NRA 2016: 5 tips for retaining employees of all ages

Boomers. Traditionalists. Millenials. X-ers. Y-ers. And Cuspers.

More often than not, restaurants have employees from each of those generations working in their establishments, and the age gaps may cause turmoil within the ranks. Differences in learning styles can createproblems when it comes to  training, communication and employee retention, simply because management has failed to pay attention to the generational differences of its workers.

It's no secret that employee attraction and retention are two of the biggest hurdles in food service. That may be why so many people attended the session, "Grappling with Generation Gaps at Work" about generational differences among restaurant employees at this year's National Restaurant Association meeting in Chicago.

Discussing fives ways to overcome generational differences during the panel were:

•  Steve Baker, Enlivant senior director of Learning and Development
•  Mike Freeman, McAlister's Deli senior director of Training 
• And John Kelley, White Castle Chief People Officer 

1. Work means different things to different generations:

Mike Freeman, senior director of Training for McAlister's Deli,  said meeting expectations for each age group takes a little creativity. For instance, he said that baby boomers have a strong need to be recognized for the work they do and the accomplishments they make on the job. Millennials, however, come to jobs with certain expectations about what the employer should be providing, and they are pretty adamant about having those expectations met. In other words, it might be wise as an employer to clarify these types of expectations with new workers, particularly of this generation.

2. Each generation learns differently

How do you train your employees? Millennials, according to members of the panel, have little tolerance for long "education sessions." They expect training to be provided as they work and as they need to tap into that knowledge. Older generations, however, have a much higher tolerance for those traditional classroom-style training sessions. An organization that hasn't updated its training venues in a while might lose people right at the start simply because they are not tolerant of the training style.

3. Communication for a 60-year-old is lots different than it is for a 16-year-old:

This is a big one. Like most on the panel, Steve Baker, senior director of Learning and Development at Enlivenant, said the way employers communicate with their workforce must be considered generationally. Millenials — who will make up more than 50 percent of the workforce in just four short years — want transparent, constant, complete information  about everything.

Millennials have a strong need to know why they're doing what they're doing. They want the fastest, easiest way to get to the end result.  As White Castle Chief People Officer John Kelley put it, "Don't expect millennials to do something just because the ‘company said so.' You have to communicate ‘why.'" Older generations, however, tend to be more tolerant and more compliant when it comes to doing a task the "company way," according to the panel.

Career success is defined differently 

Even the way a brand defines its career paths must be tweaked to accommodate generational needs.  For example, millennials expect to move up the ladder very fast and want the career path to be crystal clear, according to the panel.

Freeman explained that essentially millennials want to know what they have to do to succeed and want to check the boxes "as they go along and be rewarded."  

Boomers and traditionalists, however, have exceptional loyalty to their organizations. This was, after all, the generation that "lived to work" and that is particularly true for 45-to-60-year-old women, many of whom were among the first of their gender to enter the workforce. When they started, only the toughest, hardest workers survived and many are still occupying that space in their approach to their jobs.

5. The best managers are always "checking in" with employees to gauge needs and problems.

The best managers are part-investigators and part-chameleon, and the best employee retention programs are built by managers who always ask questions and find out how their employees see their jobs, their brand and themselves in the workforce.

The panel was unequivocal in saying that the employers who most closely mirror their employees' desires and needs not only end up attracting the best employees but retaining them and benefitting from their commitment and their intelligence.