How to get good staff - and keep them

And with the market for potential employees becoming more competitive, as unemployment falls and other industries begin to recruit more, the talent pool is shrinking.

Within each pub or bar there are a whole host of talented individuals ripe for the picking. But how do you stop these people falling through the net and disappearing off into the sunset? You must invest time and resource into talent management and succession planning.

Every business will have, (we hope) a process for training and developing employees and promoting them internally. But how successful are these approaches? The vast majority will consist of some mandatory compliance training, with some soft skills training possibly thrown in for good measure, a paper-based annual review process and promotion opportunities being advertised on employee notice boards or only offered to the perceived ‘cream of the crop.’

Sound familiar? This process is not only outdated, but fundamentally flawed. The disjointed nature of this process does not allow employees to recognise the significance each individual element of it plays in their development and career progression. It is also dependent on the views and opinions of individuals, in most cases the most senior person at any individual site.

How does this process translate to multi-site management? Is there consistency across the board? Are we doing enough to retain our staff? I’d say no.  In order to be truly effective each element must work in harmony, provide clear unbiased evidence and engage employees at every touch point.

So how do you combat this problem? First-up is to create a clear career pathway. Review the opportunities available and then identify the development needs and allocate the training required to progress into these positions. This is also a great opportunity to review the current training provided to employees and see what additional training could be beneficial. Next-up is to review how the process of each element is managed.

A central automated online system is the most beneficial here.  It reduces the difficulties of managing multiple sites and enables intelligent insights to be collected. These insights will improve the process of filling vacancies, as it will no longer be based solely on individuals’ perceptions, but based on statistical evidence.  And finally engaging employees to use the systems in place, in order for them to take control of their own careers.