Addressing the Needs of a Diverse Work Force (Restaurants USA, October 1997)

October 1997 issue

Addressing the Needs of a Diverse Work Force

Restaurants USA magazine's final issue was published in September 2002 but these archived articles remain available for our readers' convenience.

Restaurants USA, October 1997

Restaurants are bolstering training to address the needs of a work force dominated by young people, women and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds.
By Susan Mills

To successfully hire and retain a productive work force, employers need to modify working conditions, training and benefits to meet the needs of their employees. Restaurateurs who are able to achieve this goal will enjoy a competitive advantage over those who do not.

Declining applicant qualifications

Particularly troublesome for operators is the continuing decline in qualified applicants for hourly positions in the industry, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 1996 Tableservice Restaurant Trends survey. Recognition of this decrease was first measured in the 1992 Tableservice Restaurant Trends survey when about two out of 10 operators reported that the number of qualified applicants had slipped. After rising to four out of 10 in 1994, the proportion noticing a decrease in the qualifications of hourly applicants was more than 50 percent in 1996.

The decline is coupled with an increase in the intensity of competition for employees, as the pool of potential employees shrinks. An improving economy has opened up many more job opportunities, so that people looking for work have more of a chance to pick and choose. As a result, about 60 percent of tableservice operators reported a noticeable decrease last year in the overall number of applicants for open positions in their restaurants.

Competing for employees successfully

With more competition for fewer qualified applicants, successful operators are trying even harder to get new employees off on the right foot. Fully 70 percent of tableservice operators report they currently have an orientation program for new hourly employees. Considering the strong economy, it would not be surprising to see this proportion increase in the coming years.

In fact, the proportion of tableservice operators providing formal job training — in addition to on-the-job training — has increased in recent years. About two-thirds of tableservice operators reported offering formal training to hourly employees in 1994; the proportion rose to about 75 percent in 1996.

There is a growing tendency among restaurateurs to provide hourly employees with written job descriptions and training manuals explaining how to perform job tasks, both of which should help familiarize new workers with the organization and their responsibilities. In addition, more operators report giving employees regular performance evaluations, a feedback mechanism that encourages employees’ growth and retention.

Characteristics of restaurant workers

Although a nationwide labor shortage of restaurant workers isn’t expected, competition for employees overall will further intensify, according to Industry of Choice, an extensive analysis of employees’ behavior and attitudes toward themselves, their workplace and the environment, which is available from The Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association. This trend means that it is more important than ever for employers to have a greater understanding of the demographics of the work force as an initial step toward addressing and meeting employees’ needs.

Typically, people in restaurant occupations have characteristics that differentiate them from the total U.S. work force. Understanding those characteristics is important for operators competing for employees. What sets the restaurant industry apart from others is that it consists largely of young people, women and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds — and the fact that much of the work in the industry is done on a part-time basis.

Demographic trends influence work-force needs

Knowledge of changes in the work force influences how an employer responds to employees’ needs. For example, the proportion of women holding most jobs has increased in the past 10 years, as women’s participation in the work force grew. This shift was especially true in many types of managerial occupations, but it was also true in a few traditional male bastions in foodservice. By 1995, women actually accounted for more than half of all bartenders, up from 48 percent in 1985.

Reflecting a greater likelihood of seeing women in service positions at upscale restaurants, women’s representation as waitstaff assistants or bus personnel increased disproportionately between 1985 and 1995 as well.

Consistent with the overall trend, women made inroads into those two foodservice occupations. However, men made disproportionate gains in several predominantly female foodservice occupations as well. Although they still outnumber men, women lost ground in the waiter/waitress category. Perhaps reflecting the greater opportunity to make tips in today’s casual-dining places combined with a dearth of blue-collar-manufacturing employment opportunities, men are now more likely than they were 10 years ago to hold waitstaff positions — 22.3 percent in 1995 versus 16.3 percent in 1985. Two other occupations where men are gaining ground are as food-counter workers and as food-prep kitchen workers.

Relating benefits to demographics

Waiter and waitress are among the occupations expected to have the largest job growth between 1994 and 2005, ranking fourth behind cashier, janitor and cleaner, and retail salesperson. The top 10 growth occupations combined are expected to post an increase of 4.7 million in employment, with waiters and waitresses accounting for 479,000, or about 10 percent.

Among the top 10 growth occupations, waiters and waitresses are the most likely to work a "nonstandard" work schedule, meaning that they work outside the typical 8-a.m.-to 4-p.m. period. More than 91 percent of waiters and waitresses work nonstandard schedules. In comparison, 82 percent of cashiers, 75 percent of retail salespersons and 58 percent of janitors and cleaners are on nonstandard schedules.

When it comes to competing for employees to fill those positions, a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests that females — especially less-educated mothers of young children — are disproportionately represented in those occupations and have high rates of nonstandard schedules.

One way to compete successfully for those employees is to make provisions for child care during nonstandard times, including evenings and weekends. In fact, the BLS study suggests that one key to filling waitstaff positions, with their many projected job openings, is to synchronize work schedules and available child care better.

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Susan Mills is a researcher at the National Restaurant Association.