The good news about the labor force is, employees are pleased with technological improvements and retention in the restaurant industry is on the rise. But operators and managers should beware: if employees are leaving, it has more to do with management than anything else. According to a recent article from Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), employees feel a sense of “camaraderie with their colleagues but wish their managers communicated better.”
This is the result of a study entitled The State of the Frontline Worker, by goHappy, a company established by the same team that founded Snagajob, the country’s largest marketplace for hourly workers. It is through other GoHappy projects, like a messaging platform, that allows employees to communicate about their working conditions and experiences with various companies.
GoHappy’s study specifically “surveyed 46,250 frontline employees in the United States and Canada in 2024, 52% in foodservice — all at large and small chains, about equally divided between full service and limited service — asking 21 questions about what they enjoy about their jobs and similar questions, plus open-ended comments that offered deeper insight into their mindset,” reports NRN. The biggest results were no surprise: engaged and happy employees contributed to lower turnover rates, even in restaurants—which can be a challenge for the food service industry. “Companies that managed to have 75% of their frontline workers engaged saw their turnover rate fall to 85%,” NRN writes.
Of course, it isn’t groundbreaking evidence; committed owner-operators and good managers know how employee morale is a fulcrum in the success of a restaurant business. So GoHappy dug deeper with the study to determine what it meant for employees to feel engaged. Rooted into an emotional connection to their place of business, the definition boiled down to employees feeling inspired and empowered, wanting to commit long-term to their place of work, and feeling proud enough about their work that they would recommend it to a friend.
The biggest trip-ups in the restaurant industry hinge on manager-employee relationships, and more often than not, schedules, since haphazard schedules make it harder for an employee to feel rooted and connect at their job. “‘A lot of that has to do with scheduling,’ said goHappy founder and CEO Shawn Boyer. Foodservice workers tend to have higher camaraderie scores than other frontline employees, but they get frustrated with both the whimsical nature of scheduling, as they see it, and the short notice they often receive when their hours are changed.” Boyer added that generally, employees were after more hours as well.
While schedules seemed like the tangible issue to latch on to, it seems there is something deeper behind the statistics. Employees in food service seem to sense a significant divide between the frontline workers and managers. “‘There’s less trust in their leaders overall,’ Boyer said of restaurant employees. While 72% of non-foodservice workers feel their manager leads by example, just 59% of foodservice workers feel that way.”
“One of the keys in foodservice and hospitality is the development and continuation of positive culture,” writes Richard Weil, owner and principal of National Restaurant Consultants. “While a positive culture is a key component to creating positive work environments that reduce overall turnover rates, the articles above clearly cite that leadership and communications rate high as well. What operators can continue to do is engaging leadership and that the lead by example is not just words, but actions that will fare well for organizations.”