By Cori Maedel

With no lack of competition in the hospitality industry, the owner of a popular group of restaurants had been experiencing a high turnover of staff. With four locations and roughly 150 employees, the restaurateur was in the process of adding an additional location—and committed to developing a strong and positive culture.

They also wanted to create an environment in which people saw the restaurant sector as a place they could have a career, and they wanted to hire the right people for their culture.

HR Challenge:
However, while turnover is as natural as turning tables in the restaurant industry, the owner sensed an underlying problem.  Externally, their branded culture was both warm and inviting. Their policy manual told another story and therein the disconnect became clear.

Their policies did not align with their company culture. While they encouraged a culture of “can do”, the manual read more along the lines of “thou shalt not”.  Rather than empowering managers to make proactive decisions, it read as a role call of restrictions, extending from an exhaustive list of what not to wear, to carrying an overall ‘policing’ vs. policy tone.

Two things were immediately apparent. For starters, their policy manual was in conflict with the warm, family environment extended to their guests.  Being integral to their onboarding process, training and daily operations, it was unlikely to be inspiring many on their multi-unit team, let alone have them considering a career in hospitality.

Solution:
That’s when we got the call.  Sometimes even hospitality needs a helping hand in the people department.

We met with the Executive Team and held focus groups at each of their locations during which we spoke with the employees and management.  What we discovered was not unexpected—varying definitions of culture from the executive, management and employees.  Our job was to identify the key gaps and miscommunications and present reasonable solutions.

Originally, we suggested they create two targeted documents: a new employee handbook, as well as a manager handbook. The manager handbook would mirror the first, while serving to both guide and empower managers.

For example, where the employee handbook would outline the dress code in simpler terms, the manager handbook would discuss how to oversee infractions. Similarly, while policies around drugs, alcohol and harassment would be laid out clearly, the manager handbook would discuss the more complex questions of implementation.

Both handbooks also benefited from a new focus on the hospitality as a career industry, highlighting various paths and opportunities—as well as outlining how employees can grow their careers internally and encouraging them to do so.

Throughout this process, we made sure their handbook was aligned with – and spoke to – their culture.

Implementation:
We regularly recommend that any official rollout be organized so that everyone receives it at the same time for maximum shared impact. Unfortunately, the nature of shift-scheduling in the restaurant industry makes this almost impossible.

In this case, we recommended a roll out over a short time period in groups over the course of three days. The client took an alternative approach and reviewed it one piece at a time during their staff meetings.  This chaptered approach is interesting; however, the challenge is that it can be difficult to keep track of who has and hasn’t reviewed the handbook, and to receive valid sign-off from employees.

To accompany their handbook, we also recommended confirming the terms of employment through new employment agreements. Our advice was based on knowing that there were so many new things in their new handbooks, and that signing an acknowledgement would not have protected them to the degree they required.

Although they didn’t take our advice regarding the roll-out and new employment agreements, the handbook we created for them is a document they regularly use, and we are working with them once more to create a manager handbook that mirrors their employee one. Although there will be some terms and conditions that affect just managers in this handbook, it will be more detailed as to why the policies exist, which laws they pertain to and a guide on how-to administer and be a champion of the policies and practices in the employee handbook.

Although achieving a handbook rollout to everyone at once was difficult for this organization, if we were to repeat this process once more we would still stress the importance of an official rollout in order for the document to have maximum impact and protection.

Takeaway:
Regardless of the size of your business, having a handbook that both lays the ground rules and speaks to the positive promotion of your culture is key.  When that business grows to multiple locations, the impact of that core document grows exponentially.  Whether it impacts positively or negatively depends entirely upon the shared understanding of executive, managers and employees alike.

Cori Maedel is presenting How to Create & Implement Effective HR Policy in Surrey on April 16, Victoria on May 9 and Vancouver on June 11. For more information on these and other professional development opportunities, please refer to BC HRMA’s online calendar.

Cori Maedel is CEO of The Jouta Performance Group in Vancouver. For more information on Jouta’s products and services, including tracking employee leave, call 604.488.8885 or visit www.jouta.com.