Finding Solutions for Top Barriers to QSR Stability

It's no secret that finding and retaining good workers is one of the biggest challenges for QSR restaurants.  In 2023, the turnover rate in the industry soared to 72 percent. To learn what operators can do to recruit and retain, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine reached out to Opal Wagnac, SVP of Market & Product Strategy at isolved, who works with QSR HR practitioners. She knows how high turnover rates can cost thousands of dollars and are often at the expense of service quality and operational efficiency of a restaurant. 

From an HR standpoint, what are key reasons for high turnover at Quick Serve Restaurants (QSRs)? What are HR’s biggest challenges?

High turnover has been a long-standing issue in the QSR industry, with more than half of QSR employees quitting their roles after just 90 days. QSRs often have a very demanding work environment with irregular, long working hours, low wages and intense customer interactions – all of which can be draining for many employees. The physical strain of their jobs, coupled with mental demands can lead to irreversible burnout, an issue that already affects 65 percent of all employees. Aside from the high-stress and unstructured roles, a large number of QSR employees are teenagers or individuals only seeking part-time or seasonal hours. Naturally, this leads to higher turnover across the hospitality industry than in other industries. 

Relentless turnover and retention are the biggest challenges QSR HR leaders worry about because they know the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from 1.5-2x an employee’s annual salary. On the other hand, maintaining robust recruitment and training are also key challenges as HR tries to combat employee churn. Instead of being stuck in a cycle of recruiting, hiring and training new staff, HR teams must focus on engagement, benefits and overall employee experience to improve retention, maintain institutional knowledge, achieve high customer satisfaction, and improve business stability.  

What are the best practices for hiring and retention, and how has that changed due to the pandemic?

The pandemic and ‘The Great Resignation’ revolutionized the way employees seek new roles and opportunities, raising their expectations and increasing the desire for better job satisfaction. In order to attract the best talent, QSRs must create a desirable work culture that simultaneously improves retention. This means offering competitive pay or benefits and rewards that incentivize performance goals, like additional days off or a gift card for exceptional work. Those bonuses can also supplement larger recognition initiatives that encourage more employees to work harder. 

To meet these growing expectations, QSRs must prioritize modernizing and streamlining traditional time-consuming processes like onboarding, shift management and training.

QSRs can also offer flexible scheduling to accommodate employee needs outside of work. By collaborating with employees and giving them more control over their schedules, flexible scheduling can combat key concerns around the unstructured nature of QSRs. These strategies can help retain and recruit new top talent while building a more stable and motivated workforce. 

Another practice QSRs can adopt to attract and retain employees is to offer development opportunities. This type of investment is something employees take personally and is perceived to be just as valuable as offering competitive pay. Seeing a form of devotion to their success goes a long way in terms of retention.

What do QSR employees want from an employer?

Today, a paycheck is not enough to attract and retain top QSR talent. In fact, most (88 percent) employees want their workplace to be fulfilling, offer growth opportunities, provide flexibility and deliver a high-grade employee experience – particularly when it comes to technology. The latter is especially true for Gen Z employees, who make up a third of the total workforce in the restaurant industry. 

To meet these growing expectations, QSRs must prioritize modernizing and streamlining traditional time-consuming processes like onboarding, shift management and training. By enhancing these administrative tasks, QSRs can elevate their efficiency while empowering employees to work on more high-value tasks and learn to deliver better service to customers. While employee expectations consistently evolve, QSRs must look to adapt to these changes to remain competitive and efficient while continuing to improve the bottom line. 

What are the best things employers can do to promote a good culture?

When 90 percent of employees say the experience they have as a worker directly impacts the experience they provide customers, it’s crucial for QSRs to create an engaging and positive workplace culture. This requires an understanding of your employees’ needs, open communication and a meaningful investment in employee initiatives. Through better communication, managers and owners can further understand which part of their culture resonates with their employees and what their biggest concerns are. Opportunities for feedback should be consistent, whether it's sending out pulse surveys, employee one-on-ones or open feedback forms. This feedback should help inform the unique ways QSR leaders can consistently improve their culture at large. 

QSR leaders should also move away from legacy technology that limits HR’s ability to focus on employee initiatives that can move the needle on culture. Modern solutions can help streamline administrative tasks like scheduling and payroll, saving HR teams hours and reducing errors. For example, Pride Restaurant Group was able to save HR leaders 32 hours of work by reducing its payroll processing time through its HCM partner. By relieving HR teams from these tasks they can focus on creating recognition and rewards programs, skill development programs and implementing wellness initiatives that address direct employee needs.