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What challenges does your company face in general as well as in the HR (hiring) sense?
Staffing is a double edged sword when your business is in a college town like New Brunswick. We have no shortage of help. College students flood my restaurant almost daily in search of work. That’s the good news. Now the bad news, college kids are not that reliable. Must view a job in any restaurant as a pit stop on the road to real life. As such, they do not take the work seriously and as a result we experience high turn-over. It is expensive to constantly hire and train new people. We have another restaurant located at the Jersey Shore. We have the opposite problem at that location. It is impossible to find anyone to work. The pool of qualified workers that actually want to work in a restaurant is almost non-existent. As a result we have entice people with a greater salary and benefits. This also costs us money.
Can you describe the hiring and firing processes?
We hire more people than we need because sooner or later someone just stops showing up for work. We have two interviews when we hire. A modest amount of experience is required to get the job. A little bit of luck is also required due to the 100’s of applications we receive each month. To get fired you have to earn three strikes. Each time an employee makes a big mistake we fill out a form that both employee and employer sign. After three strikes the employee is fired.
How do you keep talented employees?
This is a restaurant in a college town. Most talented employees eventually get jobs that offer more growth potential. The ones we have that stay, we try to treat with respect and dignity. We try to compensate them well. These seems to work.
What are some of your daily activities and the amount of time you spend on each activity?
I own the joint. I have hired people to handle most responsibilities. I handle the books, and all accounting functions.
Are there any programs / events run by the company to try to promote employee interactions and camaraderie? If so, please describe.
We plan two trips a year. We might rent busses and take the entire restaurant to Atlantic City. We have rented party boats and gone fishing. Any type of event where we can get everyone out of the restaurant is a good thing.
How have local demographics effected the people you hire and has diversity played a role?
No. We hire the best candidate at the time we need help. Most of our candidates seem to have the same background. As a result we are not as diverse as I would like to be. That being said, we always try to hire the best person for the job.
What are the risks / benefits of over- versus under-staffing?
It is always better to have too many people than too few people. If you have too many people the people that are hungry and want to work will work harder to keep their job. They will fight to survive. If you have too few people they have the upper-hand. If they are late or don’t show up, there is no penalty because you can’t fire them… as you already are short personnel.