Firing

Being the manager (or owner) typically comes down to one thing: Hire and Fire Authority. It boils down even further to control over who works in the restaurant. You're coaching the team, and you get to decide who plays and who doesn't. A lot, I'd say a vast majority even, of managers I've worked with will Hire but not Fire. I've come to feel that's a mistake, a very painful mistake.

That does NOT mean I think people should be fired more often. I've met plenty of people who are too quick to terminate an employee over issues that could be fixed with just a little flexibility on the manager's part.

Not everyone is of equal caliber. I'm not very good with anything that involves moving my fingers fast...making sandwiches in a lunch rush, spreading pepperoni on a pizza. You can find a lot of people better than me. However, I am excellent with customers, and do a fine job coaching employees. So it makes no sense to fire me because I'm not fast with the pepperoni. Just about everyone is like that...it's not that they're bad for the team, you just haven't found the right position for them to play.

Almost all “employee problems” stem from management. When a manager fails to set a proper, consistent expectation the employee is going to do whatever feels appropriate. It's not the employee's fault they were not properly directed. Training deficiencies are not the employee's fault. Lack of tools are not the employee's fault.

But...more often than we realize...sometimes everything IS in place. The employee has been instructed how to do the job. They've been given clear goals. They have the tools to do the job. Yet...they don't fulfill the expectation. And most telling, they don't care.

It could be showing up on time. It could be following procedure. It could be something like being friendly towards customers. It could be halfway completing a task (garbage went out the door, but the can liners never got replaced). With most people, you can point out the behavior, make it clear (respectfully) that it's not acceptable, and the employee corrects the behavior...because most employees want to do well at their jobs.

Not everyone. And when you start saying the same directives over and over (“You have to be here at the START of your shift, Alec, or you're hurting the team” or “Use the ¼ size ladle with that sauce, please, Smitty” or “Lisa, we talked about this yesterday—the trashbags have to go IN the dumpster”) it's time to think about helping the employee find a place where they're better suited...'cause they clearly aren't fitting into your store's culture.

This why you want to use Progressive Discipline. It gives both you and the employee in question a chance to evaluate what's going on. The employee is made aware of your seriousness, and is given ample opportunity to change. It also protects you from wrongful termination suits, or having to pay out unemployment benefits when a termination is for cause. As long as you're being Consistent, anyhow.

But the key thing to remember is that keeping an unhappy, unmotivated, or incompetent employee on payroll is a lot like leaving a tumor in your body. It'll only make things worse. Once you've determined the situation won't improve, you need to end the drama and let the person go.

Progressive Discipline, in a Nutshell

You've made the hire. You've set the expectation, trained the employee, ensured they have the tools to do the job. You've provided the feedback on how they're doing. And yet...they won't do it.

You're pretty sure this isn't an ability thing. They trained well, completed the task while you were closely supervising them. But now that you've left the grill in the capable hands while you work with someone else...the quality has dropped off significantly. Or maybe it's a prep issue...they can't seem to read the list no matter how many times you emphasize it.

What do you do? It seems a lil unreasonable to fire them, no? But at the same time...the work needs to be done, and done correctly. And if you have to stand there watching this employee work...then what are you paying THEM for?

This is where progressive discipline comes in. I hate the term, personally; it seems very serious and scary, tantamount to firing someone. But the logic behind gradually ramping up the consequences is sound, and when used properly can be a key weapon of choice in battling all manner of trouble.

Generally Accepted Recipe for Progressive Discipline

1: Verbal Warning

2: Written Warning

3: Consequences

The idea is that AFTER you've coached someone on the issue, you initiate progressive discipline. You don't use the process on a new employee...that's silly. You don't even use it on someone who's slipped up (to this day, I miscount things, use the wrong tool, not pay close enough attention to something...and I don't think that warrants a formal warning). You have to mark a pattern of sub par behavior that hasn't been affected by your normal coaching.

Once you've done that, you issue a formal verbal warning. Sit down in the office, step into the walk-in, take a walk outside. Take the situation out of the normal ebb and flow of the store, away from distractions. Lay down what's going on, why it's a problem, and what the employee has to do to correct the situation. Afterward, track the date and discussion somehow, in case you have to ramp up the process...you'll want to be able to cite when the verbal warning happened, and how the discussion went, in any written warning (I like the idea of having write-up forms where you can check a “Verbal Warning Only” box).

Then you wait. Hopefully, this is enough to correct the behavior. In a best-case scenario, the employee realizes you're serious about the issue and it goes away. But sometimes...that's just not going to happen, for a wide variety of reasons.

That's when a written warning comes in. You write out the situation, the fact it's been previously discussed, and what the employee needs to do to correct the situation. Have a space for their rebuttal, or any comments they want to make regarding the issue. If there's something they need you as the manager to do (change their scheduled start time to allow for the bus route, be more specific with instructions, etc) this goes in the employee comments. Clear consequences for the continued behavior as well as a timeline of events (“corrected immediately” is a popular one) should be included. Both of you sign and date the form, preferably with a witness.

If this doesn't correct the issue, you can either repeat the written warning step (appropriate if it's a relatively minor issue, or if there's been a fair amount of time before the relapse) or escalate further. This is where suspension or termination comes in. (Notice how far down the post we start talking about firing someone). If you feel there's potential with the employee and they're just blowing off the write up, take them off the schedule for a week. Especially with younger employees that sort of hit to the wallet can really make them reevaluate their behavior without sending them looking for another job. However, if this seems like something that simply isn't going to be corrected...you can terminate for cause that's been well documented.

There's probably a hundred different ways to do progressive discipline. Almost every company has their own take on the topic, and each system has it's strengths and weaknesses. But not one of them is any good unless the management team uses the system, consistently and justly. A rusty saw isn't gonna cut anything, and a machete used at random in a cornfield is just expensive.

Don't Run the Team Ragged

Your people are there to help you run the business. They aren't there to run it FOR you.

You may have the most competent assistant manager in the company. Does that mean its ok to leave them understaffed in order to free up labor dollars for you? I don't think so.

Your best closer never fails to set you up in the morning. He puts every other closer to shame with his skillful stainless steel polishing. Does that mean you work him six nights a week? Not the best idea.

Everyone has a point where they reach peak productivity. Too few hours or too little responsibility will leave your team members feeling unimportant or bored—which leads to a lack of motivation. Too many hours, shifts that are scheduled poorly (a close, a day off, followed by an open for instance), or too many duties will burn out your team and send them to the want ads. You make the big bucks because you can see when people are hitting their peak, and adjusting your operation for that moment.

It takes extra effort, but for the love of all things good in the world rotate your people. Spread out the workload. Develop your less experienced people so they're able to handle more of the load. It ties into the Always Hiring mentality...just as you constantly need to reseed your labor pool, you have to tend the people who are already there.

As tempting as it might be to lean on a competent or even gifted team, you're hurting yourself and the company in the long run. They'll notice your short hours, your light workload, and it'll breed resentment. Use your team, by all means: no one should work themselves to death when they have the ability to keep a healthy balance.

But balance means staying in the loop, keeping productive, and not taking advantage of your subordinates.

Hiring

If you run a QSR restaurant you are always hiring. You're always taking applications, you're always interviewing, you're always wracking your brain to find enough hours to train and keep a new hire.

Why? Because if you ever start thinking, “Hey, I'm fully staffed!” then you'll be caught flatfooted when your best register guy decides to start skimming from the till. Or you won't have a backup when your primary closer gets in a car wreck. Or maybe that family your predecessor hired all at the same time, the backbone of your schedule, will decide to start playing games and demanding special treatment...and you'll have to give in, because you have no one in place to take over. It's a pain in the neck to fit training, interviewing, and those extra hours into the schedule...but just remember the last time you had to do all that while you were short staffed. Which is the best option?

But for the love of all things good and happy, don't just hire anyone. The whole advantage to thinking ahead and hiring BEFORE there's a crisis is you get to hire for personality. You can take your time, review the application, ask questions about the last couple jobs, the employment gaps. Talk to the person about who they are. You can think about whether or not they fit with your current team, if they'd complement the people you already have (or hope to have). Set 'em up for a second interview to get another impression. You have time, so take an extra couple days to make the right call.

If you don't have a subordinate manager or shift supervisor to help with hiring, fix that. Start developing them to spot good applicants. Teach them the questions to ask when handing over the application. Make sure your people know the staffing goals...what hours are you hiring for? What positions? Pay, benefits? If you're the only person who can answer these questions you're setting yourself up to get burned out, or to miss good people who don't want a run around (yes, “Come back at 3 to ask these basic questions” is a run around).

Above all, be persistent. Review staffing efforts at your manager meetings. Even when it's not a priority, make it clear that hiring hasn't dropped completely off the table. You have to get the right people on your team, and if you can't do that if you aren't looking. Turn over is a fact of life in the QSR industry, and while you can take steps to minimize it...the only defense is to be prepared for it.

You are always hiring. Period. Make it your mantra, and instill it down the chain of command.

The Schedule

The schedule is what is going to make or break your experience in the QSR world. That's it. End of story. Period.

If you write a good schedule you'll be happy, productive, and profitable. If you write a bad schedule you'll be pissed off, unable to accomplish anything, and either out of business or changing careers. The weekly schedule is how you manage your primary set of tools—your subordinate team members. (On the flip side, the weekly schedule is THE central issue in their lives...but more on that later).

With enough exceptions to drive you to drink, rush periods can be predicted. Rush periods, by definition, are when large amounts of your business happen. Flipping burgers, this was lunch. Some days up to 75% of our business hit between 11am and 2pm. Slapping pizzas, I saw a lot of weeks when 50-65% of the weekly revenue happened in 5 hours every Friday. When you start talking large percentages of your daily or weekly business, you need to start thinking large percentages of your labor hours. If you short-staff your rush period you'll get nothing but pissed off customers, pissed off crew, and an alcohol problem for yourself.

Since you can't turn a profit if you work everyone all the time, pre and post rush hours need to be carefully considered. This is when the heavy lifting for your store happens. Before the rush, this is when your tomatoes get cut, your condiments get set out, utensils put in place, food stuffs readied for battle. After the rush, someone gets the trash and dishes out of the way, re-preps all the stuff you went thru before, keeps an eye on business to make sure late-lunchers don't go away feeling second rate. These periods will make or break your day, and you shouldn't give just anyone with a pulse these hours.

If you pay attention, you'll get a feel for when exactly your rush starts and stops on any given day. It's not written in stone. There are so many variables to when people eat, and sometimes the only way to win is with literally last-hour phone calls to keep people home or call them in. So while the labor matrix your district manager or operating partner or owner tells you to use is a very powerful tool...it is far from always right. That's why they pay you to write the schedule, and not a machine.

How do you write a solid schedule? Start by having everyone's current availability, in writing. Signed and dated. Nothing will destroy a good mood—or a good schedule—faster than someone coming up to you with a variation on, “But I told you every third Tuesday I have my back waxing appointment!” Be flexible, but when people tell you they can work a particular set of hours hold them to it. Knowing they've made a written commitment to be available for certain hours and days goes a long way towards keep people honest.

Stuff comes up. Doctors appointments, hot dates, family gatherings, once-in-a-lifetime rock concerts. The type of things we should be worried about, instead of work. Have a schedule request system in place for these situations—and use it. Giving someone a day off—especially if they're available five to seven days a week—will not ruin your business. It doesn't matter what the system is, exactly...but make sure it's written (so you and others can verify dates, track how many requests someone makes, etc), easy to get to for the crew, and something you can work into your schedule writing routine easily. I'm a big fan of a three ring binder, one page per schedule week. I worked for a guy who had a manilla envelope stapled to the wall next to the calendar in the office. Whatever works is what works.

Have a solid schedule routine. Start by scheduling to schedule, where you have a couple hours to just sit in the office or the dining room and write the schedule. This lets you focus on the task, do the labor calculations, make adjustments as needed. Resist the urge to “throw” a schedule together on the fly...you're not just putting numbers and names on paper, you're deciding the fate of your restaurant's next week.

Think “schedule” all week long. At least, have it in the back of your mind. If Susan is bucking for hours, coming in to help when there's call offs, make a note to reward that with more hours on the next schedule. If Billy has decided the post-rush trash run is more about his cigarette than the trash, make a note to yank those hours. The schedule is a great tool for motivating people...but only if you use it!

The needs of the business come first. Being flexible is admirable, and very necessary to keeping a happy workplace. At the same time, an employee who expects a full time schedule but can't work rush hours is not doing you any favors. A delivery driver who only wants to work Monday and Tuesday night? That's fine...except that driver had better understand he's only going to work 6 hours a week at most. Someone who wants to flip burgers only between 2 and 6pm? That's just taking post rush hours away from someone willing to come in at 10am and stay all day.

But at the same time, without employees who is going to take care of the customers? Remember everyone on your schedule has bills to pay, some more than others. It's not reasonable to use an adult with children to feed for a handful of hours if you can possibly help it. And while they have bills to pay, they have lives to lead too. You'd be pretty pissed off if you had to close, then come in and open. Or if you had a class to attend and your boss scheduled you to work at the same time. A little empathy, looking hard at finding solutions that meet everyone's needs instead of taking the easy route, will save you a lot of trouble in the long run with turnover.