Your employees are the lifeblood of your business, and without them, you wouldn’t be in the position you are today. When you’re working in the service sector, whether in a cookie franchise or a restaurant, the people who work for you are valuable and greatly impact your bottom line.
Making employees feel valued, especially when day-to-day work schedules can be hectic, is often more difficult than it seems. You may think your employees know you appreciate their work for you, but they may not actually feel that way.
Use this guide to learn more about how you can make employees feel valued in fast food chains, whether they’re running the store in your absence or they’re new hires.
1. Address Employees as Equals in Fast Food Chains
As the franchise owner of fast food chains, you may not be on equal footing with your employees. You may be aware that you call the shots. As a result, it’s easy for employees to forget that you value their contributions.
When you’re dealing with employees, give them the respect they deserve by speaking to them as equals. They may not get to make the important decisions, but talking to your employees with respect—just like you would to a colleague—is important.
2. Talk to Your Employees
Treating employees with the respect you should have for a business colleague is an important first step. Treating your employees like people whom you genuinely care about is even more important.
You may not have time to enjoy meals together or become close friends with employees, but a genuine chat from time to time can go a long way. If you have employees who are in school while they work for you, ask about their classes. A little bit of small talk can make employees feel like you respect them as individuals and appreciate their service to the company.
3. Give Time Off
Offering time off to employees when they don’t ask for it isn’t something you need to do to reward the people who work for you. Going above and beyond and honoring time off requests for employees who need it and for those who deserve it because of their excellent performance is something you should do.
Do what you can to honor employee requests for time off if it won’t hurt your cookie business.
4. Provide Gifts or Bonuses
Employees in fast food chains work for an hourly wage or salary, and extra compensation generally is not expected. Still, all employees who work for you will appreciate something you give them, even if it’s small.
From free food at the restaurant in the form of a small gift certificate to a cash bonus that’s equivalent to an hour or two of work, employees will know you value them when you reward them financially.
5. Reward Smart Choices
Even if you’re the boss in your fast food chains, your employees are going to face situations where they need to handle business without you. That’s especially true of your managers.
When they make the right decisions and improve your bottom line or the operation of your business, make sure you give them specific praise. You can also reward savvy employees by giving them more responsibility.
Promoting from within instead of hiring outside employees for management positions shows that you value hard work and all of the people on your team.
Do you want to learn more about how you can make your employees feel like valued members of the team? Then contact us today!
