Performance management is an important part of being a restaurant manager. Your employees need to know what is expected of them, what they can improve upon and how they are succeeding in their current position. A good performance management plan communicates all of this and can also help you, as a restaurant manager or operator, identify who may be ready for a promotion, who your high performers are, and who may be hindering your restaurant’s success. Below are a few items you should consider in how to establish and improve your performance management program.

Have accurate job descriptions

The first step in establishing a performance management program is to have developed job descriptions. If employees don’t know what they are being held accountable for, it is likely that the performance discussion will not be very productive. Your job descriptions are a good jumping off point for all performance conversations. If you don’t have them, or haven’t reviewed them lately, check out our tips for writing a job description. You can also consider having your employees help with their job descriptions. Giving your employees the opportunity to review their job descriptions can help your staff feel more engaged and can help you identify tasks that may need to be added or taken off of certain jobs.

Check in with Employees

There is nothing worse for your employees than being blind-sided with a negative review when no one has said anything for an entire year. If you do yearly reviews, consider adding quarterly check-ins so that employees and managers have a chance to discuss performance year-round. If there is something an employee is not doing that they should be, that needs to be addressed as soon as possible NOT just left for their yearly review. Empower your managers to give feedback to your employees often. That way, no one is caught off guard with their review and left feeling upset. Oftentimes, an employee may not know that they are not meeting expectations. Give them the opportunity to change this throughout the year. It is also important to give positive feedback as well. Though mistakes are often what we notice first, many of your employees may be going above and beyond for their customers and this should also be recognized. Did you see a server jump in to help another employee? Recognize that person and let them know you appreciate their team work! Encourage your managers to do this as well. Even better if you can talk about team successes at your pre-service round up. This can help keep your employees engaged.

Make sure your performance reviews reflect the position

In the same vein as ensuring your job descriptions are accurate, your performance reviews should reflect the position a person is in. You can have a review for your front of house staff and one for your back of house staff but should consider creating separate reviews for those who are managing these positions. The reason for this is that their job duties are substantially different. Managers are in making decisions that are in the best interest for the business AND helping their staff members grow. This is not the same as a host whose job is to make sure every guest feels welcome when they step into the restaurant. Where everyone in the restaurant is working towards the common goal of an excellent guest experience, not all positions contribute in the same way. Consider this when making your performance reviews.

Get feedback from more than one source

It is human nature to form an impression of someone even if we don’t work with or see them regularly. As a restaurant manager, it is important to avoid this in performance reviews by getting feedback from other people who often work with that employee. If an employee is assigned to a manager who doesn’t often work the same shift as them, it is safe to say that the manager may not have a complete picture of the employee’s actual performance. A review should include a full picture of performance. One way to do that is a 360 review in which you solicit feedback from multiple sources. This methodology can also help alleviate evaluator bias- the tendency of some managers to grade harder than others.

Train your managers

Your managers should be trained on how to give a performance review and how to give feedback in general. When you have an employee not performing, the discussion during the performance review process maybe be difficult to maneuver through. Empower your managers by training them on how to give feedback and how to have these conversations with employees in a productive and positive manner. During this training, be sure to explain your specific review process and what your expectations are of them in the performance management process.

Key Take-Aways

A well-established performance management plan can help your restaurant succeed in reaching goals & objectives. There are several things you can do to create or improve upon your performance management plan. A few of these include reviewing job descriptions, providing feedback throughout the year, and soliciting feedback from more than once source for yearly reviews. All of these can help your employees feel like what they do matters and keep your restaurant running smoothly. If you are interested in receiving help for your performance management plan, reach out to our HR team.

Improving Your Restaurant’s Performance Management Program