How to Retain Restaurant Employees During the Staffing Crisis
Annie Wilhelm / Foodservice Tips, Restaurant Tips / September 29

The hospitality industry is in a bit of a pickle, and one you can’t even eat. From the Covid-19 pandemic, the coming recession, and now the mass exodus of restaurant employees, food establishments everywhere are floundering to recoup costs of a decreasing dollar value and replace workers lost to the pandemic’s labor shortage.
Knowing why the foodservice industry is currently experiencing a severe staffing shortage will help you understand how to retain restaurant employees and keep the problem at hand far out of reach. Let’s take a look at the most prevalent underlying causes of restaurant turnover and, from there, see if we can’t cook up some creative ways to retain staff.
Why Is There a Shortage of Restaurant Workers
It’s easy to blame Covid-19 as a scapegoat for all the industry-related issues, but the truth is, foodservice has been struggling long before patient zero’s first cough. Even before the pandemic, the leisure and hospitality industry face some of the highest turnover rates across the board at 84.9% in 2021 with the restaurant turnover rate in 2022 as high as 75%.
Some of it is the nature of the restaurant industry. One reason for the high turnover rate is the demographic the industry attracts. Waitressing, hosting, cooking, bartending, etc., often appeal to college and school-aged people who use restaurant jobs as stepping stones rather than a long-term career. This partially due to the low wages, inexistent benefits and marginal advancement opportunities, among a slurry of other disadvantages.
Is the Labor Shortage Due to Covid
Yes and no. In the beginning, many pointed fingers at the Covid unemployment plan for the obvious labor shortage because some restaurant employees were making as much staying home as they were at work. But the unemployment benefits have long since dried up, so what’s the deal?
Well, it’s certainly true that the pandemic caused a shift in the job market. Once fast food workers were let go, they decided to pursue careers in different industries for higher pay, more consistent income and better advancement opportunities.
Not to mention the staffing shortage has a compounding effect. When coworkers quit, it puts stress on the remaining employees to pick up the slack in an already high-stakes environment, causing them, in turn, to quit. To put it crudely, restaurant employees are simply not making enough to deem shouldering the extra burden worth it when there is a surplus of less demanding jobs available at the same wage point.
5 Ways of Dealing with Shortage of Workers
Severe staffing shortages come with no shortage of problems themselves. From longer wait times to lost revenue, it’s an issue that has the potential to shut down a business. Permanently. Maybe you’ve already reduced your menu or even had to cut your hours of operation due to being short-staffed, but those are short-term solutions to a long-term problem. How do restaurants reduce employee turnover, and what are the best ways to retain employees?
In the section below, we’ll detail 5 employee retention strategies that you can employ in your restaurant:
1. Increase Wages
No one wants to raise wages, but it’s a reality–and a necessity–that many restaurant owners are facing in the current economic climate. As of 2022, the national average wage for foodservice workers is around $12.53, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, many of those desperate for workers are going as high as $15 to stay competitive in the current market.
Indeed, some foodservice establishments can’t afford any increases in operational costs, especially coming off the back of the pandemic and with a recession looming on the horizon. The good news is there are still other ways you can attract and keep workers without having to fork out $15 an hour. For instance, you can give employees a free meal every shift or cover part of their transportation costs.
2. Offer Better Benefits
It’s been the trend for a while now to hire twice as many part-time workers than half as many full-time ones to get around paying for employee benefits. The thing is, the lack of healthcare and paid time off contributes to a culture where employees feel undervalued and leave for higher-paying opportunities with better incentives.
The financial demands of providing employees with healthcare might not be a reality for small business owners, but, as a whole, the industry is not staying competitive in this division and are losing its workers to other industries that are.
3. Create a Positive Work Environment
A positive work culture begins and ends with strong leadership, the absence of which might be the culprit of a high turnover rate. This means that both restaurant owners and managers are working the line right beside their employees during peak hours or whenever their subordinates need help holding down the fort.
Unfortunately, preserving an upbeat and all-inclusive atmosphere sometimes means letting go of toxic or underperforming employees. This might sound counterintuitive when you’re already feeling the pressures of low staffing and all that entails, but it’s another way on how to retain restaurant employees. This applies to hiring, too. You’ll want to make sure you’re vetting all potential applicants for culture fit so you can avoid having to fire anyone altogether.
4. Participate in an Incentive Program
Another avenue on how to retain restaurant employees is to encourage them to participate in an incentive program. This could look like a monthly bonus to the employee with the most sales or an additional $1 an hour for those who pick up an extra shift.
The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. If you have trouble coming up with an idea you think your team would enjoy, why not ask them? What better way to engage your employees than by asking how they’d like to be rewarded for their hard work.
5. How to Retain Restaurant Employees with Onboarding & Training
Who would have thought that first impressions have a lasting impact, but the proof is in the pudding. A strategic and well-organized onboarding program can help you retain 91% of your first-year workers!
One of the reasons for this is many businesses, feeling crunched for time and desperate for labor, throw their new employees into the throng without the necessary training to be successful at their jobs. In a hectic, fast-paced environment, is it really a wonder that so many fast food workers quit when they feel overworked and underprepared?