Are you training your people?

People take time and spend lots of money on big ticket items but, very often, fail to train their employees. Employee training is not going to be the biggest investment you make during a launch, a refurb or even as an ongoing business cost, but it could have the biggest impact!

Take a minute to think about the last time you had a great experience out. I bet the key ingredient was the staff who knew just what they were doing and delivered exceptional customer service. 

When I talk to licensees about employee training, too many think it’s unaffordable. Many presume it has to be given by a professional in a classroom, taking employees out of the business for a number of days. While this might be the case for big corporates, employee training for most small pub businesses is best delivered on site by those in charge.

Empowerment​

Employee training can be as simple as sharing your vision and business plan with your team. It’s an opportunity to let them know the part they play in helping you deliver those goals, what you expect from them, how you expect them to treat your customers, how much empowerment they have to deliver exceptional service and what procedures they need to follow to procure customer satisfaction.

Training should be ongoing for all of your employees at regular times of the year. It should also take the form of five minute briefs before each shift, letting each member of the team know their targets in terms of sales, and the tasks they need to complete. 

Investing in employee training is a powerful tool that builds loyalty. Your team will feel valued and grateful for helping them deliver a better level of service and ultimately making their lives easier and more enjoyable.

Training plan​

If you are thinking this is not for you because you only have two members of staff, think again. These two employees are serving all of your customers and if they get it wrong, they are getting it wrong with 100% of your customers.

Think about the following and how you are going to ensure you get the best out of your employees so they help you deliver on your plan:

■ What is the training plan for all staff?
■ What do you want your employees to focus on at the start of each shift?
■ How are you going to measure that your training works?

Remember, the only thing worse than spending time and money training your team only to see them leave your business, is not training them, and them not leaving.

Paul Pavli is operations director at Punch Taverns​