Staff Retention
What Is Open Book Management & Would Your Restaurant Benefit?
Open book management is the management strategy of actively sharing financial information with employees about how the restaurant is run. Employees are treated as business partners and are included in brainstorming and task delegation.
Find Out How A Cloud-Based POS System Can Streamline Your Restaurant
If your restaurant implements open book management, here is what you could expect.
Increased Accountability
When employees recognize performing their job well directly contributes to the success of the restaurant, your staff will feel more inclined to work harder.
Accountability can be a mix of both self- and peer-to-peer — everyone is holding themselves and others accountable for a job well done when they know what their commitments are.
Educates Employees
Open book management helps teach employees financial and business literacy by allowing them to directly learn how a business is run.
Since many employees in the restaurant industry are often students or people trying to learn new skills, open book management is a good way to educate them about the ins and outs of managing a restaurant and business finances.
Open Book Management Reduces Restaurant Waste
By letting employees be involved in the daily financial and business dealings, you can make your restaurant more effective and save money through reduced restaurant waste.
Employees have a much deeper understanding of what a dish costs to make, and if they see that a certain menu item is not performing well, they can discuss removing it with management.
Decrease Employee Turnover
When employees know that you trust them and that they are directly involved in the success of the restaurant, they will be more motivated and less likely to leave.
Remember that in order to keep employees happy at your restaurant, you should also listen to them and train them correctly all while offering meaningful benefits. Meaningful benefits include child care, health insurance, and PTO.
Invest In A High Quality Cloud POS
For accurate reporting, it is essential that you invest in a modern Cloud POS system for restaurants such as Mobilebytes and Toast. These systems allow you to track and control a variety of critical restaurant functions, including:
- Income
- Inventory
- Employee schedules
- Menu performance
- Orders
- And much more
A reliable POS system will help improve customer service through automating and simplifying these processes and much more.
Plan How You Will Reveal Financial Information To Staff
If you do decide to implement an open book management policy at your restaurant, determine in advance how you will reveal this information and how often.
You should be comfortable explaining what the numbers mean without overwhelming employees or making them feel as if they have to compare themselves and their contributions to others. If the restaurant’s bottom line increases, then employees may want to see immediate reward.
Remember that open book management is not for everyone. Before implementing open book management, meet with your staff to discuss what it is and what they can expect.