Top tips: Quieter period may be ideal for training
Planning for the forthcoming year may be the last thing on your mind but January is a great time to take stock of the things you want to achieve over the next 12 months. It is also a good time to review your training regime.
Before you rush out to join a gym or groan at the thought of facing a personal trainer, you will be relieved to know I am referring to identifying any staff training needs. These may have become more apparent over the busy Christmas and new year period.
Here are our top tips for making sure your team are trained effectively:
Take a look at your existing training programme and identify whether it is still fit for purpose. There is a temptation to create a training manual or programme and assume that this it is sufficient to train all incoming staff upon the same material year after year.
Laws change over time as does best practice and the most valuable tool you can use is your own experience. It is important to take some time to update your training manual if necessary. If you are unfortunate enough to be found to have served alcohol to underage or drunk customers, your staff training records are essential evidence of the due diligence you have carried out to prevent such incidents happening.
You may also have conditions on your premises licence that require training to be delivered to staff upon prescribed topics, or, for example, refresher training to be delivered at specific intervals.
If you have experienced problems with crime and disorder at your premises, it may be worth considering whether you need to employ door staff at peak times. If this seems burdensome and the issues you have encountered need attention but perhaps do not warrant door staff being present, you may wish to consider whether to send some of your staff on a conflict management course.
While you must ensure staff are not carrying out activities that would require a Security Industry Authority licence (if they do not have a licence), training in conflict management can help diffuse situations involving angry customers which can minimise issues with crime and disorder.
Allergens have been a hot topic over the past 12 months and we are still hearing tragic stories of deaths occurring due to a misunderstanding of allergens and their potential effects. A course could prove invaluable in improving the knowledge of your staff, both front and back of house.
Mental health and wellbeing has also received a huge amount of attention in the media over the past year. There are various online and in-classroom courses that can help you identify how to promote good mental health and wellbeing among your teams that, ultimately, helps to motivate and engage employees, ultimately leading to better service for your customers.
Poppleston Allen offers a variety of training courses relating to licensing, compliance, betting and gaming, door supervision and ‘soft skills’ such as customer service, marketing and interview skills. A list of courses can be found at www.popall.co.uk/training/courses
For any legal enquiries please visit Poppleston Allen's website.
