In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever to be able to appeal to, engage and keep the right employees —and often, prospective and current employees are millennials. The Pew Research Center’s analysis of the Census Bureau reports that more than one third—35%—of labor force participants are millennials, making them the largest generation in the U.S. labor force.
How operators can appeal to millennials
Look anywhere and you’ll notice that millennials rely on their phones for nearly everything– from texting to shopping, watching shows to making reservations, to buying tickets and more. Restaurants can take a cue and meet them where they hang out. Consider using mobile messaging to:
Share information with employees.
- Challenge: It can be difficult to make sure a team has the information it needs before or after a shift, whether it’s menu changes, missing ingredients or scheduling updates. Operators updating their employees through in-person staff meetings must contend with the fact that this is work time, and thus will cost the business money.
- Solution: Restaurants can instead use mobile communications to share news with employees even when those employees are offsite. Not only does this save the business money, but it’s also easier to manage the information (including menu changes, specials, events, staff announcements and more) when it’s shared across shifts and employee groups.
Provide employee self-service.
- Challenge: Managers are already busy running restaurants and keeping customers happy. Fielding phone calls from staff about time off and schedule changes gets in the way of them working to deliver great experiences front of house. As Fourth customer and Bar Louie’s COO, Tony Wehner states, “It could take [our managers] up to a full day to validate the schedules…Our management teams were spending multiple hours and putting schedules in multiple different places, [and that kept them] in an office doing things that really don't grow the business.”
- Solution: A mobile employee self-service solution puts employees in charge of their own information. This makes it simple for them to ask questions, view pay stubs and request schedule changes on the go. It also saves managers time and saves restaurant operators money.
Solicit employee feedback.
- Challenge: Everybody likes to be heard. Employees need a place to collaborate and share feedback. Imagine the impact having an engaged workforce can have on a business—and on the customer experience.
- Solution: Communication is a two-way street and that extends to mobile devices. Getting feedback from employees helps promote a collaborative culture. Workers feel empowered to make suggestions that ultimately benefit the business - and they become more invested in the organization’s success. Leveraging mobile communication can have a positive impact on restaurants because engaging employees and sharing information helps run businesses more efficiently.
Learn more about Fourth’s Mobile Apps and Employee Engagement solutions.
This post is sponsored by Fourth