{"id":25437,"date":"2021-07-12T14:07:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T18:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:48:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:48:42","slug":"staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Staffing 101: Tame Turnover with Retention Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Reduce costs and keep your best workers around by investing in motivation.<\/h2>\n<p>The labour shortage is real. Restaurants can tame turnover with retention practices that help keep reliable, high-performing workers.<\/p>\n<p>Hiring staff is expensive. <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-restaurant-scheduling-work-you\">Scheduling <\/a>to cover vacancies, <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/practice-3-rs-recruiting-recruiting-recruiting\">recruiting <\/a>job candidates and <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/tame-tasks-hiring-and-onboarding\">onboarding and training<\/a> takes money and time. It\u2019s actually less costly to invest in motivating employees so they will stick around. Here are some proven strategies:<\/p>\n<h3>Have an IMPACT on retention<\/h3>\n<p>Your intuition and business skills may not be enough. Use <a href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/make-an-impact-on-your-retention-efforts\">the IMPACT approach<\/a> to engage employees and remind them why their work matters:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>I \u2014 Involved.<\/strong> Deepen bonds by showing you\u2019re invested in the team\u2019s outcome.<\/li>\n<li><strong>M \u2014 Mentor.<\/strong> Guide your team through unfamiliar situations to build confidence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>P \u2014 Pay.<\/strong> Compensate them in ways that go beyond hourly wages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A \u2014 Appreciate.<\/strong> Single out top performers publicly, if possible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>C \u2014 Challenge.<\/strong> Offer opportunities so people reach to perform at a higher level.<\/li>\n<li><strong>T \u2014 Trust.<\/strong> Create a relationship that encourages people to bring concerns to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Leadership enhances retention<\/h3>\n<p>Most employees don\u2019t quit a job, they quit a boss. Retain employees by being a boss who balances being in charge and understanding human behaviour. Workers are more likely to stick around when you exhibit leadership skills like these:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plan check-ins and evaluations&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Schedule performance meetings to track growth.&nbsp;\n<ul>\n<li>Giving advice builds confidence<\/li>\n<li>Listening to feedback strengthens relationships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Offer ongoing education&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have open training for food, beverage and kitchen skills.\n<ul>\n<li>Paying for ongoing certifications invests in your team<\/li>\n<li>Building their skills benefits cross-training and promotion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Connect with employees&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes, it\u2019s a business, but it\u2019s not all about business.&nbsp;\n<ul>\n<li>Ask employees about their lives outside of work<\/li>\n<li>Organize staff appreciation activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Offer incentives<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t take much to show appreciation:\n<ul>\n<li>Offer a cash reward based on attendance or number of call-ins<\/li>\n<li>Give bonuses based on progress and improvement<\/li>\n<li>Provide a free staff dinner to everyone<\/li>\n<li>Reward people with the choice to work preferential sections, desired shifts, or assign them to lucrative events, like parties or events<\/li>\n<li>Create an \u201cEmployee of the Month\u201d to honor and motivate team members<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reduce costs and keep your best workers around by investing in motivation. The labour shortage is real. Restaurants can tame turnover with retention practices that help keep reliable, high-performing workers. Hiring staff is expensive. Scheduling to cover vacancies, recruiting job candidates and onboarding and training takes money and time. It\u2019s actually less costly to invest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Staffing 101: Tame Turnover with Retention Strategies | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staffing 101: Tame Turnover with Retention Strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reduce costs and keep your best workers around by investing in motivation. The labour shortage is real. Restaurants can tame turnover with retention practices that help keep reliable, high-performing workers. Hiring staff is expensive. Scheduling to cover vacancies, recruiting job candidates and onboarding and training takes money and time. It\u2019s actually less costly to invest [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T18:07:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T14:48:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Retention-Staffing-Idea-Center-760x400-option2_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Staffing 101: Tame Turnover with Retention Strategies | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/staffing-101-tame-turnover-with-retention-strategies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Staffing 101: Tame Turnover with Retention Strategies","og_description":"Reduce costs and keep your best workers around by investing in motivation. 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