Psychology of a Counter Offer – Fractured Relationships

So, my last post focused on the fact that making or accepting a counter offer is a bad idea.  Now I want to attempt to explain some of the pitfalls of making and in this post, accepting a counter offer. As a job seeker the absolute worst thing you can do is shop for a new job with the intent of taking it to your current employer in hope of getting a counter offer.  Most employers will spend a...

Quick Service Conundrum – Do Uniforms hurt your business?

There are more hospitality employees in Canada than in any other industry (and most industries combined), they number in the millions.  When you look at restaurants more than half of all restaurants fall into the Quick Service or the QSR category and more that $.60 of every dollar spent dining out is spent in a QSR. So if the largest number of employees in the hospitality field work in QSR, most...

Big 3 Recruiting Mistakes – Continued

I have received a lot of feedback on my post about recruiting mistakes personally and on Recruitingblogs .com. so why not continue the thought!  Reputation is HUGE, especially now with social networking and immediate feedback.  People talk, especially when they feel like they have been treated unfairly.  Your reputation is a consideration at every level of your business.  Here are some areas...

Culture, Climate & Vision Statements

Culture vs. Climate  This whole vision, culture, mission statement thing has always been a little confusing to me. A statement that encapsulates the ideals of a business and motivate their employees to great heights.  This work of art is then put in all the training material, posted on walls and… forgotten about.  These statements don’t change anything.  All they really do is give your...

Employee Attraction & Retention – New & Not so New ideas? More Follow Up

Not to “beat a dead horse” here, BUT I have even more insightful information to reinforce the fact that our staff want to be involved and their perception is different than ours as managers. I had the opportunity to do two, 2-hour presentations at SAIT for a class of Business Admin students and a class of Hospitality Management students.  The presentations were broken down in to 2 parts:...

Employee Attraction & Retention – New & Not so New ideas? Follow Up

In my last Blog I talked about listening to your employees, allowing them to have input and collaboration into their jobs.  I even touched blanket policies and how they may be the greatest good for the greatest number but they are far from the best solution.  I did recommend that there be allowances for “regional” or area specific demands or needs. Did anyone watch Larry King Live last...

Employee Attraction & Retention – New & Not so New ideas?

The previous 2 articles have really focused on expectations and communication, so here we go again (do you see a pattern here?).  Salary & Performance Reviews.  The biggest mistake people make when giving salary and performance reviews is ill placed expectation and misdirected communication.  Let me give you an example.  You have a staff that for the past year had gone the extra mile for...

Employee Attraction & Retention – New & Not so New ideas?

I am going to attempt to write a series of articles on what I believe are some key strategies for employee attraction and retention.  Not all of this information is revolutionary and some may be considered to be common sense.  In these situations I will try to add a new spin or modern point of view.  Some ideas might be totally new (which often means scary) and for these I ask you to be brave...

Business Ebb & Flow

I have been talking to a lot of different clients across the country from QSR, casual dining, hotels and even the wine business over the past few weeks and hearing a lot of encouraging news. Most are saying that business is really ebbing and flowing.”  Going from very busy to very slow – which is better than just being very slow! One restaurateur stated that his business is back to 2007...

Wait & See = See Your Good People Leave

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins does a great job describing the repercussions of not dealing with your underachievers, you energy vampires and your “toxic employees.”  I know of a company that paid big $’s to bring in a Director of HR to one of their offices. This individual let everyone know what his agenda was up front and it was… “I only have a few more years until I retire...