after customers are ready to pay for their meal.

iPad Mini for food orders at Sakae Sushi

Central POS system at Sakae Sushi

Saving costs with technology. The integrated POS system at your restaurant or retail outlet, would mean that business will need less employees to wait on customers. Service has become self-sufficient.

Last words. It makes sense for business owners to combine the familiarity and security of traditional POS system with the added features from the mobile system to enhance efficiency and customer experience. Although it is important to consider when integrating software into your service; and depending on the nature of the business, reducing the number of staff in place of machines could also mean you will lose the human touch in your service.

Was this post useful? Comment on our blog, let us hear your thoughts.

If Zen Riddles Were For Millennials (video)

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Stephen Jagger

“He seeks an entry level job to get experience,
but he can’t get an entry level job without experience.”

College Humor tackles young adults looking to move into the workforce.
(*The end is a little NSFW)

Watch here.

“If Zen Riddles Were For Millenials.”“If Zen Riddles Were For Millenials.” Born after 1980? You’ll understand.

Posted by CollegeHumor on Saturday, May 23, 2015

Scheduling Practices: Hallway Test!

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Pragya Gupta

Today marks two weeks of my internship at PayrollHero. To celebrate my two-week-erversary, I went out to do a little survey. The aim was to understand what systems businesses have set up to manage scheduling, measure attendance and calculate payrolls.

2015-05-21 16.04.44__1432268258_115.42.154.34

The Costa Coffee crew.

I surveyed 10 cafés in the Central Business District in Singapore to find out how they schedule workers in their outlets. Some of the outlets I visited were Cedele, Starbucks, Joe & Dough and Costa Coffee. They all had similar systems set up to schedule workers, with a few interesting anomalies:

With the exception of one cafe, everyone uses the punch card system or a regular excel sheet for workers to clock in and clock out. The exception in question has software set up to monitor attendance.
Scheduling is done on a weekly basis. The worst case scenario is when a worker notifies the admin that he or she can’t show up just a few hours before the shift begins.
Usually, the outlet manager calls another outlet to find a substitute. In the case of one cafe, Whatsapp groups are used to coordinate and find substitutes. Most outlet managers believe that the best way to reach someone is to call them. Texting or emailing is not a common communication channel.
The HR admin in every outlet takes around 2 to 3 days to calculate payrolls.

With that simple survey, it was evident that cafés in Singapore use conventional ways to schedule shifts. While workers rarely drop shifts, outlet managers need to be on standby to call nearby outlets for substitutes immediately.

Using Data Analytics to Improve Productivity

When the weather is bad, or there is an MRT breakdown, the situation is worse because all outlets in the same region are affected equally. While an outlet manager is calling multiple outlets for substitutes, customers are walking in and waiting for service before walking out, disappointed and unhappy. That directly affects the bottom line. Managers should be able to access an online database and use data analytics to see which outlet is on top of things in real time in order to call that outlet directly and ask for a substitute.

The top priority for every outlet manager is to make sure the day runs smoothly. It becomes much harder when the manager is not equipped with the right data to plan ahead of time. In a country like Singapore that has high internet penetration rates and high cell phone penetration rates, installing an application that stores this data in the cloud is easy and inevitable. If managers had access to this data, it would also be a way to motivate workers to be regular in order to move higher up in the rankings among outlets.

Calculating Payrolls

The systems put in place for measuring hours worked per employee in order to calculate payrolls should also be revamped. It should not take a manager 2 or 3 days to calculate payrolls when she has a million other things to look after. What’s more, the hassle of buddy punching, human errors and shifts in multiple locations add to complications for the manager. More errors equal higher costs. Higher costs equal lower profits. The bottom line is affected by inefficiencies that can be wiped out by a one-time change in the basic infrastructure.

Finally, the idea behind having an app that does all of the above is predicated on increasing productivity: be it that of your rank and file workers or your manager. Higher productivity leads to a better workplace environment and happier people, which further leads to higher productivity. That is a virtuous cycle, if ever I saw one. In effect: optimizing work productivity with happiness.

Now, where have I heard that before…

Restaurant Jobs and Salaries in Singapore

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Pragya Gupta

Life on the Line is a book written by Grant Achatz, owner and chef of the best restaurant in the world: Alinea. The book is about how Grant rose through the ranks to finally become an executive chef and a pioneer in molecular gastronomy. I loved the book. Not only was it a remarkable story about perseverance, it gave a glimpse of what it means to work in a restaurant.

While reading the book, you get an idea of what happens behind the scenes. Like every other restaurant, Alinea has the regular mix of members on the team: a general manager, restaurant manager, executive chef, sous chef, commis, sommelier, the captain waiter, regular waiters, bartender. The whole orchestra.

Most of this was new to me. My knowledge on restaurants went as far as:

Waiter;
Chef;
Food

And that’s about it.

So a breakdown on how restaurants work from a management perspective was an eye-opener to say the least. Naturally, restaurants around the world have the same structure. Singapore is no different. Given below is a little summary of the standard jobs in any restaurant. Not all restaurants have all the components. Most hiring admins in restaurants go by this convention:

General Manager: The CEO of the restaurant. She makes sure things run smoothly. She oversees operations, makes sure supplies arrive on time and hiring and firing activities run smoothly. She tries to cut costs and improve sales too.

Restaurant Manager: He makes sure that training of new employees runs smoothly. He deals with customers, allocates manpower and deals with the maintenance of the place.

Maître d’: She manages the front of house operations. By maintaining the customer database, the maître d’ makes bookings. She also welcomes customers as they enter the restaurant.

Executive chef: The executive chef creates new dishes and plans the menu for every outlet. He looks after the overall direction of the restaurant or outlet.

Head Chef (chef de cuisine): The head chef is the CEO of the kitchen. She allocates duties and ensures there are supplies. She manages daily operations in the kitchen.

Sous Chef: The second in command. He works under the head chef and makes sure things run smoothly in case the head chef is not around. He also ensures the quality of supplies coming in.

Chef de Partie: This is a chef who is in charge of a particular section: grill, pastry, whatever was allocated to her. She makes sure the cooks under him deliver what is required from the section.

Sommelier: Everyone loves the wine guy. He is an expert on wine and food pairing. He maintains the inventory, trains the staff on what wines to suggest and teaches them the convention on serving wine.

Head Waiter: A head waiter is in charge of other waiters/waitresses. She trains them. She also waits on tables and suggests dishes and wine pairings.

Waiter: He waits on tables. He also suggests dishes from the menu. Waiters are trained on how to serve the dishes and the wine that goes with them.

With that crash course on who is who in a restaurant, below we have a table on their average monthly salary in Singapore. This varies based on the location of the restaurant and the type of restaurant.

Title	Salary/Month (SGD)
General Manager	4,000
Restaurant Manager	3,200
Restaurant Assistant Manager	2,500
Executive Chef	7,400
Head Chef	4,000
Sous Chef	3,100
Chef De Partie	2,200
Sommelier	3,000
Captain Waiter/Waitress	1,800
Waiter/Waitress	1,500

We hope this gives you a better idea on the industry!

Restaurant Executive: Andrew Masigan, The Advent Manila Hospitality Group

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Stephen Jagger

As part of a new series on this blog [Retail / Restaurant Executive] we will be interviewing restaurant and retail executives from all over the world to gain insight and perspective into how they make their decisions, grow their businesses and deal with challenges.

Today is Andrew Masigan, owner of The Advent Manila Hospitality Group in the Philippines.

Q. When and why did you start Advent?
I guess you can say that Advent is a reincarnated company. Advent was the name of my first company, just after finishing my Masters program. Back then, it was a sole proprietorship that served as the company behind my first fast food chain, Dimsum ‘n Dumplings. Soon enough, the company grew to a point where it didn’t make sense to pay personal income tax rates for my business profits. I then decided to retire it. In its place, Prime Pacific Corp. was put together as the corporate entity of Dimsum ‘n Dumplings. Fast forward to 2010 and Prime Pacific Corp. was acquired by another firm. I was done with the food business…or so I thought.

The thing with the food business is that, difficult as it is, it is so damn gratifying. It is a business that feeds your mind, soul (through creativity) and stomach, all in one go. Its true what they say — once a foodie, always a foodie.

In 2011, we decided to venture into the restaurant business all over again, this time, making a strong push for Filipino cuisine. The idea was to come up with a Filipino restaurant that was high-end in very sense, debunking the notion that Filipino food was “pedestrian” or suited only for the home.

We launched XO46 Heritage Bistro later that year. It is an advocacy-driven brand whose purpose is to bring forward the best of Filipino cuisine while being an instrument to preserve our vanishing food heritage (no thanks to the influx of fusion cuisine).

XO46 was incorporated under the Advent Manila Hospitality Group. This is our company today. So in a sense, Advent has come full circle.

Q. What is your background? (restaurants? or you figured it out as you went?)
I am somewhat of a strange mutt. I am an economist by training…politics is my interest…the hospitality industry is where my expertise lie.

This strange mix is the reason why I am a restaurateur, a business and political columnist for the Manila Bulletin, a tv host (The Business Examiner) and a consultant to the Department of Science & Technology.

At the heart of it all is my passion to be an instrument to nation building, whether through business, politics or media. I guess you can say that this is what unifies everything that I’m into.

Q. How many locations do you have in the Philippines?
Dimsum ‘N Dumplings peaked at 88 stores, although most were kiosk outlets.

Our restaurant group today consist of 14 stores, with two more under construction and due to open before year-end.

Q. How do you choose a location?
Pretty much the same way most restaurateurs do.

We consider foot traffic, the profile of customers, the merchant mix and the competitive environment.

Q. Will you ever take a sub-par location, if it is in an area you want to be in? or will you wait for the right spot?
I would rather wait for the right spot. If there is anything I’ve learned being in this business for 2 decades — its that, “the bottom line” is the bottom line! In other words, if a site is not going to make money…lets not waste our time.

Q. How big is a standard location? What have you learned about location size?
XO46 works with spaces ranging from 120 sqm to 240 sqm.

Q. Does a corner location matter?
It’s a plus but not a deal breaker.

Q. Are malls better? or street level locations?
Good question. It really depends.

The value that the malls give is that it is a destination on its own; it has inherent foot traffic (assuming the mall is not a dud); security is more or less assured; and your brand gets to ride on the image of the mall and the surrounding merchants.

On the downside, mall spaces are relatively expensive to rent, they limit your operating hours and give you restrictions on your product offerings and store design.

The advantages of street locations are the disadvantage of malls, and vice versa.

Q. At what point did the number of locations change how the business is run? I have been told, 1 or 2 locations is ok, but 3+ requires a different management approach, systems, procedures, etc. What was the tipping point for you?

Fortunately, I know the business well enough that I can still manage our stores with relative personal involvement.

The trick is to put the important systems in place – I’m referring to systems relating to operations, HR and accounting & control.

Beyond 20 stores, the emphasis shifts from personal management & creativity to professionalization. In other words, the efficiency your company’s chain-of-command largely determines how well your stores operate. In addition, logistical issues migrate to the forefront of your business concerns.

Q. Anything you would like to add?
The integration of ASEAN come Jan 1, 2016 will change the industry.

Given the impending borderless trading conditions within the region, we will see the best restaurants groups from each of the 10 economies “invade” other territories, jockeying for a piece of their market.

I would like XO46 to be on the offensive, not on the defensive, in this new environment. After all, the time is right for Filipino cuisine to be exported, don’t you think?

eileen picture company
Want to read more from our executive contributors, check out Eileen Grey, owner of The Picture Company in the Philippines.

5 Things Restaurants Need to Do Attract Top Employees

Posted on May 20, 2015 by

Tips to Attract Top Talent to your Restaurant

Image by themuse.com

Drawing from my past stint working as a waitress back in 2013 in NYC, I have learned that in the service or restaurant business, not everyone works just for the money. Indeed money is one of the key motivators, but people are looking for so much more.

Thankfully, the owner of the restaurant I worked at paid attention to his employees in order to keep us happy and working at his restaurant. Hiring the right talent isn’t easy (not everybody is good at service based roles) and retaining the finest employees is even harder.

What can make it even more frustrating is the fact that the restaurant business has one of the highest turn over rates in the private sector- at 66.3% by 2014.

In this article, you will find tips for making your restaurant more appealing to better employees.

To attract the A-players to come work for you, you will need:

A Clear Path to Advancement
It’s important to remember that people are not working for you only because of the money. Most times it is much more than that. Employees want to know if there is a clear path to advancement in your restaurant. Whether it is moving up to a management position or to the next better paying position on the line, they want to know that the job rewards them based on growth and merit, not who they have to suck up to.
The Work Itself
It pays to be at a job that rewards and makes people happy. A great employee culture makes a great first impression where potential employees will think “Wow, what a great place to work in!”. It shows that you care about your employees and treat them like family. It also let’s your customers know that you run a quality restaurant with staff proudly working with you.
Offer a Fair Salary Package.
Restaurant owners should offer a competitive salary package to the employees. Keep in mind that while it does not have to be the highest, it definitely should not be at the bottom.
Well-trained management/ leadership team
Have great team leader or managers. Take the time to teach them to value each employee and guide them to succeed at their jobs. Great leaders also motivate your employees and create loyalty. When people know that your establishment has a superb leadership team and the ideal working environment, people will be waiting in line to come work for you.
Recognition and Take Care of Your Current Employees
It is good to feature your employees on your restaurant website and social media platforms. Focusing on your staff creates a positive environment, where they are happy to be at work. Giving praise for good work is also a good motivator. Sharing this information with the public will let potential employees know that you value good work.

Did you find this blog post useful? Give your comments below.

Find out how PayrollHero can create a great work place culture for your restaurant. We are happy to setup a time to speak further.