Performance reviews are crucial for restaurants because they get everyone on the same page regarding company and individual goals and weaknesses. They also serve as a chance for employers to understand and encourage their employees.
But oftentimes reviews can be viewed by the employee as confrontational, vague, or a waste of time. Here are some tips on how to improve employee performance reviews in your restaurant.
Be Consistent
Reviews can cause a lot of anxiety for employees as there is a lot of ambiguity about how the reviews happen and if they don’t happen employees can feel a lot of anxiety about their standing. With consistent reviews, employees know what to expect, when to expect it, and why it is set up the way it is. Make sure to be especially consistent with the following:
- Same time, don’t be late
- Frequency, quarterly is recommended
- Same format and structure, share the format in advanced
Ask Questions
Asking the right questions will help you get to what motivates your employees, how to help them be successful in the restaurant, and what they still need to be trained on. Showing real concern and spending time to get to know your employees will pay back in loyalty and employee retention. Here are some examples of questions to ask:
- Where are some areas I can improve on as your manager? (ask for feedback on yourself before you give feedback to your employees)
- How would you rate your performance this quarter?
- What are some of the highlights you’d like to share since our last review?
- What are your ideal working conditions which enable your best performance?
- What motivates you at work?
- What barriers do you have to complete your goals this year/quarter?
- What do you hope to achieve this year?
Set Goals
You can find a lot of advice on how to set goals with your employees, so we wanted to just focus on what types of goals you should be setting in your restaurant. Here are some examples of areas where you can set achievable goals with your employees:
- Productivity goals: do they complete the checklist of tasks on time and without faking?
- Efficiency goals: can they accomplish all tasks without the help of team members in the time expected to complete those tasks?
- Educational goals: do they need additional certifications or training to operate all of the equipment at the store, or are they in school and how can you encourage them to do both school and work?
- Communication goals: do they need to improve how they work and communicate with the team, and are seen as a team player?
- Attendance/dependency goals: are they on time and reliable, and how often do they switch shifts?
After all of that, always make sure you are documenting your goals and bringing them up in future meetings. Make sure your employees know these are important and that their progression is important to you and your business.
Give Better Feedback
Give feedback not just to give feedback or to control your employees, but give feedback because you genuinely want to help them improve and be successful. This can be difficult, so a trick that can help is to think back to when you received feedback which helped you change and grow in your career. What type of feedback and advice was instrumental to your success, and why did it help so much. Try to emulate that advice and put yourself in your employee’s shoes. It may require more time upfront, but being more sincere and caring for your team by giving constructive positive and negative feedback will make performance reviews more valuable.
If done properly performance reviews can be something you look forward to. It will also save you time and build a stronger, better motivated team. Click here for more information on how to improve employee performance or you can always talk with a Jolt representative to see how our digital solution can help.