A restaurant’s staff is their biggest determination of success. Making sure they have a good experience working for you matters, not only to the brand but to your customers and bottom line as well. Provide an inclusive workplace to improve employee retention, cinch their commitment to the business and save money on turnover.
Meanwhile, customers have gotten more involved with the proper treatment of restaurant employees. They want to patronize businesses that treat their staff well. Your reputation, profit, and workforce rely on having an inclusive environment.
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What Does an Inclusive Restaurant Look Like?
Ultimately, it comes down to respect. They work hard for you and deserve understanding back. Especially during a global pandemic, start by taking into account their needs and comfort level. Implementing mask rules and baking social distance into the reinvigorated floor plan are simple ways to show you care about the staff’s wellbeing.
But inclusivity goes deeper than that. These problems stretch back to the foundations. To combat some of this, uplift voices that usually get sidelined. For example, Forbes found that women make up 53% of restaurant workers but rarely (less than 7%) reach head chef. Are you promoting them and other marginalized groups, like people of color, within the organization? Consult with HR to find concrete ways that your restaurant can improve in these regards.
It starts at the top. Assess whether the changes you’re proposing are artificial, only meant to appease concerns that people have brought up, or if they’re really aimed at the heart of what’s wrong.
Building an Inclusive Daily Work Environment
The biggest indicators of an inclusive work environment aren’t the commitments you put down on paper. Rather, they’re the daily ways you show staff that they matter. For example, even hairstyles are common problems for people of color in the workplace. Allowing hijabs and natural black hairstyles when in uniform are little ways to promote equality.
Since day-to-day interactions matter most, help this attitude permeate the company culture by emphasizing inclusivity at staff meetings. If this isn’t enough, provide sensitivity training or an inclusion committee—some kind of oversight to guarantee change. If they don’t hold actual power, then they can’t influence the daily interactions. Workers also need a safe place to report instances of abuse or discrimination where they know the complaint will be taken seriously.
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Change Your Restaurant for the Better
One positive workplace won’t revolutionize the service industry, but it will have a ripple effect nonetheless. Impact your employee turnover rate, and also set a good example for the competition, your customers, and the neighborhood as a whole. Never underestimate how acts of kindness spread.
The more diverse and inclusive your restaurant, the better it will function. Every piece of the puzzle has to work together to maximize efficiency. As your team learns to operate smoothly together, why not equip them with state-of-the-art technology that makes their jobs easier? To get your restaurant running smoother, upgrade your POS system for the modern age.
eatOS offers an all-in-one cloud-based eco-system exclusively for restaurants. From Point of Sale to Contactless Ordering, Pay & Order at Table, Kitchen Display System, Customer Facing Display, Online Ordering APP / Website and Workforce Management there is everything to help a restaurant succeed no matter the size. Click Here to Schedule a demo to learn more about how your restaurant can make a smooth transition into the world of restaurant technology made simple.
