I have always treated my team members as humans first and employees second. I make a concerted effort to get to know them on a personal level, understand how they best learn, and what motivates them (because it's different for everyone!). Regular check-ins, not just about work but also about their families and personal lives, help to foster a strong sense of connection and care. I believe that for team members to feel truly valued and maintain a sense of purpose, they need to feel heard. Listening to their concerns and ideas, and reminding them how valuable they are to the team, I've been able to create a supportive and transparent work environment that has led to reduced turnover rates.
To keep your team motivated and reduce turnover, focus on building a collaborative environment. Understand that inconsistent work hours and unclear career paths can frustrate employees. To tackle this, ensure regular communication and create clear growth opportunities. This approach helps maintain a stable and committed team, essential for business growth.
More than anything else, education fosters a positive work environment for hospitality teams. Developing team members, especially younger team members, has the benefit of improving their capabilities and therefore their service quality as well as making it clear their personal development is important to you. This engenders feelings of belonging and empowerment, increasing the longevity of their tenure and making them more effective team members.