Stop Hoping Employee Turnover Will Go Down and Do Something About It Right Now

Say you began the year with 500 employees. By December 31, 365 of those employees will have churned out. Left. Quit. Moved on. This is because, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ the annual employee turnover rate in the restaurants and accommodations sector was 73 percent. It’s even worse in the QSR space where, according to Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, “employee turnover is typically in excess of 120 percent.”

Turnover will always be a part of the restaurant game, but you can do something about it.

Some of that can be ascribed to the nature of the beast: few people are interested in serving, bartending, hosting or bussing their whole lives, or even a few years. Restaurant jobs are inherently short. But it’s jaw-dropping to acknowledge that such a massive percentage of the restaurant labor force turns over within 12 months of starting a job.

Sure, most of these lost employees aren’t high cost. They’re hourly, with some making most…