Lorraine explains how she incentivises, rewards and motivates her employees at her busy seasonal fish and chips business
Pier Point is made up of a restaurant, takeaway and kiosk and it is during the summer season when it earns its money. In December, January, February, and partway through March, we don’t earn any money, we sometimes lose money mainly because we have such a high staff level that we want to retain. But from spring break onwards, we make up for it! During the summer period, we are swamped and we employ a further 15-20 temporary staff – on top of the 40 full-timers – to steer us through.
I’ve got a great team, many have been with me for years, and it’s no exaggeration to say they work flat out during the summer season, which is why I do what I can to incentivise them, keep them motivated and, ultimately, retain them. We all know how dreadful it is to find good staff! One of the things I do is employ more people over the summer than we probably need so that the team is not overstretched, and I also keep the shifts a little shorter than the norm. What’s more, my core team all get two days off – traditionally in hospitality it is one day off – and we try to put those two days in a row.
I also run an Employee of the Month scheme, which kicks in from March and runs until October. Anyone seen to go above and beyond has an opportunity to get £100, so that’s a great little reward.
Each staff member has access to Hospitality Action’s Employee Assistance Programme which comes with 24/7 access to a confidential helpline. I don’t know who calls it or what they call it for – it could be marriage problems, debt problems, mental health problems – all I know is that it has been used. For me, this is a really valuable service because if my staff are going through a tough time, I want to be able to help but I am not a counsellor, I can’t help with those issues.
I also run a bonus scheme whereby the core team get a little bonus at the end of the half term. And, I set targets, for example, if it’s a bank holiday coming up and we manage to beat last year’s bank holiday figure, then I pledge £1,000 out of my pocket and shore up the tips for the staff.
Every month I employ a mystery dining company to come and do mystery shops in the restaurant, the takeaway and the kiosk. The team are always very interested to know what the feedback is in terms of what they’re doing right as well as perhaps what they’re not doing right so that they can improve.
Everything I do is about empowering the team so they know they are valued. And it lets them know that during the summer season there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s six crazy weeks out of 52, I tell my team!
The final thing I’ve pledged to do is to eventually sell the company to the staff via an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). It’s what John Lewis does and it will mean that the team owns the company. It’s a big incentive, especially for those that have been with me for a while, as they know that there’s something at the end of it for them, a pension pot if you like.
