Are Your Performance Reviews Effective?
Many managers and employees alike dread performance reviews, but when properly conducted, these meetings can be incredibly beneficial to everyone. If you’re currently brushing this task off as grating formality, it’s time to start taking it seriously. Turnover in the accommodation and food services industries increased from 66.7 percent in 2014 to 72.1 percent in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so if you don’t dedicate extra effort to employee satisfaction, your staff won’t think twice about moving on to your competitor. Performance reviews can be beneficial to make your company a better place to work and increase your bottom line. 4 Tips for an Effective Hospitality Industry Performance Review Give Meaningful Feedback Providing employees with vague feedback is helpful to no one, so take the time to gather truly relevant insights. Cite specific examples of things each person is doing well and areas for improvement. For example, instead of commending your bartender for doing great work, praise the person’s ability to make drinks customers rave about on Yelp, keep people engaged in conversation so they spend more money and fill orders quickly. Set Measureable Objectives Similar to giving unclear feedback, setting ambiguous goals creates more confusion than benefits. Get on the same page with your staff by creating specific goals for each person to achieve. For example, instead of asking a server to concentrate on upselling, challenge the person to increase their total sales volume by 10 percent in the next six months. Make it a Two-Way Conversation As the manager, you’re responsible for leading the performance review, but the discussion shouldn’t be one-sided. Use this time to gain valuable insights from each employee. Find out how things are going with the person’s job, ask about skills they’d like to learn or different roles they’re interested in transitioning into, get ideas to better serve customers and see if staffers have any suggestions to make the company more efficient. Meet With the Employee Regularly Holding performance reviews annually is never a good idea, but the hospitality industry’s sky-high turnover levels make it even more important for this to be an ongoing process. Meet with each person on your team at least quarterly — monthly if possible — to touch base. Job satisfaction levels increase when employees know their manager cares, so this can help boost retention rates. These meetings are also a great time to review progress toward goals and make any necessary adjustments. Partner with RMG Staffing to find passionate and engaged hospitality industry professionals to join your Miami company. We offer temp-to-hire, direct hire, and payroll positions and temporary staffing for banquet events.
What Do Online Reviews Mean for the Hospitality Industry?
Traditionally, brick-and-mortar establishments in the hospitality industry have relied on word-of-mouth and community-based advertising to build their brand and reputation. Given the prevalence of the Internet as well as the recent boom in online review sites, companies are now seeing more exposure than ever before. While there are some highly trusted review sites out there, there are some sites that simply aren’t reputable by any stretch of the imagination. Despite this fact, there is great potential for misuse and abuse of such online review sites. There are also a number of shady practices, shortcuts and other tricks that can result in an inaccurate reputation. Generating Reviews The first step to managing your online reputation is to generate reviews which can be done through a variety of different techniques. Some of the most popular strategies include interacting with patrons and increasing customer services standards. Others opt for the more direct approach of targeting and soliciting individual guests to post reviews online. While this practice is fine in theory, it should be done tactfully, professionally and without compensation. In other words, offering free products, services or cash for an online review is definitely frowned upon in the hospitality industry. If you are a startup company that is trying to make a name for yourself in the hospitality industry, you have no choice but to offer compensation for an online review. When doing so, make sure the customer posts a standardized disclosure stating they have been compensated for their review. By using this strategy sparingly, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding the negative stigma surrounding paid online reviews. Monitoring and Responding to Reviews Monitoring and responding to online reviews is a highly useful strategy that is used by many employers today. Not only is this a great way of keeping track of your reputation, it also gives you the opportunity to address any negative reviews you may find online. You can respond to positive reviews, either as a means of expressing thanks, answering a question or interacting with the community at large. In fact, a recent survey states that 79 percent of travelers are reassured by a company’s response to a bad review while 78 percent of those surveyed stated that managerial responses to good online reviews cause them to think more positively about the company in question. As you can see, it’s good idea to respond to the good reviews as well as the bad ones. Online review sites aren’t the only place you’ll find consumer criticism. Social media sites also provide your customers with an accessible forum to post their questions, comments, complaints or praise. As such, it’s important to keep an eye on these sites, too. Some companies, particular larger organizations, recruit full-time social media managers in order to keep track of customer reviews, field online questions and respond to complaints. Filling Your Roster Whether the majority of your recruitment strategies are online or off, it can be tricky to find top talent within the hospitality industry. If you’re having difficulty with the process, or if you just want to free up some of your resources for use in other areas, contact RMG Staffing right away!