Dick Finnegan Featured in Total Food Service Magazine
Why F&B/Hospitality CEOs Say Employee Turnover Is Their Top Business Issue... and How to Fix It
The Midtown Manhattan headquarter s of Marsh & McLennan served as the backdrop for a most informative session last month.
“Why Food & Beverage/ Hospitality CEOs Say Employee Turnover is One of Their Top Business Challenges…and How to Fix It,” was the title of the event that brought some most innovative industry minds to explore solutions.
“We continue to hear from our
customer base just how challenging turnover is for them and we wanted to do something proactively to assist them ,” noted Richard Hartman. The energetic Hartman who hosted the event serves as a Food & Bever age/ Hospitali ty Industry Leader for the Marsh & McLennan Agency.
The event featured an eye-opening discussion with leaders in the industry on a continued threat to the operational risk that face the restaurant and hospitality operator. The keynoter was Dick Finnegan, Speaker, Author, and CEO of C Suite Analytics and The Finnegan Institute.
The Florida based expert brought
a fresh new approach to the problem: “If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers.” Executives and often HR think they can solve turnover and disengagement with programs. However, programs cannot overcome a non trusted boss. When’s the last time
you heard a really good worker say, “My boss treats me like dirt but I am holding on for Employee Appreciation Week”? It just doesn’t happen.
Finnegan shared his unique strategy in which direct supervisors conduct “stay interviews” on a one-on-one basis. The goal is to connect with employees and to learn why they stay in addition to what that supervisor can do to keep that employee longer and to engage him or her better. This sounds too old fashioned , too non-electronic to work, but our research says it cuts turnover by up to 70% and significantly cures disengagement.
The session also included presentations by Marcum’s National Food and Beverage leader Lou Biscotti and Paylocity’s Brian Krejci. The industry veteran Biscotti who recently moved to Marcum talked about his deep roots in the food industry and how they can help the restaurant and hospitality professional stay focused on management attracting and keeping talented team member s. Marcum supports their customer s with a comprehensive portfolio of tax, accounting and consulting services that are laser focused on our industry. Krejci outlined how the selection of the right Payroll firm can be crucial in keeping people motivated. He lent insight into the importance of an operator having a resource that has the industry specific knowledge re-
quired by a restaurant or hospitality professional. Hartman also took a creative approach with a presentation by Caity Moseman Wadler of Heritage Radio Network. She spoke about the value of creating a brand people want to build their careers with through the creation of podcasts.
Once again, Hartman’s creativ- ity created a successful event with a number of takeaways for seminar attendees.
