Good employees are hard to come by these days, and this is especially true in the hospitality industry. This will unintentionally lead to an overreliance on the few good men an owner has to work their business. During events and holidays like March Madness, Cinco de Mayo, and Mother’s Day, this can be a catalyst for serious burnout for your staff, especially bartenders. There are ways, as an owner, that you can help prevent bartender burnout and having your staff quit on the spot. The right POS system can also aid you in this endeavor.
Taking Care of Bartenders Helps Employee Morale
It is believed that most people walk around in a mild state of dehydration. Now add the working out that is bartending, and you get the potential for a major issue. Dehydration can lead a person to feel more tired, stressed, lightheaded, as well as cause brain fog, which can all affect the quality of their work. To combat this, have your bartenders keep water by their POS station. They can get a quick drink when they enter in an order. Food regulations generally require employees’ drinks to be covered and for them to use a straw. Even as an owner, you might be nervous to have drinks next to your POS System. Receipt printers like the BTP-681 are specifically designed for a bar environment. You can learn more about them here. On top of that, it may make sense to purchase a spill-proof water bottle for each of your bartenders. Then, have barbacks duties include refilling the bartender’s water bottles; this might help you address your employees’ burnout before it happens.
As an owner, you can demonstrate your appreciation for an employee who goes above and beyond when you ask them to. Employees seeing their hard work recognized can go a long way in staving off bartender burnout. Showing your appreciation can be as small as sending them a heartfelt email or as impactful as giving them a small gift card or a surprise day off. Even businesses with small budgets should not be discouraged from providing a meaningful way to show their acclamation to their hard-working employees. Everyone needs a pat on the back.
Poor Communication Can Lead To a Poor Work Environment
This can happen especially with bartenders. Having servers shout out their drink orders or the bar getting five deep with customers ready to order can really strain even the most seasoned bartenders. Having a POS system set up to do bar printing is a must to help smooth this out and make working behind the bar a better experience. Instead of trying to remember orders or read handwritten notes from servers, bartenders can get a printout of the drinks they need to make. The servers can stop by on their way to the table and pick up their drinks. The same idea can also work for customers. With QR ordering, customers can scan the QR code with their smartphone, order their drinks, pay for them, and then pick them up from the bar when they are ready. Implementing QR ordering will pull the pressure off the bar, helping your bartenders stay out of the weeds during a rush.
Having a Good Work-Life Balance Is Key To Preventing Burnout
You want your bartenders to maintain a life outside of work, with hobbies and downtime. This may mean your bartenders will say “no” when asked to pick up shifts. Part of a manager’s job is to fill undesirable shifts, but managers sometimes get tunnel vision when it comes to covering shifts. They will just assume that whichever bartender they ask will fill the shift, and will get agitated when told “no”. This can lead to some managers exacting petty revenge on bartenders who are simply creating a better work-life balance for themselves. As an owner, you need to watch out for this and reprimand managers who do this. Creating a work environment where any employee can come to you and talk about their frustrations will allow you to prevent any potential employee burnouts.
For small businesses, it is crucial to keep good employees content and productive. This may mean making new purchases for your business or changing how certain operations are run. While some of these suggestions may be challenging to implement now, it’s way better than having a great employee quit on the spot and leaving you high and dry. A little discomfort now is always better than your business taking a major hit because a pivotal employee walked away for good. To learn more about how a POS system can help keep your bartenders from burning out, contact Total Merchant Supply today.