Keeping good employees is a challenge in almost every industry. A Society for Human Resources (SHRM) report found that on average, in a typical year, and in almost all industries, a company will experience an 18% turnover in its workforce, and the hospitality industry seems to be one of the hardest hit. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality industry is one of the industries where turnover is currently rated highest in the nation.

To begin to stifle this exodus of employees, we first must understand why they are leaving. Many employers believe that one of the main reasons employees leave is for more money. Statistics show that is not the case. A ResearchGate study found that in the hospitality industry, there is a variety of variables that positively and negatively influence both voluntary and involuntary turnover that include employee motivation, accuracy of job information, relationship quality, job satisfaction, job demands, and emotional exhaustion.

Why Are You Leaving Me?

Uncovering why people leave their employer has been an ongoing study for years in an effort to curb costly turnovers. Some reasons employees leave are obvious such as moving out of state, seeking better benefits or simply no longer engaged in the work they are doing. If understood in advance, many of these can be countered by the employer; offering work-from-home programs, providing customized benefits, and finding ways to improve employee engagement. Others can baffle employers and leave them scratching their heads wondering how they can address the issues.

For example, a Harvard Business Review article found that, “Work anniversaries (whether of joining the company or of moving into one’s current role) are natural times for reflection, and job-hunting activity jumps by 6% and 9%, respectively, at those points. But other data reveals factors that have nothing directly to do with work. For instance, birthdays—particularly midlife milestones such as turning 40 or 50—can prompt employees to assess their careers and take action if they’re unhappy with the results. (Job hunting jumps 12% just before birthdays.)”

Industry Stats

Every year, Gecko Hospitality puts out their annual salary survey and in it are the top 10 reasons people leave their jobs in the hospitality industry. On average the survey includes between 1500-2400 candidates each year. What we’ve found is that it’s not about the money, at least not one of the top five reasons why people leave. It’s more about the culture of the business, the benefits the company provides, and just simple perks that lets the employee know they are recognized. In fact, our survey found that in the top 10 reasons for both male and female respondents, money didn’t even make the list.

It’s Not About the Money

It is a natural assumption to believe that the main reason employees quit is because of money. That’s not the case. Only 12% of workers leave a company because they want a raise or could earn more elsewhere. According to a survey of 2,285 US professionals, nine out of ten said they were willing to earn less money if it meant the work was more meaningful. For most people, work takes up a large majority of their time per day so if it is not fulfilling, it becomes drudgery. Meaningful work keeps employees engaged and not looking toward greener pastures, and therefore they are more productive.

As the graph below from Work Institute shows, the top three reasons people leave their employer is because of little opportunity for career development, not enough attention to work-life balance, and the conduct of managers.

Statistics from other sources reveal pretty much the same reasons. To decrease turnover in your company, there are three things you can do right now:

1. Find Out Why They Are Leaving

All too often employers accept that there is turnover and move on to the process of hiring replacements. That doesn’t solve the issue. Although not every business has the luxury of investigating why people are leaving, it is critical that we make the time and resources available to conduct exit interviews and uncover why employees are leaving. The alternative is paying way too much in turnover costs and losing precious productivity.

And as you know, turnover can be very costly. All of the cost for searching, interviewing, hiring, onboarding and training simply goes out the window when an employee leaves. In fact, the Employee Benefit News found that employers spend around 33% of a worker’s annual salary during the replacement process. Based on the employee’s salary, that breaks down to:

• $12,000 to replace an entry-level employee making $36,000 a year.
• $20,000 to replace a manager making $60,000 a year.
• $50,000 to replace an executive making $150,000 a year.

Exit Interviews

To help reduce the high price of turnover, we should be investigating why employees are leaving. One way is to conduct exit interviews. Ray Dalio, in his New York Times best seller, Principles, states that losing a valued employee provides an important learning opportunity for organizations. Too often, though, we are so busy doing damage control that we fail to conduct a thorough investigation to help us understand what happened and what corrective action is needed to prevent similar episodes from occurring in the future.

When conducting exit interviews, you might not always get the true feelings or facts from your departing employees. In fact, there is research   suggesting that a large percentage of employees are not very candid during their exit interview. However, at least in the hospitality industry where there is greater turnover, consistent interviews over time should produce useful information of a trend or at least of things you can tweak in order to keep employees longer.

2. See If Your Employees Are Engaged

Many employees leave because they are unhappy with the company culture, dissatisfied with career development or work-life balance. To help solve this, we need to find out if employees are engaged (or not) in their current job. If not, take steps to make things better for them.

But how do you gauge the engagement of your workforce? One fast and easy way is to simply survey your employees. It doesn’t have to be a long survey, but one that it is inviting for the employee to fill out. A recent SHRM article explains the best way to create a employee engagement survey. To summarize, the survey should include the following:

• Preparation – Communicate the reason for the survey first, then ensure the questions are relevant and understandable.
• Privacy – Use an outside source to provide you with anonymous feedback.
• Development – Keep the survey short and to the point. Allow employees to add additional information if they choose to.
• Metrics – Send reminders to employees to complete the survey. Reinforce that the surveys are anonymous and conducted by a third party. Review the response rates based on job categories.
• Results and Feedback – Be transparent and honest sharing the results with employees. Communicate what action will be taken going forward based on the survey results.

Be sure to focus on your leaders and managers in the engagement survey as well. According to a Gallup poll, managers account for 70% of the variance when it comes to employee engagement scores. But unfortunately, managers themselves suffer from high levels of burnout and low engagement levels. This same survey found that the drop in engagement for managers was steepest.

3. Examine Onboarding Processes

In the fast-paced hospitality environment, there is little time to do everything perfect. But there is time to do the important things right the first time. Onboarding is one of those things that if done right, makes a powerful impact on reducing turnover. Onboarding provides the orientation needed to give a new hire an idea of how the company works. It familiarizes the new hire with the processes they will be responsible for and the culture they will be working in.

Proper onboarding should not be a one week or one month process. It should be at least one year with continuous communication with the new hire. Making sure they understand their role as well as soliciting any questions or concerns they may have is very important. Onboarding is your opportunity to make sure they are engaged in their job. If they are not, find a position they are more suited for. The graph below shows the percentage of employees who leave within a specific time period. A continual on-purpose onboarding process will ensure that your employees remain with you for a longer period of time.

(From: leftronic.com)

Most experts agree that retention efforts should start on day one. This makes the onboarding process crucial to retention success. It also provides an insight into whether this employee will fit in or not.

Keep Them Longer

Understanding why employees leave is a great start into fixing turnover issues. Getting a handle onto why you are losing employees will help you to begin understanding the things you can change. You can keep good employees longer if you can find out what keeps them engaged and happy in their work. By discovering the trigger points that cause them to leave, you can make an impact on future hires by tweaking, improving, or removing those triggers.

The post The Top 3 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Employers appeared first on Gecko Hospitality.

How To Find the Best Restaurant Manager Candidates

Start with the job description. Finding the right fit takes knowing exactly what you’re looking for, but we so often seem to recruit on the fly that it makes it harder than it needs to be to find a good candidate. Take time to create an appealing job description from the perspective of the candidate. Instead of listing responsibilities, create a description that explains why a good manager would want to come work for your company. What are the “selling points,” in addition to job responsibilities? Once you’ve figured this out, post the ad on every job board you can find, in addition to on your website. Some of the best hospitality-related job boards include:

• Poached
• HCareers
• Restaurant Careers

You can also post on traditional job sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Monster, or ZipRecruiter.

Tip: Job board posting can be unwieldy and expensive to manage. But if you work with a staffing agency like Gecko Hospitality, we do the work and handle the risk. We may even have a restaurant manager already in the funnel, just waiting for your call!

Social media is a must-have presence for any company seeking new restaurant managers. This can’t be a one-off; these channels change at the speed of our digital universe, so you should post, share, and post again to further your reach and stay top of mind. You can use your restaurant’s social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (or other venues) to post a link to your ad. But also, don’t forget to ask your employees if they know anyone and if they would be willing to share your social post. You may consider ads on these social channels. Most are “click to play,” which means you pay a preset fee for every person that clicks on your ad.

Direct sourcing your candidates is a trick most recruiting firms use. This is a proactive approach that reaches the passive job candidate before they even apply. Most experienced restaurant managers have a LinkedIn profile. While this is a time-consuming process, you can search for the candidates that fit your criteria and email them through that platform, inviting them to apply.

Tip: If you have a basic LinkedIn membership, the portal will limit the number of emails you can send. But you can invite anyone you want into your network as an individual member. When you invite a potential job candidate, the platform gives you room to write a note in the email. That’s a good place to put your job link and invite the candidate to apply.

While these are just a few of our best tips for finding a restaurant manager, the number one best practice we recommend is to call Gecko Hospitality. We have candidates standing by that may fit your open position perfectly. Contact us today to find out more.

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Growing a Gecko Business

Megan and Chris had a good mentor when developing their vision of a Gecko Hospitality franchise. They got involved through an existing franchise partner that had been with Gecko Hospitality for 19 years. They both had also been in the hospitality and hotel industry for many years before considering a Gecko franchise.

Gecko Hospitality offered these fledgling entrepreneurs a way to capitalize on their desire to start their own business venture. Franchises naturally offer less risk by allowing new business owners a way to use proven methodologies and systems to launch their company.

For franchisees, there are all kinds of benefits that Megan and Chris knew they wanted to take advantage of, including:

• Low capital investment up=front
• Web technologies that are fully integrated as an operations tool
• Turnkey processes with proven success strategies
• High level of work/life balance
• Effective franchise model
• Recognition as the staffing industry leader

Megan and Chris spoke highly of their experience, and, unlike most new business startups, they discussed the work/life balanced that comes with a Gecko Hospitality franchise. They stated that the best part of their experience was, “The ability to have a completely flexible schedule that you are in control of with the support and feel of a true hospitality company.”

Megan and Chris were attracted to Gecko Hospitality because of the companies more than 20-year track record in the challenging staffing industry. They knew that franchising a Gecko Hospitality staffing office would set them up for success. They set up their Gecko Hospitality franchise in the Charlotte, North Carolina market and never looked back. They are exceptionally successful and proud of their work, stating, “We are most proud of the caliber of candidates that we pace with our clients. Having been in the industry for so long, it’s great to be on the other side and help the hard-working hospitality candidates find new homes and help our clients build successful teams.”

Gecko Hospitality franchisees owners have all of the tools they need to be successful. Our turnkey process helps you get started with a known brand. We asked Megan and Chris what advice they’d give new franchise owners just starting out under the Gecko Hospitality brand. They had this to say, “Recruiting takes patience! If you are thinking about getting into recruiting you need to love to be on the phone and talk to people. Also, start working on creating or connecting further with a large network. It’s all about who you know.”

If you are seeking a new business opportunity, look no further than the lucrative, interesting, and proven processes that come with a Gecko Hospitality franchise. Talk with our teams today to find out if you are a good fit and join dozens of successful franchise owners like Megan and Chris.

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Jeremy Nichols and Peter Ricci discuss how recruiting can help the current hospitality industry come back better than before and how the industry has foregone many changes in the past year – the most significant being the employees within it.

Jeremy and Peter share their experiences of the recent and future issues within the labor force occurring because of the pandemic. They discuss how industry leaders, including major hospitality brands and voices of the industry, can change the hospitality industry as a whole to better its employees.

While other industries are offering sign-on incentives, higher pay, and better working hours, the hospitality industry will have to similarly compete now that many have learned that their skills are transferable to other industries. With an influx of restaurant jobs and hospitality jobs currently in the market, Gecko Hospitality turns to clients willing to ‘change their ways’ in order to capture the attention of the best hospitality candidates looking for restaurant management jobs. Hospitality recruiters and industry leaders like Jeremy and Peter understand the need for this change within the hospitality industry in order to attract the service workforce that we are used to, and are helping pave the way for major brands to follow suit!

Follow the link to listen to the entire podcast!

The post How Can A Professional Recruiter Help the Current Labor Force? appeared first on Gecko Hospitality.

..especially if you’re relying on many of the mainstream job boards. It’s particularly frustrating when you spend a great deal of time and energy to post an open position, only to have fewer responses than expected—-and not one of those would you even consider calling for an interview. There are a number of reasons why job boards fail and unfortunately, most of them fall directly on the employer.

Mark Twain once said to his wife who started cussing, but didn’t know how to do it, “Honey, you know the words, but you don’t know the tune.” That’s about the same with many of our job postings. It’s not that employers aren’t posting on enough job boards, but it’s that what they are used to creating in the past no longer works on today’s boards.

The job boards you use will reward you when you know what relevant data to include in your postings.  In this piece, we’re going to give you some tips and tricks to use in your postings that will attract more candidates to your open position. And not just more candidates, but more qualified candidates making it faster and easier to fill your job openings.

Beating the Competition

When you post a job opening, you are competing against thousands of other employers in your industry. In fact, according to Statista, in the US, there were 7.37 million job openings, or 4.9%,  on the last business day of February 2021. There are more and more positions opening, but with less qualified candidates responding to the call for hire.

Interestingly, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that one of the sectors where job openings has increased the most is in the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation segment, up 56,000 in just the first three months of 2021. You get the point. Jobs are coming back and filling them is going to be quite a challenge. Not only will you be competing with your competitors, but also with the power of stimulus checks and the new increased  unemployment payments that are keeping qualified candidates sidelined longer.

In a Harvard Business Review article, researching firm, Korn Ferry, found that almost 40% of US companies have outsourced half, if not all of the hiring process to recruitment processing outsources in the Philippines and India. The building frustration of finding and hiring needed talent is so great that a recent Deloitte survey discovered that “finding qualified experienced hires” ranked at the top of the list of frustrations among those surveyed as illustrated in Figure 2.

To attract the talent you want and reach the eyes and interest of qualified candidates, you will need to use new tools in your employee marketing strategy. Utilizing job boards’ technology to your advantage is one way to get the responses you want.

Here are seven ways to improve your success rate in attracting qualified candidates to your posting:

1. Make sure your posting is on a job board – Sounds simple enough, but a recent Society for Human Resources (SHRM) article suggests that you make it so applicants apply from the job board, meaning that the vast majority of jobs on job boards redirect the job seeker to an applicant tracking system (ATS). So if you want more applies to your position, let people apply on the job board instead. To do this, you can use a company called JobSync that allows you to do this on sites like Indeed, Facebook Jobs, and LinkedIn while still delivering the data to your ATS.

2. Keep your posting short – Shorter job posts receive 8.4% more applications per view than average. Short and to the point is what applicants want. You should try to keep the word count for your posting down to between 100-325 words. This is enough to capture and hold the reader’s attention while including all of the important information they need to know.

3. Keep the focus on what matters to the applicant – Most applicants are looking for three main points in your posting:

1. Work/Life Balance
2. Salary Information
3. Opportunities for Growth

Include these three key points of information, and particularly the salary, in every job posting.

4. Use social media to attract – A recent study by The Open University found that 79% of job seekers say they are likely to use social media in their job search and this increases to 86% for younger job seekers. If you have a Facebook business page, (if not, create one!), you can post your job openings there for free. According to Zephoria, 83% of job applicants are on Facebook; one in four people in the US had search for or found a job on Facebook; and 1.47 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily.

Additionally, nearly 90% of surveyed companies had successfully hired a candidate through LinkedIn. Employers who used social media to hire found a 49% improvement in candidate quality over candidates sourced only through traditional recruiting channels.

5. Use specific job titles – If you are hiring for a General Manager, spell out the title and don’t abbreviate, (e.g. G.M.). Also, make sure you use the job title several times throughout the posting. Some advise even using it up to 11- 15 times. But you should lean more on the creative side rather than the excessive.

6. Clear and concise job description – The job description for the open position you are hiring for tells it all. Candidates want to know exactly what is expected of them before they apply. Based on some job titles, it may seem obvious what is expected, but don’t chance it. According to a survey by the Allegis Group, 72% of hiring managers say they provide clear job descriptions, while only 36% of candidates say the same. After creating a job description, have others give it a once-over to ensure it is clear.

7. Give access to company website – In a survey of business leaders conducted by LinkedIn, 68% found that the most effective talent branding tool is your company website. Make it easy for applicants to check out who you are what you do. Provide a link to your website or landing page to help explain the company’s values, mission, and culture.

Embrace the Challenge

Just like most technological things in this world, job boards are evolving and are in a state of flux. The challenge is to stay ahead of the curve and change with the various job boards and services you choose. For many employers, the perfect recruiting strategy may be a combination of job boards and social media. This allows candidates to get an idea of your company culture and employer brand.

Download the full article here!

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2021 Salary Survey Details

The story behind 2020 was without a doubt the global pandemic. Within a month we went from one of the hottest employment markets for workers to high unemployment, layoffs and unfortunately, many restaurants ended up closing their doors, even if it was for just a short time. Our survey revealed how abrupt this switch was:

• In 2019, the top reasons for a job jump in the restaurant field were varied, but primarily to improve the quality of life by finding a better job.
• In 2020, the top reasons for finding a new job in the restaurant field were due to “unemployed” and “business closed/downsized.” For a time, the situation was admittedly grim.

But 2021 looks a little brighter so the salary data we culled in 2020 will likely continue to rise as the vaccine continues to circulate and the economy starts to move again. The average starting management salaries from 2019 to 2020 in the restaurant field includes:

         Job Title                            Female                        Male      

Assistant Manager                 $46,661                       $50,153

Dir of Food & Beverage          $93,000                       $86,250

Executive Chef                        $72,750                       $74,665

Front Office Manager             $47,750                       $45,000
Kitchen Manager                    $50,407                       $55,000

Hotel Managers made between $62,326 (female) and $85,726 (male).

One interesting highlight of the survey this year was the longitudinal data on some of the roles we’ve been tracing for the past few years. For example, Assistant General Managers either in hospitality or restaurant food service showed a steady increase in wages since 2018.

Conversely, some roles declined in salary. For example, the national average of an Assistant Manager of a casual theme restaurant was $56,181 in 2018. By 2020, the average salary had regressed to $55,986. The same was true for upscale casual Assistant Managers, who went from $59,000 in 2028 to $53,313 in 2021. These alarming numbers are offset by the fact that far more positions did see a steady increase in income.

Corporate management roles continue to pay well. For example, a corporate Assistant Manager of a casual theme restaurant can now expect about $115,000. That number was considerably less in 2018, at $72,333. Upscale dining increased as well, from an average salary of $75,000 in 2017 to $157,500 in 2020.

Executive Chefs aren’t seeing huge increases annually overall with the exception of one category. Executive Chefs that work in family-style dining establishments could generally expect an average of $60,000 in2017, $68,500 in 2018 and $85,000 today.

For the hourly worker in food service, wages continue to fluctuate. The average hourly rate in 2019-2020 ran between $12.06 for the QSR category all the way up to $15.81 in casual theme establishments.

Overall, most restaurant chains did offer non-hourly employees steady raises over the past few years. However, prior to the pandemic, we saw a lot of hospitality and restaurant workers leaving their existing job for greener pasture. According to the salary survey, most left because they weren’t satisfied with the work conditions.

What will 2021 bring us? We don’t know exactly, but one thing is clear—Gecko Hospitality remains that the forefront of the restaurant and hospitality field. We can help your organization adapt to the changing times by helping you find the best talent at the right rate.

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Gecko Hospitality is proud to announce they were named to Forbes 2021 List of America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms. With the recent events of COVID-19 taking over our industry, we are extremely humbled and proud to receive this distinction. We’d like to thank our dedicated clients and candidates for helping us achieve this great honor – we couldn’t have done it without you.

Robert Krzak – President, Gecko Hospitality

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Hiring is a Job onto Itself

In any job, staff is your most important asset but you can multiply that by 100 in the restaurant field. Restaurant operations is made up of one primary asset—people. If you get hiring right, you’ll succeed. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s that simple. When you’re a restaurant manager you will quickly realize that your people are the engine and heart of your establishment. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, either.

You’ll Need to Be Good with Money

Loving food service isn’t enough. Managing cash flow is a tricky business that you’d better have a knack for. If you’re a restaurant manager, you’ll quickly find there is massive financial risk in this industry—and that was true way before COVID, as it will be way after the pandemic is over. About 30% of new restaurants fail, and cash flow is one of the reasons why.

Manage Based on Guest Expectations

The sooner you realize that it isn’t about you, the better off you’ll be. Your job is to focus your strategies and approach around your target audience. What does your customer want? Your first job is to figure this out. If you can create a better guest experience over your competitor, you will win every time.

You’ll Need Technology More Than You Realize

Many new restaurant owners think serving guests great food in a comfortable environment is key to the business. It is, but that isn’t all. Investing in technology to streamline your workflows is critically important to your facility. Restaurants are increasingly using sophisticated analytics to run their businesses. So, restaurant managers need to be far more tech-savvy than you probably ever expected.

Patience is More Than a Virtue—It’s a Business Builder

If you can’t calm down an angry guest on a packed Friday night, you’re going to struggle. Learning to handle fractious guests is an important part of a restaurant manager’s job. Listening to criticism from a customer, particularly when it’s unfounded will feel terrible. You love the business, the food, your customers, and the staff. But there’s always one customer that will try your patience. Learn to deal with these scenarios and you’ll do well in the restaurant industry.

Gecko Hospitality is the nation’s leading staffing firm for restaurants and others in the hospitality field. Find out how we can help you achieve your hiring goals. Contact our hospitality recruiters today.

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Gecko Hospitality, the trusted leader in hotel and restaurant management recruitment was recently chosen by Forbes as one of the best executive search firms in the US! Gecko Hospitality is the recruiting firm that connects qualified management candidates to hospitality clients by using their national network to match only the best professionals from their nationwide database of top-tier candidates to open positions in the hospitality field.

“This is quite an honor for us,” says Gecko Hospitality’s President, Robert Krzak. “We were named to Forbes lists of America’s Best Recruiting Firms in in both 2018 and 2019, and we are pleased to be recognized again for our continual focus on finding great candidates for our wonderful clients.” Through its talented staff and online search portal, Gecko Hospitality provides recruitment services for hotels, casinos, country clubs, vacation clubs, restaurants, and everything hospitality related.

The Forbes award is a distinction that is highly respected in the recruitment and human resources industry. “I started Gecko Hospitality because I knew there was a better way to make connections between quality candidates and the businesses who need them. Today, our professional network of franchise partners and recruiters are the ‘best of the best’ — they’ve all worked in the industry, understand what it takes to succeed, and most importantly, have walked in our clients’ shoes,” Krzak stated.

Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to determine the annual ranking of America’s best professional recruiting firms.The top candidates were chosen out of 5,400 recruiting firms and 26,000 nominations as well as assessments in the various evaluation dimensions.

About Gecko Hospitality

In the recruitment and human resources business this since 2000, Gecko Hospitality has built a reputation of trustworthiness, reliability, and partnership. Gecko Hospitality’s recruiters have worked in the industry and are dedicated to a specific territory they know inside and out – meaning that the client and candidate experience is the best it can possibly be. The company works closely with its clients to understand their culture, vision and expectations.

If someone is searching for a new position, Gecko Hospitality looks for opportunities with the best fit for their experience and talents.

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To keep an employee engaged at a factory might require frequent breaks or per piece incentives. For the stay-at-home employee, like we’ve experienced with the recent pandemic, it might require more interaction with headquarters and feedback from managers. In other words, to achieve employee engagement, business leaders must be creative, experimenting with outside-the-box tools and strategies.

Keeping Country Club Employees Engaged

According to the latest statistic from IBIS World, the number of people employed in the Golf Courses and Country Clubs industry in the US declined -0.2% on average over the five years between 2016 and 2021. The report also stated that, “Over the next five years to 2026, the Golf Courses and Country Clubs industry is expected to generate stable revenue due to rising per capita disposable income and consumer confidence.”

In other words, more people will be joining country clubs and visiting golf resorts, but will there be enough workers to support the influx of consumers? A recent Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) article states that engagement and productivity can be affected by social cohesion, feeling supported by one’s supervisor, information sharing, common goals and vision, communication, and trust. Employees want to feel valued and respected; they want to know that their work is meaningful, and their ideas are heard.

Here are eleven suggestions for country clubs to keep their employees engaged and therefore lower turnover and increase productivity:

1. Allow employees to pick their meal of choice from the club. Instead of simply giving a stipend for a burger or hotdog, let employees eat what the members eat. Let them feel special and appreciated.
2. Offer laundry and dry-cleaning services for employees. Most of your employees are working paycheck to paycheck trying to hold everything together. Pay their laundry bill and watch how their loyalty increases.
3. Reward star employees with recognition for a job well done in front of their peers. Being the star for the day and the feeling they are appreciated increases engagement.
4. Offer massages for employees. Utilize a local cosmetology school to provide massages for your employees. Cosmetology students must provide the service for free as part of their curriculum.
5. Create a staff-inspired menu. Allow employees to submit a menu or drink item not normally on the menu and place the employee’s name next to that item, (e.g. Nelson Chicken Fried inspired by James Nelson).
6. Provide bus vouchers for employees who use public transportation—a relatively small cost that goes a long way.
7. Car detailing. Hire a mobile car wash service and use it to provide a free wash and car detailing for the employee who wins employee of the month. Do this when employees are reporting to work so everyone can see it.
8. End-of-year employee picnic. Provide a picnic at a local park for all employees not working that day. Do it as many times as it takes to ensure all employees are included or on the day the country club is closed.
9. Hospitality reciprocity – Partner with local restaurants, hotels, and resorts within your area. Set up a reciprocity system to where you can offer amenities offered at your club and allow your employees to enjoy discounts to those establishments who participate within your network. Not only will your employees appreciate the perk but the collaboration between neighboring businesses.
10. Dinner with the General Manager – Networking and mentorship can be a little awkward at first, so break the ice with delicious food and great conversation.
11. Quality of life / Work life balance – Equates to PTO and vacation time which is the most impactful piece to the puzzle.  In an industry where we give so much of ourselves attempting to create memorable experiences for others – down time makes it all whole.

These simple and inexpensive ideas when implemented will increase employee engagement leading to improved morale, increased productivity, and less turnover.

Gecko Hospitality

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