Restaurant Employee ManualIn the food service business it is imperative to have a restaurant employee manual. First of all there is no question that the turnover of employees is second only to the janitorial business. With the large turnover rate you need to make sure that you have well thought out employment policies. This will not only protect you in a legal action, but also eliminate many questions that can be answered prior to it becoming a problem in the first place. As one example if you are considering offering benefits, would you offer them to a brand new employee or would you want them to complete a probationary period first. If so, how long would the probationary period be? Would the employee have to be full time or would they be eligible even if they were part time. In your restaurant employee manual you can make sure that this is all outlined so there are no questions about it. There is a big risk of employee theft of small items… In the restaurant business there is a big risk of employee theft of small items. Do you want to have an employment policy written into your restaurant employee manual that covers the type of personal belongings that an employee can bring into the work area? For instance some places may make it necessary to have a standard practice of any larger bags, purses, brief cases, etc., searched by a supervisor. Also on the food service business as you know there are a lot of opportunities for sexual harassment, therefore, it is an absolute must to have a sexual harassment policy built right into your employee manual. Also make sure it meets the minimum standard set by the state and federal government. As an example in California they have a state law AB1825 that places significantly more requirements than the other forty-nine states. Want to make this grounds for immediate termination… Because of the high turnover you know that your hiring practices will be used more than many other types of businesses. In this case you will want to outline how you go about hiring and orientating new employees. As an example you may want to build into your employee manual your policy on reference checks, background checks, EEO, ADA, and of course your probationary period. Something to think about would be if you hire an employee and find out that their background check comes back with something they failed to disclose would you may want to make this grounds for immediate termination. Of course there are the standard policies that you will want to include in your restaurant employee manual, such as, attendance, gossip, discrimination, insubordination, fighting, smoking, destruction of company property, theft, falsifying time cards, safety, orientation, termination, employee at will, vacation and sick leave, health benefits, etc.
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