Understanding The Importance of Employee Retention in Franchises

The success of a restaurant or other hospitality business is largely determined by the work ethic and dedication of its personnel. Service-oriented individuals committed to working for a restaurant or hotel turn customers into repeat and loyal visitors by treating them with respect and providing the optimal guest experience.

The impact of motivated, engaged, and loyal employees extends well beyond the service provided to customers. Such engaged employees also make the time spent on the clock enjoyable for co-workers. 

The enthusiasm and dedication of an experienced employee is highly contagious. Recognize the importance of employee retention in the service industry, especially at franchises, make an effort to boost your retention rate and the rewards will last for years if not decades. Harri is the HCM platform that puts the frontline first and we’re here to help with the challenges associated with retaining employees within the franchise environment. 

The True Cost of High Employee Turnover

High employee retention rates benefit businesses in numerous ways. For one, a higher retention rate reduces costly employee turnover. Constantly turning over employees requires a significant investment of time and money. It requires a significant investment in both cash and your hiring team’s limited time to constantly interview, hire, onboard, and train new additions.

Unfortunately for businesses, the retention game can be an uphill battle. Among industries in the U.S. in 2022, workers in leisure and hospitality had the lowest medium tenure of just two years. Concurrently, raises and base compensation are also rising, increasing by 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2022. 

From the customer perspective, a steady stream of new employees doesn’t bode well for the quality of customer service nor the timeliness of that service. The uncomfortable truth is there is a fairly steep learning curve when adjusting to the duties of a new job. 

Identifying the true causes of a high employee turnover rate is not easy. Harri’s platform is helpful in analyzing franchise operations, identifying inefficiencies, boosting retention, and adding to the bottom line.  

Financial Implications

It is no secret that it costs money and takes time to find quality employees. Posting job ads, reviewing resumes, and conducting interviews eat up the valuable time of your franchise owner, manager, or human resources specialist. High employee churn also diminishes workplace morale. 

Factor in the time taken to train up new employees and you have quite the financial drain on the enterprise. Constantly modifying the payroll and teaching new hires the ways of the workplace takes a financial toll on the business and also an unseen toll on worker morale.

Operational Challenges

Employees who spend time together working alongside one another at a high frequency communicate better than those who just met or have not worked together beyond a shift or two. Fresh new faces in the workplace present an opportunity to establish new bonds yet developing legitimate team cohesion takes at least a week or two at a bare minimum. As a result, the quality of service will likely be at its low point when an influx of new hires joins the team. 

Recognize that a consistent workforce is a genuine team unit. Prioritize clear communication and the ensuing increase in retention will have a positive impact on morale. 

Unearthing the Benefits of Talent Retention

Focus on retaining your current talent and you’ll recoup the financial investment made in vetting, hiring, and training those individuals. A group-oriented workforce is essential for franchise success.

Enhancing Customer Satisfaction 

The customer experience ultimately shapes the fate of the business. A franchise with a superior value offering will inevitably lose market share to a business with a slightly inferior value proposition yet better service. 

Stabilize your workforce with retention-boosting efforts and you’ll find your satisfied employees go out of their way to improve customer service. Such elite service leads to continued business in the form of loyal patrons, some of whom will spread the word about your franchise to friends, family, and neighbors. 

Strategies to Bolster Employee Retention

Boosting employee retention requires more than the occasional pizza party or other social gathering. Retaining employees in today’s competitive labor market requires the strategic use of technology and a comprehensive data-backed plan.

Empowering Employees

Consider the perspective of a new hire. New additions are often overwhelmed with learning about how work is completed at the franchise. Provide new hires with the proper training, tools, and opportunities for growth, pay them fairly and retention will increase. 

Prioritize employee development and training, charting a course toward potential promotions, raises and additional responsibilities. Harri’s platform helps empower employees through heightened engagement, ongoing analysis and opportunities for improvement.

Data-Driven Retention Strategies

If you are like most business owners and managers, you might not have made an attempt to analyze retention using technology. By taking full advantage of the latest data analytics tools, you’ll have an invaluable source of information to develop an effective talent retention strategy. Data analytics has advanced to the point that it is helping businesses develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of employees. 

Data analytics even highlights workplace hurdles that lead to employee frustration and eventual departure. The tech is refined to the point that it helps business owners and human resources managers better understand employee preferences and specific workplace needs to boost retention. 

Weave in the analytical component when evaluating your talent retention strategies, modify those strategies accordingly, and prioritize employee feedback. Conduct exit interviews when employees leave the business to identify the causes of departure. The most successful franchises also conduct surveys of employees currently working for the enterprise to better understand what those contributors would like addressed for continued employment. 

Harri IQ provides the actionable insights your business needs. Our software mutually benefits franchises and employees throughout the employment lifecycle. Harri IQ facilitates accurate analysis, arming you with the information you need to make highly effective human resources decisions. 

This trailblazing technology is designed to empower you, the business owner or manager, to coordinate the issuance of data alerts based on schedules or specific thresholds. Choose the criteria for threshold or schedule-based alerts and you’ll rest easy knowing you will be the first to find out when something important changes or is poised to change at your business. These critically important data metrics are instantaneously delivered directly to your inbox. 

Our platform ultimately empowers franchise owners and managers, providing intelligent data-driven insights for prompt action that makes a difference. The result is searchable, AI-powered analytics that provides curated insights without requiring an analyst.

Use Harri IQ to better understand your business and employees, strategize using data, and forecast for the future. It won’t take long to notice an impact on your team’s morale. 

Harri's Contribution to Talent Retention

It’s clear that hospitality businesses are feeling the pain of constant turnover. Turnover feeds an ongoing cycle of staffing challenges with, 62% of operators indicating they are understaffed to meet customer demand. 

Ready to stop turnover at the source? Meet Harri Engage: our newest solution to not only retaining your team but propelling them to their very best performance.

Up your engagement with flexible and meaningful touchpoints that fully integrate with the Harri platform and are delivered via the technology your employees are already using. With Harri Engage:

  • HR admins have a simple, configurable way to set up and automate moments of engagement to employees.
  • Frontline employees can easily stay connected, share their experiences, celebrate milestones, and share important news. 
  • Managers can gain an actionable view of how engaged employees are, and identify risks or trends that need action. 

The 90-day retention window is absolutely crucial for businesses looking to retain their workforce for the long term. Harri Engage is here to optimize that process by helping your employees feel supported, productive, and prepared every step of the way. 

Cultivating a Retention-Centric Franchise with Harri

Behind every thriving franchise is a high employee retention rate that serves as the foundation of a unified whole that is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Even if cost-savings are not your primary concern, your business will benefit from improved customer service, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency, each of which results from a higher employee retention rate. 

Perhaps most important is a strong sense of camaraderie and morale. A team-oriented workforce makes it easier to work with cohesion. Cohesive coworkers genuinely look forward to spending time together. 

Harri is here to help. Our software has improved operations and the employee workplace experience at more than 20,000 service industry businesses throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.

Our platform was built for the hospitality industry’s frontlines. Whether you own or manage a hotel, restaurant, or other hospitality industry franchise, you’ll find Harri helps boost your employee engagement and retention. This is the next-generation employee-focused platform your franchise needs to attract the best talent.

Try a demo of our innovative platform to seamlessly integrate employee retention strategies at your business and you’ll gain an important competitive advantage. 

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