Article

High Five! How to Hire for the Five Core Attitudes

What? An article that identifies the five attitudes every restaurant employee needs?

If you are like many operators in the current labor market, you might be happy with finding employees who just show up on time and can get the job done. You might be thinking that this is not the time to seek superstars.

If this describes your approach, then we feel your pain. Unemployment is low. Young people are not as interested in service jobs or positions, such as hospitality and construction, which are physically rigorous and do not take place in a comfortable office environment.

That said and as this article explains, there are employee traits that you cannot improve via training. You can quickly train an inexperienced host, who can be trained to be a busser, who can be trained to be a server. If the person has the right "DNA" for the job and enjoys his or her work, in a few years you might have the next GM.

Those workers are out there, and your most formidable competitors are finding them and keeping them. In fact, for many positions in your restaurant, including hosts, bussers, dishwashers and prep cooks, you might be required to hire employees with little or even no experience. For critical positions that require experience and training, such as assistant general managers and sous chefs, you might be willing to trade a few years' experience on their resume for outstanding character traits.

Consider the traits "cooperation" and "self-control", which we discuss below. What good is the hot-shot chef who loses his temper easily, can't get along with staff, and is continually challenging your menu decisions?

The other issue is culture. If you want a culture in your business that attracts employees with the attitudes we discuss in this article, you have to hire for attitude. Common sense tells us that if you only have one top performer in a restaurant who is surrounded by uncaring, dishonest, careless, undependable and volatile coworkers, then he or she is going to be looking for another job. And he or she is going to tell peers to steer away from your business as you only hire "losers". Restaurant workers often find each other, and they compare notes.

When you hear people say they are going to miss the person when they leave a job, this is the type of employee they're speaking about.

You want to sort the proverbial wheat from the chaff based on the applicant's attitudes. You might not be able to find employees that possess all of them, but even two out of five could mean the difference between a satisfactory hire and someone who only lasts a month. In a tight labor market, you cannot afford a revolving door in your hiring.

We did a little homework to identify the five core attitudes. The U.S. Department of Labor collects data year round on various topics related to labor. Some of the collected data is focused on what kinds of attitudes are necessary for a particular job.

RestaurantOwner.com analyzed the department of labor's data focusing exclusively on restaurants. We took a look at various jobs, from dishwasher to director of operations, across all sorts of concepts and locations, and identified the attitudes that are critical for every job, in every concept, in every city.

When we looked at the data, there were five attitudes that were consistent across all positions. You can meaningfully improve your culture, your employee experience, and your guest experience by focusing on only hiring employees with these attitudes.

The Five Core Attitudes

The five core employee attitudes that every high-performance restaurant employee needs are:

1. self-control
2. integrity
3. dependability
4. cooperation
5. attention to detail

If you've been operating a restaurant for a year or more, think about the types of staffing problems you've faced over the last year or two. (If you are in the startup phase, bear with me, this will be equally instructive.)

Just take a moment to think about those problems. And think about the employees that have been at the center of those problems. Chances are, the majority of staff problems you're thinking about right now, the problems that are so memorable that they come to mind one or two years later, are problems that boil down to a failure in one or more of these core attitudes.

Now imagine how different your restaurant would be today if didn't have to deal with those issues. And think about how those problems affected your staff or the culture of your restaurant. Think about where your business would have been today if you hadn't had to deal with those problems. So let's discuss each of these attitudes in turn.

Self-control. This refers to emotional self-control. It requires that an employee be able to keep their emotions in check and control their emotions, particularly anger. And because employees who have emotional self-control are able to keep their emotions in check, they don't display aggressive behavior, like raising their voice, name-calling, using foul language, knocking over, throwing, or kicking items, or any type of physical violence. In fact, they don't display aggressive behavior even in very difficult situations, or even when dealing with the worst guests.

For some of you, your problem employees lack self-control. They're unable to maintain control. They don't deal well with difficult situations. In fact, they don't de-escalate problems, they escalate them. And imagine what this does to your managers who have to deal with these employees, counsel them, and have difficult conversations with them. Your managers and staff have enough challenges in their day without having to worry for their physical safety.

When you hire employees who lack self-control, you suffer, your culture suffers, your employee experience suffers, and your guest experience suffers. Your restaurant employees need to have self-control.

Integrity. This refers to someone who acts in a way that can be described as honest and ethical. And this is more than just doing the right thing; this is about doing the right thing, even when no one is looking, and even when the right thing isn't best for you.

As simple as behaving honestly and ethically may seem, it doesn't just happen. It requires that someone irst understand what is ethical, and it requires the internal motivation and desire to do what is ethical.

Employees who have integrity are able to act in honest and ethical ways. They behave honestly and ethically when someone is watching, and they behave that way when no one is watching. Moreover, they're able to do so, even when it is hard to be honest and difficult to act ethically.

…hire based on things that are hard to train, and train the things that are easy to train…

These are your employees who don't steal from your restaurant even when they have the means and the opportunity to do so, with little chance of being caught. They're also your employees who do not support or tolerate dishonesty or unethical behavior in their fellow employees.

For some of you, your problem employees lack integrity. They are dishonest and act unethically. Your restaurant employees need to have integrity.

Dependability. Dependability is about reliability. It is how responsible and dependable an employee is when it comes to fulfilling their obligations. These are employees where if you give them a task, you can walk away and know they will do everything within reason to make sure that task is completed to your standards. They show up when they're scheduled, they take time to understand and plan out their tasks, and they make sure that those tasks are finished before they leave for the day.

For some of you, your problem employees lack dependability. They don't show up on time, they don't complete their tasks, and in their wake they leave a collection of unfinished tasks and broken promises. Your restaurant needs employees who are dependable.

Cooperation. Cooperative employees maintain pleasant interactions with other employees. These employees typically display a good-natured attitude and are able to get along well with others. These are employees who make it a joy to go to work. When you hear people say they are going to miss the person when they leave a job, this is the type of employee they're speaking about.

Cooperative employees develop positive relationships with their co-workers, which in turn creates cooperative and pleasant restaurants. For some operators, so-called problem employees lack cooperation. They are not pleasant people to be around. They tend to focus on their own needs rather than the needs of the team. They tend to create negative working environments and obstruct the performance of the team, and ultimately, your restaurant. Your restaurant employees need cooperation.

Attention to detail. These are employees who are careful about the small things. They are thorough and accurate when completing their work tasks. They prefer checklists and calendars to make sure they don't overlook tasks or miss important dates. They take pride in their work.

These are the kind of employees you don't have to follow to make sure they did the job properly. Whether it is following a recipe card or completing an opening checklist, following through with a guest's special request or preparing the silverware, restaurants depend on employees who don't just do the job, but do it with a focus on detail.

For some of you, when you thought about problem employees you thought about those who often overlooked the details. They tend to miss the minor parts of their job. And while what they miss may seem small to most people, it matters to you because you know it matters to your guests. You restaurant needs employees who are attentive to details.

The Common Thread

What do self-control, integrity, dependability, cooperation and attention to detail share in common? As noted at the beginning of this article, these things are very difficult, if not impossible, to train.

Think about integrity. Can you teach employees who lie, cheat and steal to be honest, upstanding employees? Even if you could, is that the business you want to be in?

Would you rather have the task of training someone to not lie, cheat or steal, or do you think you'd have more success training someone to understand and sell your menu? Better yet, would you rather have to train someone to not lie, cheat or steal, or train them how to be a cashier?

The most effective strategy, the one that is used by the most successful operators, is to hire based on things that are hard to train, and train the things that are easy to train. Hire for attitude and character. If you focus on only hiring people who have integrity, you don't have to train that. Play to your strengths.

Understand, if you focus on hiring employees who are self-controlled, have integrity, are dependable, cooperative and focus on the details, then you begin to shape your restaurant's culture into one that reflects your employees who are composed, honest, ethical, dependable, pleasant, good-natured, cooperative, careful and thorough.

Imagine where your restaurant would be if you started the year with a culture like that? By hiring employees that have what it takes to be successful, you set the foundation for a strong and healthy restaurant culture.

How to Identify These Attitudes in Job Candidates

Now that we've discussed what attitudes are important, and why they are important, I want to turn our attention to how you identify these attitudes in candidates. After all, it's one thing to talk about what to look for in a potential employee, but it's another thing to know and understand how to look for those things.

Self-control. Self-control is really emotional self-control. It involves maintaining composure. It requires a person be able to keep their emotions in check, and to control their anger. People who have self-control are able to avoid aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

How do we assess this? Here is an interview question that is designed to assess self-control:

Describe the worst customer you have ever experienced. How did you deal with that customer?

What this question does is gets the applicant to share an experience they had with a difficult customer or a difficult situation, and then describe how they handled it. And you'll notice, this question doesn't ask about just any customer or situation, but the worst and most difficult.

The applicant's answer should provide you with a pretty good idea of how they handle difficult customers and situations, and how they will likely handle similar situations if they work in your restaurant.

Now, how do you evaluate answers?

When you're rating answers, you'll want to focus on how difficult or easy it was for the candidate to remain in control of their emotions and behavior. Were they able to maintain their composure? Did it take a lot of effort? Were they able to provide excellent customer service?

This is the standard against which you would compare a candidate's answer.

Integrity. Here is the question designed to assess integrity:

Describe a significant ethical challenge you have faced on the job. What was the outcome, and how did you arrive at that outcome?

What this question does is ask the applicant to describe an ethical challenge that they've faced on the job. The focus isn't so much on the dilemma as it is on how they handled that dilemma. It could be something as simple as having witnessed a customer dropping cash as they were getting ready to leave, or as serious as witnessing other employees committing theft. When assessing integrity, you'll want to focus on whether the candidate understood the ethical challenge, and how they behaved. Were they able to identify the ethical and honest course of action? Did they choose to act in an ethical manner? I think for most of us, assessing integrity is one of the more straight forward attitudes.

Dependability. Dependability refers to someone's reliability. It is a description of how responsible and de- pendable someone is when it comes to fulfilling their obligations. If you give them a task, you can walk away and know they will do everything they reasonably can do to make sure that task is done. They show up when they're scheduled, plan out their tasks, and they make sure those tasks are completed before they leave for the day. Here is the question designed to assess dependability:

Tell me about a task or job you had to complete where you encountered unexpected hurdles. How did you handle the situation, and were you able to complete the task or job?

This question gets the applicant talking about how they handle situations that challenge someone's capability to be dependable. The situation they describe is not as important as how much effort they exerted to complete the task or job.

What you're looking to identify is someone who is determined to fulfill their obligations. These are going to be employees who look for and anticipate hurdles. And these are employees who are going to face those hurdles prepared and motivated to overcome them in order to complete their tasks.

Cooperation. Our next attitude is cooperation. Cooperative employees maintain pleasant interactions with other employees. These employees display a good-natured and cooperative attitude. Cooperative employees contribute to positive work environments. These are employees who would rather work with their fellow employees rather than compete against them. Here is a question designed to assess dependability:

Describe a time when you had to work with an uncooperative employee to complete a task. How did you manage working with that coworker, and what was the outcome?

This question asks the applicant to describe a time when they had to work and interact with an uncooperative and difficult employee. What they do is set up a scenario where the candidate is able to share how they dealt with the difficult coworker.

When you're rating the answer to these questions, you'll want to focus on whether the employee recognized the importance of cooperation and whether they made a reasonable effort to cooperate with their fellow employee. Cooperative employees recognize how important it is to work with coworkers, and the degree to which they understand this will be obvious in their answer.

They'll probably tell you they are part of a team. You'll also want to focus on what the person did to build and nurture cooperation. It isn't as important whether their efforts were successful, but rather, that the efforts to cooperate were reasonable.

Attention to detail. Finally, the fifth attitude is attention to detail, and it refers to employees who are careful in their work. These employees are thorough and accurate when completing work tasks. These are also the employees who prefer using checklists and calendars.

Here is the question designed to assess attention to detail:

Tell me about a time when you found it necessary to be precise in order to complete a task. What was the outcome?

This question asks the applicant to speak about their experience with being precise and attending to small but important details. What you want to focus on is how obvious and easy it was for them to be precise and attend to the details. Did they recognize that precision and the details were important? How did they manage that precision and those details?

C'mon… Can You Really Assess Integrity?

Is anyone really going to say they didn't act ethically while being interviewed? Can you really assess integrity by talking to someone?

Integrity testing is on the minds of a lot of business owners today. And like many of you, I was skeptical about people admitting to being dishonest. But notice I said I WAS skeptical. That's because people do admit it, if you ask.

I'll share a brief story. I've worked with two major retailers in the U.S. Both assess integrity. One of them uses a question that goes something like, If you were able to take $100 from your register and there was no chance that you would be caught, would you do it?-

Well you know, sure enough, some candidates say yes, they would take the money if it wasn't likely they'd be caught. Not a lot, but some. And it is a very effective question, because it tells you in no uncertain terms, do not hire this person.

Now that's not how we assess integrity in our interviews. These two questions are designed to give a glimpse into whether a candidate can identify an ethical dilemma, and how they choose to behave when faced with such a dilemma.

Remember, you're not Sherlock Holmes trying to crack a master caper from this candidate's past. You're trying to determine if they understand honest and ethical behavior, and if they are able to choose the right course of action. After all, the behavior they share in their answer is likely the behavior you'll get from them on the job. As surprising as it may sound, these questions work really well.

But Can't Employees Change Their Behavior?

If the five core attitudes are attributes that can't be developed via training, then are you saying that employees can't change their behavior? Couldn't you set rules and policies that tell them how to behave at work? If someone isn't detail oriented, can't they just rely on checklists and calendars to get them through the day?

People can and will do all sorts of things if they're motivated. Sure, you can require everyone to follow a checklist; but it will take more effort for the person who isn't detail oriented to get through the day.

There is a concept called emotional labor. Emotional labor is the amount of mental effort required to manage one's feelings and behaviors in order to meet the requirements of a job. Said another way, it's the effort it takes to act in a way that is different from the way you ordinarily act.

Take self-control for example. An employee who is self-controlled can maintain their composure, even when faced with a difficult customer. But so too could an employee who lacks self- control. If you give a person who lacks self-control a script, they could repeat that script whenever they encountered a difficult customer.

On the surface, these two employees might behave no differently, for a time. But maintaining composure would require a great deal of mental effort, or emotional labor, for the employee who lacked self-control. After a few difficult customers, that employee would feel exhausted. And that's the real difference.

An employee who is self-controlled could maintain their composure for longer, and endure far more difficult guests, than an employee who lacks self-control. It's not that such an employee couldn't do it; it's just that having to control their emotions takes a great deal of effort. And when they run out of energy, they aren't going to be able to keep their emotions in check.

People can change. But as a startup operator, you don't have the time to coach your staff to develop these attitudes. Your best bet is to seek candidates who already possess them.

ALWAYS LEARNING!

To learn more, check out our training video: "How to Conduct a Screening Interview"

Additional Resources
Using Screening Interviews for Smarter Hiring

Most staffing problems encountered by operators boil down to employees lacking one or more of the five core attitudes. When we identify a "star employee" it often means someone who demonstrates excellence across these attitudes.

Hopefully, each of you can think of at least one great employee. If not, then you've certainly come to the right place. And they exist. And that's exactly the type of employee with which you could staff your restaurant. Imagine having an entire staff of those employees, and how that could help you grow your restaurant. You see, if you are purposeful and strategic about your hiring, you can staff your restaurant with more of the great employees and fewer of the bad employees.

At the heart of it, the goal of any hiring system is to identify applicants who would make great employees from among a pool of applicants. That pool will be a mix of applicants, some who would make terrible employees, some who would make fair employees, and hopefully, some who would make great employees.

You use a hiring system because it is difficult to tell the bad from the good. You could always just hire the first person to apply, but the statistics aren't in your favor.

The most effective hiring systems have what human resources pros call "multiple hurdles." A hurdle is simply one step in the hiring process. The job application is a hurdle. You need to get past that hurdle for an interview. Companies that have long lines of applicants for jobs use multiple hurdles to narrow the candidate pool down to a few top contenders.

Other hurdles include a written test, interview, work sample, anything. In a multiple hurdle system, each hurdle eliminates some of the applicants that would not make great employees.

If you are scrambling to fill positions just so you can make it through the next weekend's crush, you can't afford multiple hurdles. You are likely to resort to a two-hurdle system - application and interview.

An application is rather inexpensive compared to the interview. The paper costs are minimal, and the time to review and score the application takes just a few minutes.

The interview, on the other hand, is far more expensive than an application. That's why you arrange your hiring systems with the application being the first hurdle, and the interview as the second. That way, the candidates that make it to the second hurdle are reduced by the first hurdle, the application.

You can improve on this two hurdle system. In fact, you can improve the outcome and lower the cost per person to hire with a screening interview. A screening interview is a shorter interview that is conducted at some point before the typical full-length employment interview.

Because screening interviews are shorter, they are less costly than the full-length interview. In addition, they may also reduce the number of candidates that move on to the full-length interview, thereby reducing the cost of the full-length interview hurdle as well.

The real issue is deciding what you should include in the screening interview.