Steps for Creating an Employee Handbook for Restaurants

People go out to restaurants to relax and have fun. Ideally, working in a restaurant should also be a positive experience for your clients' employees. While it may not always be relaxed during busy times, it can be organized, interesting, and enjoyable. Employees need to work as a team to ensure smooth service delivery.

An easy way for restaurant owners to build an upbeat, unified environment is to provide a well-written handbook. Producing a thoughtfully crafted handbook, in addition to carrying quality restaurant insurance, is a powerful strategy for developing a healthy sense of community, which can reduce staff turnover. Read on to learn how to build a restaurant employee handbook.

How Do You Create an Effective Employee Handbook?

Before putting pen to paper or hands to keyboard, your clients should take some time for reflection and planning. Points to ponder include:

• Focus on mirroring - They need to consider their facilities' individual tones, because an effective handbook that new employees are more likely to read will mirror the environment in which they will work, whether casual, formal, or whimsical.
• Create interest - The text in employee handbooks should be well-written and interesting so that it grabs the attention of new hires right away. If employees are interested in how your clients' manuals start out, they are more likely to read them all the way through.
• Build respect - Your clients who own restaurants should foster an atmosphere of mutual respect. Employees need to show regard for management, which is true in any business enterprise. However, management in turn should show appreciation for employees in multiple ways, from adequate restaurant insurance to thorough explanations of expectations, processes, and compensation.

Building a quality handbook using these important steps need not be complicated. There are specific sections your clients can include that cover these essentials.

What Should Be in a Restaurant Employee Handbook?

Employee handbooks should include the following chapters that provide the most important information new employees need to know. The sections are:

• Introduction - For the best effect, this chapter can include a letter from the owner or manager as well as a concise history of the facility and perhaps main points concerning the business' position and goals.
• Conduct - Your clients should tell employees what is considered proper workplace conduct. This should also cover how employees should behave toward other staff members.
• Business values - This section should highlight a restaurant's mission statement and clearly express core values.
• Employee benefits and pay summary - This factor should consider retention.
• Operational overview - Your clients should tell new employees about processes and expectations. Checklists of specific duties are efficient and easy.
• Complaint procedure and anti-harrassment policy - Employees must feel safe and know they can safely report problems.

In addition to restaurant insurance that protects financial assets for management and employees, restaurant owners should provide a comprehensive, well-written employee handbook. Such a document not only helps onboard new hires, but it provides a gauge that helps keep everyone, including management, accountable.

About RMS Hospitality Group

At RMS Hospitality Group, our expertly crafted policies are written specifically for the hospitality industry. We offer custom tailored solutions to meet any venue's specific needs. For more information, contact our knowledgeable experts today at (888) 359-8390.