the causes of high staff turnover

University Campus Suffolk

BA (Hons) Business Management with Human Resources Management

The causes of high employe e turnover in the restaurant sector

– A case study of a small independent restaurant

S142078

Dissertation Supervisor: Garry Bastin

BA (Hons) Business Management S142078 1

The causes of high employee turnover in the restaurant sector

– A case study of a small independent restaurant

By: S142078


Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the reasons why employee turnover is so high in the

restaurant industry. The reason for writing a paper about employee turnover is that it is a big

problem in the industry however small research material has been written on high employee

turnover in small restaurants.

The objectives of the study will be achieved by using the method of semi-structured interviews. The

manager, current and past employees will be interviewed in order to gain rich detail regarding their

roles in their work, feelings about working in the restaurant industry as well as their suggestions on

methods to reduce employee turnover. Building on recent research in the area, the aim of the study

is to see whether methods such as increasing the provision of training and the introduction of

empowerment will be successful in decreasing the level of employee turnover in the context of a

small independent restaurant.

The findings of this study were that the increased provision of training and the introduction of

empowerment would not decrease employee turnover in this context. It was found that employees

are income maximisers and are generally dissatisfied with their long anti-social working hours.

One of the main limitations of this investigation is that it adopts a case study approach therefore, to

a certain extent the results and conclusions cannot be generalised to other restaurants in the

industry. The main implication of the study was that employee turnover is likely to always be high in

the restaurant industry. As a result of the study the manager of the restaurant should make working

hours for employees more flexible. It is possible to argue that this investigation this investigation is

very original as past researches have only been made on large restaurants mostly chains. The paper

will be valuable to managers of small restaurants and could be used to take human resources

decisions or understand trends in employees turnover and what precautions the manager could

take.


AcknowledgementsI would like to thank restaurant manager Nadia Schicchi for helping me to generate the idea for this

dissertation. In addition, I am extremely grateful for the time the manager and all the employees

provided in order to take part in this dissertation; I also would like to thank my dissertation

supervisor Paul Hensel for the valuable support and time he has given me throughout this project.


1.0 Introduction

In the past, research investigating the causes of high levels of employee turnover in United Kingdom

restaurant industry, as well as various methods on how to reduce it has been moderately covered.

However, some aspects of the United Kingdom restaurant industry have not been covered well for

example; there is not a large amount of literature regarding employee turnover in small restaurants.

Literature relating to the issue of turnover in restaurants has many differences regarding the causes

of employee turnover and researchers tend to differ on the various ways in which to reduce this

growing problem. The problem of employee turnover may be partially caused by the fact that

throughout the industry, there are many shortages of chefs and front-of-house staff. This is

considered to be one of the biggest challenges facing many managers of restaurants according to

Hospitality Training Foundation (2002). There are many possible causes of staff shortages and

employee turnover within the industry some of them being, antisocial hours and newly trained

employees receiving low pay in comparison to what they might earn in other industries. In some

cases, poor physical conditions at work and excessive discipline from managers which could also add

to employees’ dissatisfaction. Other causes of turnover have been blamed on the lack of training

offered by managers, which leads to staff being unable to plan their career appropriately and

causing dissatisfaction and low morale amongst employees (Lucas, 1991).

A noticeable issue of the title is that the dissertation is based on a case study hence, the results and

conclusions might not be able to be generalised to other restaurants. The reason why this topic was

chosen to be investigated was because of the easy access to the restaurant and its’ employees which

would make the research process much more easily. Additionally there is a lack of resources and

studies on small independent restaurants therefore this dissertation may be found interesting for

small organizations. One of the main objectives of this research is to find the main causes of

employee turnover in restaurants and suggestions on how employee turnover could be reduced by

analyzing theories and past case studies.

The topic of the dissertation will be investigated by interviewing past and present employees at the

restaurant; in addition the managers will also be interviewed as the manager perspective will be very

important for analyzing the current work condition and his thoughts on employee retention.

The investigation will be structured by asking semi- structured questions in order to investigate the

causes of high employee turnover.


The line of argument this investigation will follow is that employee turnover in restaurants could be

reduced by introducing more training opportunities or enriching training programs and

empowerment; this research will build on previous research found in the literature review that will

help create the appropriate causes of high employee turnover. Using the results from the interviews,

similarities and differences between the findings of this investigation and previous studies will be

discussed and compared providing suggestions on methods that could be implemented to reduce

employee turnover and the real causes.

2.0 Literature review

In this study, there will be a strong emphasis on research conducted on restaurants operating in the

U.K., however there will be references to restaurants in the U.S, other sectors of the hospitality

industry as well as other unrelated industries.

2.1 Research relating to restaurants

In the hospitality industry staff turnover is generally acknowledged to be higher than other

industries, according to HCITB report (1984, cited in Mullins,1998, p.241) staff turnover in hotel and

catering industry was higher than in any other industry and has was found that has adverse effect on

the morale, job satisfaction and motivation, but also exercises a disruptive effect on the use

management time.

According to an article by HRmagazine (2011) it is arguable that recruitment plays a major part in the

organization as its very expensive for employers to keep recruiting and training new staff because of

high employee turnover, it is estimated that the recruitment and training of an individual may cost

up to £5,311.

Dann and Hornsey (1986) found there was a distinct lack of cooperation and teamwork in

restaurants and described interdepartmental conflict between waiting staff and kitchen staff as

‘endemic’. Research carried out by Keep (1990) found that firms in the U.K. were often near the

bottom of the international league of training provision.

The issue of training was studied by Marlow (1992) who found that ethnic minority firms on a whole

tended not to utilise business services such as training to the same degree as other firms would.


There has been a distinct lack of research into training and the general running of ethnic minority

firms within the restaurant industry, most research concentrating on large or chain restaurants.

Storey and Westhead (1994) who thought that research into ethnic minority firms was a “relatively

neglected area of research” also share this view.

An investigation by Lashley (1995) found that employee empowerment was a method that could

reduce turnover in customer service operations such as the restaurant industry. The theory

describes that if employees are ‘empowered’, with time they will accept more personal

responsibility and feel more involved in the business. The theory suggests that it will lead to more

commitment to the business and furthermore will lead to better customer service.

Further research conducted by Ashness and Lashley (1995) also found the benefits of empowerment

at Harvester restaurants. Interviews were conducted from staff working in a number of different

positions so there could be a more varied outcome; The findings from the interviews revealed that

empowerment in many scenarios can be an efficient way to increase employee commitment and

retention rates for service workers at Harvester restaurants. As a result of empowerment, team

member turnover dropped by 19%. However, not everyone in the organisation felt positively about

the introduction of empowerment. Ashness and Lashley recognised the fact that organisational

change affected employees differently.

The introduction of empowerment required a slow process at Harvester restaurants; therefore this

method may not work in a small restaurant where organizational change is more difficult to achieve.

However Ashness and Lashley (1995) noted that a lack of trust and poor communication between

managers and workers were key problems in the organisation, which led to lower commitment, this

theory can still be tested in a small-scale restaurant, which will help to determine whether the size

of the restaurant is an important variable in the investigation.

Kitching et al. 1997 (as cited in Abbas et al. 2000), found that unlike other sectors of the industry, the

ethnic sector has tended to consist of many small employers who are rarely well trained themselves.

Furthermore, there is a reluctance to provide training for staff, leading to low wages and high labour


turnover. The findings partially support Marlow’s (1992) theory that employers were generally

sceptical of formal training except for when necessary, however even though firms did not provide

many opportunities for formal training to employees, there was a lot of evidence for informal

training taking place.

Blackburn et al. (1997) argue that informal training is practised in many small firms and that owner

and existing employees provide training of new staff, therefore it’s arguable to state that Lashley’s

(1985) research; it is rather limited to large firms such as the French Hotel Group for Quality Circles

(International Labour Organisation, 1997). Therefore the theory has not been applied for small firms

to understand the outcome; the theory also ignored the fact that a rapid change of work practices

for staff as well as managers may bring risks to damaging the organization culture and costs. Capital

and time would need to be allocated in order for workers to become empowered, this may prove a

difficult process who posses limited budgets and timescales.

According to Barrows (2009, p.135) to save costs in semiskilled and unskilled jobs such as restaurants

which consume considerable long training times and expect high employee turnover rates,

employers are revolutionizing their training process by using more computerized training programs

where the employee can access the training program online or through their POS system;

Organizations such as Mc Donald, TGI Fridays have already implemented the new system within

their organization according to recent report on training by Restaurants & Institutions ( cited in

Barrows 2009, p.135).

A lack of teamwork could be a key factor explaining the high turnover found in many restaurants.

Ingram and Jones (1998) found the hospitality industry as a whole was ‘prone to inter group rivalry,

for example by work function of department.’ Ingram and Jones (1998) acknowledge other factors as

high job mobility and ‘unpredictable patterns of trade’, which forces the majority of managers to

concentrate on operational, issues and negate a strategic perspective. As a result, this may lead to a

working environment where control is high which could ‘act against intrinsic staff satisfaction and

retention’.

Abbas et al. (2000) study conducted interviews with 37 employers and 86 employees who worked in

restaurants in Birmingham’s city centre. It is arguable to state that Abbas research only represent

restaurants in the Birmingham area therefore these results may not able to be generalised to other

areas in the country.


The authors found that many employees in restaurants aim to open their own restaurants in the

future but are blocked due to a lack of resources, high levels of competition and a lack of skills or

support. It was also found that 10% of the workers interviewed had previously run their own

business. Abbas et al. (2000) also found that an important cause of the high turnover was due to

high competition from rival restaurants, which often led to staff moving around different

restaurants, as jobs are easily available.

A case study of the restaurant chain Nando’s carried out by Pollitt (2006) highlighted the benefits of

training to a workplace. The training of managers meant better communication between staff was

achieved, as well as this Nando’s achieved a turnover rate of managers well below the industry

average.

“We have had only one industrial-tribunal case in the

last eight years. Only a coaching culture can allow such a great result.’’

(Bishop, 2006, cited in Politt 2006, p.19)

However, Nando’s is a chain restaurant with the resources and capabilities to spend a large amount

of capital into training programmes and human resources policies which smaller companies would

not be able to afford.

It is arguable that a high level of labour turnover may also be a result of poor employee analysis pre

employment in a restaurant, which is a result of human resource policies, which did not test

whether a potential employee would be suitable for the organisation. Consequently, this would

imply that better recruitment policies in the long term would reduce turnover, the chain ‘Costa’ has

adopted a similar strategy. By implementing more stringent hiring practices, Costa has managed to

reduce employee turnover by almost 20%. By using surveys Costa can evaluate potential employees’

strengths and weakness that assists to judge whether they are, “getting the right people, with the

right behaviour and principles”(Kennett, 2006,cited in Pollit, 2006).

According to (Maxwell et al., 2004, cited in j. Poulston, 2007, p.414) the restaurant industry has a

poor reputation for training and Managers may be reluctant to invest in training in case staff

subsequently leave (Davies et al.2001, cited in Poulston, 2007, p.414).


Pratten and O’ Leary’s study (2007), investigated the training process undertaken by student chefs at

a training college in Cheshire. Students were interviewed about their personal thoughts on the

received training in restaurants, the results of the study demonstrated that students saw the

benefits of training especially in skills such as literacy and there was a general thought that there

needed to be a stronger focus on training within the industry, and that the lack of training had

worsened the shortage of chefs in the United Kingdom. The authors’ suggests that increasing the

provision of training would reduce the shortage of chefs however, the study only interviewed

students from one college hence; this may not have been a representative sample of chefs in the

U.K.

j.Mullis agrees with Pratten study by stating that training is a significant factor in the performance

and retention of employees but also includes that training is a key element to economic

performance, commitment of staff, improved customer relationship and finally forms a basis of

personal development which is according to Herzberg (1959) a motivator factor which leads to job

satisfaction.

Locke theory (1976) however criticizes Herzberg theory claiming that the hygiene theory Herzberg’s

is split between the psychological and biological processes of the human make-up and suggests that

that the mind and body are very closely related thus there must not be psychological and biological

needs must not be separated.

2.2 Research conducted in other contexts

Research conducted by Pamenter (1994) states that there could almost be a domino effect of labour

turnover in the hospitality industry as in some cases if one member of a team leaves it can prompt

other members to follow suit. This may be due to them becoming more aware of the negative

conditions of the establishment or a team breaking up due to the loss of an influential member, such

as a head chef.

According to Harris (1995) study It was also found that students complained about a lack of social

life at weekends and long hours, which may have been a larger contributing factor to turnover

compared to a lack of training, a summary of a waitress job description provided by JOB is JOB

(2013) agrees with Harris’s study and states that for all individuals who wish to persue a career as


chef or waitress would need to work long hours and be fully flexible as the organization may require

evening and weekend shifts.

Looij van de, F and Benders (1995) found that unmet expectations of working in the restaurant

industry frequently led to job dissatisfaction and a desire to resign. This theory is supported by

interviews carried out by Purcell and Rowley (2001) showing that employees felt that television

cookery shows glamorised the restaurant industry, which led them to have unrealistic expectations.

Boles et al. (1995p.142) research implied that dissatisfaction with compensation was one of the

major reasons for high employee turnover. This would be true if employees were found to be only

interested in their salary.

Derry and Shaw (1997) distinguished different reasons for labour turnover either classifying them as

positive or negative. An example of a positive reason being, a better job offer. A negative reason

could be employees experiencing stress and anti-social working hours.

According to Cheng and Brown (1998) the hospitality sector has much higher than average skill

shortages and labour turnover. They also commented that managers often found vacancies very

hard to fill.

A study of the banking industry by Bennett and Durkin (1999) which involved collecting data about

the level of organisational commitment from employees demonstrates that employees in the

banking industry tend to be more committed to the organisation; therefore, the industry has lower

levels of turnover. This was investigated by giving questionnaires to employee to discover views

regarding their commitment to the organization. The results of the study showed that even if

employees did not possess a high level of internalised commitment, they still had a high level of

obedient commitment. Thus they did not have the intention to leave the organisation, which would

explain why employee turnover is low.

Purcell and Rowley’s (2001) qualitative research investigated the causes of labour turnover across

five sectors of the industry, including hotels, public houses and restaurants. Purcell and Rowley

(2001) view labour turnover as an element, which could be within the control of management.

Furthermore, they suggest that high labour turnover could be a result of inadequate human


resource policies. Purcell and Rowley’s investigation used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative

data; 21 establishments were included in the study but smaller establishments have been under

represented.

A study by Lynn (2002) investigated the effects that sales and tips had influence on employee

retention rates in the U.S. Lynn (2002) found that in the sample of restaurants that had a higher tip

percentage of sales generally did not tend to have a lower turnover rate compared with restaurants

with a much lower tip percentage. Lynn also suggested that turnover was a bigger issue at high

volume restaurants compared to low volume restaurants, as it was harder to find new employees in

busier restaurants. Lynn (2002) conducted this investigation by using data that was gathered from

the Chief Operations Officer of a casual dining restaurant chain. Turnover rates and the amount of

tips collected from each restaurant were recorded. Ratings from mystery shoppers were also noted

to compare the difference between service levels in various restaurants. This study was carried out

by using data gathered by an employee for the restaurant firm; therefore the validity can be

questioned.

The restaurant industry is not the only industry to suffer from high levels of employee turnover.

Another example would be the supermarket industry, which suffers from high employee turnover

mostly from their staff working in their stores. However, the causes of employee turnover and the

methods used to attempt to reduce can differ. A case study of Wal-Mart illustrates the nature of the

problems they are facing which has intensified due to their rapid expansion which has took place

over the last few years. Employee turnover has risen to just over 50% recently, which is considered

excessive even for an industry where a higher level of turnover is expected.

The high employee turnover in Walmart could be due to a mixture of reasons, female employees

have complained of gender discrimination and the starting hourly wage is as low as six to maximum

seven dollars and with little chance for overtime However, lowering this level is achievable,

especially by looking at the example of Costco, a competitor of Walmart’s. The annual employee

turnover is only twenty-three percent, less than half compared to Walmart. According to Barney

2004 (cited in Shuit, 2004) this was due to Costco trying to “treating their employees better”, and

has a stronger organization on the importance of human resources policies (PBS,2013)

2.3 summary


It is possible to argue that with reference to that past literature there are key themes that could be

linked to employee turnover. Such as lack of training which has been investigated in studies by Keep

(1990) and Pratten & O’Leary(2007).

Whether informal training is less successful than formal training could be an issue, however some

research implies that formal training schemes are more successful than informal schemes. However,

informal training could be considered to be successful for various reasons as it customises new

workers to the norms of the restaurant and employers can judge whether an employee would be

suitable for the job he/ her has applied.

A lot of previous research has been conducted on chain restaurants that have access to capital and

other resources; consequently, it was found that training was one of the most efficient ways of

reducing labour turnover although, this may not be true for smaller firms as training can often be

problematic for small firms due to a lack of funds. Furthermore, many managers are reluctant to

training workers especially the waiting staff, as they know that they will not be working in the same

restaurant for a long period.

Although, research conducted that Blackburn et al. (1997) found that even when informal training

was present in independent restaurants, turnover was still high challenging the theory that a lack of

training is the reason for high employee turnover.

Empowerment was found to lower employee turnover, for example in Ashness and Lashley’s study

(1995). The theory of whether empowerment could successfully reduce turnover in small

restaurants as it has done in large restaurants could be investigated. This is because small and large

restaurants have many different factors. In addition, it is arguable to question if the implementation

of empowerment is closely linked to the financial status of the restaurant and would managers of

small restaurants have the time and resources to develop and implement strategies such as

empowerment.

Although not as widely as covered as the effects of training or empowerment a lack of

communication between management and workers as well as conflict Dan and Hornsey (1986) in the

workplace could be factors that increase employee turnover.

Other issues such as inflexible hours as well as unmet expectations of working in the restaurant

factors could be factors increasing labour turnover as well as this, the percentage of employees who

want to own their own business or had previously owned their own business could be a factor for

employee turnover, as found by Abbas et al.(2000).


The majority of previous research has focused on large restaurants or chain restaurants, neglecting

to focus on much smaller individual restaurants. Past literature also has not confirmed whether

there is a difference in the factors of turnover between restaurants in the U.K. and the U.S. For

example, research carried out by Lynn (2002) found that turnover was a bigger problem for a busy

restaurant compared to a quieter one, whether this is true for restaurants in the U.K. needs to be

investigated further however in Lynn’s study (2002) all the restaurants belonged to a chain

restaurant in the U.S. therefore these results may not apply to restaurants in the U.K. as the market

environment and the reasons for turnover in U.S. may differ in comparison with restaurants

in the U.K.In contrast to the supermarket and restaurant industry where high levels of employee

turnover are the norm, the banking industry has a much lower level of annual turnover of staff.

Generally, the banking industry requires a more skilled set of employees compared to the restaurant

and supermarket industry, meaning that in most cases they tended to be paid very competitive

wages and were concerned with the development of their careers. These factors contribute to the

lower level of turnover and higher level of organisational commitment.

3.0 Methodology

The research will be based on a small independent Italian restaurant based in north London

surrounded by large chain restaurants as Nando’s and Harvester; the restaurant is open 7 days a

week and seats around 62 people therefore has a much smaller capacity compared to the Nando’s

and Harvester. The restaurant currently retains in addition to the manager, 3 full-time chefs, 1 full

time kitchen porter, 2 full-time waiters as well as 2 part-time waiters who work during the weekend.

The research that will be conducted will aim to investigate the five causes of high employee turnover

which are:

1. An increased provision of training may reduce employee turnover.

2. The introduction of empowerment may reduce employee turnover.

3. Employees are income maximisers.

4. Employees dislike working at weekends/anti- social hours.

5. Employees have unmet expectations of working in the

restaurant industry.

The hypotheses have been chosen as past research has explored these issues in large restaurants,

and it would be interesting to see whether the restaurant being investigated in this study has similar


findings. For example, hypothesis 1 has been chosen because Pollitt (2006) found that the increasing

the provision of training at Nandos, lowered employee turnover, however would the results be

similar for a small independent restaurant, some of the research used in the literature review is

quite dated such as Boles et al. (1995) study, which concluded that employees were income

maximisers, the research was conducted over 14 years ago, hence it would be interesting to see

whether the results from the past apply to restaurants today hence, hypotheses 3 and 5 have been

chosen. Investigation question 2 and 4 have been chosen as it emerged from the literature review

that empowerment and employees’ feelings regarding working hours were bigger issues in the

restaurant industry in comparison to other issues found in the literature review, such as a lack of

teamwork in restaurants.

3.1 Research Philosophy

The research philosophy that will be followed is the epistemology paradigm as it can be applied to the feelings and attitudes of employees regarding their employer and work conditions.Blaikie (1993, cited in Flowers, p.2) describes epistemology as:

“the theory or science of the method or grounds of knowledge expanding this into a set of claims or assumptions about the ways in which it is possible to gain knowledge of reality, how what exists may be known, what can be known, and what criteria must be satisfied in order to

be described as knowledge”

There are three types of research paradigm however an interpretive approach will be used as it

views the understanding of the differences between people as social actors, and there is a strong

emphasis on conducting research on people rather than on objects; thus is why the positivist

approach will not be used as it focuses in working with a social reality and the end research can be

law like generalization (Remenyi,1998, cited in Saunders et. Al., 2009, p. 113). It is possible to argue

that one of the challenges with the interpretive approach would be that the interviewee needs to

adopt an empathetic stance and understand the world from the interviewees’ point of view.

Consequently, an interpretivist point of view can be considered an appropriate approach for this

investigation. The interpretivist approach assumes that knowledge is subjective and that human

behaviour is not predictive as well as placing a lot of emphasis on the meanings people give to the

world. The approach prefers small-scale qualitative research, which will fit with this investigation.

Finally according to Saunders et. Al. (2009 ,p. 113) using an interpretive approach is highly

recommended in business management researches particularly in the human resources

management field as business situations are unique and complex.


A deductive approach will be undertaken, as it is most suitable for the investigation as it allows the

use of testable hypotheses and the identification of relevant variables to focus data collection for

example, the reasons for high employee turnover. There has been past research on the causes of

employee turnover and the deductive approach will allow the study to build upon past research.

According to (Wilson, 2010, p.7, cited in Research Methodology, 2013) “A deductive approach is

concerned with developing a hypothesis (or hypotheses) based on existing theory, and then

designing a research strategy to test the hypothesis”. Thus there is no need to spend time

developing a theory, as existing theory only needs to be applied to the hypotheses. However, there

are disadvantages to this approach, for example, the use of rigorous methods may limit the results

or insights obtained from participants, thus to avoid this problem open structured interviewees

will be used during the investigation.

3.2 Research StrategyThis piece of research can be classed as an explanatory study as the research is based on a case

study as it allows a rich understanding of the restaurant and allows employees’ views to be gained. It

is also the most convenient research design as concentrating on one restaurant will mean that it will

be easier to gather data, a survey would not have been able to gain a rich amount of detail from

participants.

According to a report written by Pelgrave on understanding research (2008, p.5) the research will

assess which existing theories and concepts can be applied to the problem or whether new ones

should be developed, thus in the case of this investigation theories on causes of Employee turnover

will be analyzed and applied to the Hypotheses reached. The approach to the research is usually

very open and concentrates on gathering a wide range of data and impressions. As such, exploratory

research rarely provides conclusive answers to problems but gives guidance on what future

research.

According to Rogers (1961, cited in Saunders et. Al., 2009,p.156) to reduce the possibility of getting

the answer wrong there must be a detail attention to reliability and validity. According Dawson,

2009, p.114) to researchers need to make sure that when qualitative data their measurements are

consistent and stable and that there no errors or bias present, however since qualitative data is very

personal participants are influenced by personal experiences.

In addition Easterby-Smith (2008, cited in Saunders et al., 2009, p.156) also argues that reliability

can be assessed in three ways. Results can be considered reliable if the same results can be obtained

if the investigation was carried out again and by another researcher and the transparency in how


conclusion have been made by using raw data. Validity is concerned with whether the findings are

what they appear to be and whether are relationship between two variables is merely a coincidence.

There are many threats to validity for example the history of the restaurant. For example, a recent

dispute between employees or a dispute with management may cause a temporarily high level of

employee turnover. The method of carrying out the research may also be a factor to undermine the

validity of the study; however, this can be tackled effectively if appropriate measures are taken.

Mortality, refers to participants dropping out of the investigation which if this did occur would

damage the validity of the research as the sample size would be too small to determine whether

relationships between variables were casual. External events may have an effect on the

management style or working conditions, for example economic crises could affect employees

turnover as there might be limited places for employees to find work and leave their current

position. It is possible that after analysing the data in the results, there could be ambiguity about the

casual direction of relationships. For example, a problem could be determining whether a lack of

training caused employee turnover or as a consequence of high employee turnover the manager

decided not to invest in employee training.

The extent to which results can be generalised to other restaurants is also an issue. According Seale

et. Al., 2004, p.421) it is arguable that with a case study design a researcher cannot generalize on

the basis of an individual case; therefore, the outcome of this research on a specific individual

restaurant cannot be generalized for all independent restaurant in United Kingdom.

Easy access can be gained to the restaurant and employees so it is convenient to base the

investigation on this particular restaurant, therefore, this study will focus on one small restaurant

and the factors of turnover can be compared between small and large restaurants. Every employee

in the restaurant including the manager will be able to take part in the investigation made by short

interview with semi structured questions. It is desirable to get an even number of kitchen and

waiting staff in the investigation to increase the validity of results as chefs may have different

reasons for leaving a restaurant compared to front-of-house staff.

3.3 Research Design

There are several possible ways to collect data for this investigation, for example the use of

questionnaires, which have many advantages, According to Marshal (2005, p.132) questionnaires

may be a cost effective and less time consuming way of obtaining data from large audience,

respondents may honestly give their answer as they know they won’t be identified.


However response rate may be low if the researcher falls in the most common problems when

designing questionnaires such as wrong phrasing of questions, determining levels of

classification choices and the possibility of respondents not knowing the question, Thus face to

face interviews can overcome this problem as the researcher has more control and achieve

extra information by strengthening open ended questions (Riley et.al, 2010, p.96).

Hence the method that will be used from employees in this study will be semi- structured

interviews (Saunders et al., 2009, p.320) which will be non standardised. A list of questions

available in Appendix 1 will be covered but they may vary from respondents For example, some

questions may be omitted depending on the context of the interviewee’s answer. Semi-

structured interviews are also favourable for explanatory studies as they fit well with the

research approach and allow the interviewer to build upon or expand interviewees’ responses.

This is important when adopting an interpretivist epistemology where meanings and

understandings of respondents is very important. The questions asked in the interview will be

determined by the theories found in the literature review. Some of the questions will be

regarding employee’s views about the introduction of empowerment to the restaurant as well

as employees thoughts about the provision of training and about employee’s thoughts about

factors such as working conditions, pay, and their relationship with their manager.

The amount of time spent interviewing each participant will differ slightly however each interview

should last 20-25 minutes. It would be preferable to have a longer amount of time with each

participant but the employees are all very busy so they would not appreciate being interviewed for a

longer amount of time.

Where possible interviewees will be conducted on face-to-face basis, however, If a telephone

interview was to occur, interviewees will be notified on the time where they could expect a phone

call. Notes will be taken while the interviewees are giving their answers, as it is a method least

intrusive for the interviewees. However, there could be problems to this method as it is difficult to

listen to interviewees and write notes at the same time. If notes were taken after the interview even

though full attention could be given to the interview, it is likely that key points would be missed as

well as a danger of a selective recall. Although recording the interviews is a better option it would

not be the right method to take in this case. Because it will probably make the employees feel very

uncomfortable which will have a negative effect on their responses. Additionally, the employees


who work in an informal basis for example, they only enter a verbal employment contract with the

manager. Hence, the level of formality associated with tape recording their answers may mean that

employees are unwilling to participate.

3.4 Research ethical issues

A great deal of care will be taken to ensure that the study does not undermine or break any research

ethics. Firstly, the aims of the study will be fully explained to each interviewee so that they are

aware of the investigation that they are participating in. After this, informed consent will be

obtained from every participant to ensure that they are happy to participate in the study.

Participation will be voluntary and interviewees will be informed that they have the right to

withdraw at any time from the study. Objectivity will also be maintained at all times, data will be

recorded and retained to support and contradict theory. The privacy of interviewees will be

maintained at all times as Interviewees will never be mentioned by name or investigation and

participants will not have access to other interviewees’ interview results. Once the study is

completed, any information that interviewees supplied will be destroyed. No deception will take

place and it is extremely unlikely that any participant will feel any stress or embarrassment

throughout the process of the study.

4.0 Results and analysis

In total, 13 people were interviewed in this investigation. This included the manager, and 8 current

employees, which consisted of 4 servers and 4 kitchen workers. 4 past employees were also

interviewed, 2 had worked in the kitchen, and 2 had worked as waiters.

A mixture of current and past employees was selected so that it could be observed if there were any

differences or similarities between them, for example the average length of stay. If only current

employees were interviewed, it could not be assumed that the results would only apply to previous

employees who had worked a different period of time. Therefore interviewing past employees

increases the validity of the research and enables to understand if the theories in the literature

review are valid.

4.1 Results from the manager

The manager expressed how employee turnover was “a big problem for small restaurants” and that

in just over 3 years he had hired 48 people. In particular, he expressed how it was “hard to fill

vacancies” and that a lack of resources and capital made the problem worse. When asked with the

interview if the increased of training programmes would decrease employee turnover the manager


strongly disagreed with this statement, he stated that “as soon as people are trained, they have left

to work somewhere with higher wages. Especially common in kitchen staff consequently, he found

that when a lot of training was provided to employee turnover increased. However the manager

argued that even though the restaurant has this problem he still provided informal training to make

sure staff met health & Safety requirement and aware of the restaurant procedures. An important

factor was that the manager looked for employees who had already received training and expressed

that most of the current font-of-house staff were students; so did not wish to spend time and capital

training employees who will not be working within the restaurant for a short period of time, a copy

of a recent job advert can be found in appendix 2.

The manager also felt that the introduction of empowerment would not improve employee

retention rates as “in such a small team of people empowerment will not work”. He explained the

front-of-house staff are students therefore they saw their job as a “means of money not a career

option”, so they wouldn’t be interested in empowerment.

The manager mentioned that in the past employees had left because they had been recruited by

other rival restaurants majorly chain restaurants who would offer a higher salary. Which he could

not match as He stated, “budgets are very tight and competition between restaurants is fierce”.

However, he noted that poaching had decreased in the recent recession, as there had been a

reduction in the demand for employees.

When questioned regarding the causes of turnover, the manager stated that he thought anti-social

working hours was one of the biggest causes of employee turnover, “employees only get one day off

a week and because there is such a small team I cannot give weekends off as then I will be left short-

staffed on our busiest days”. He expressed that although hours were long, working conditions were

much better compared to other chain restaurants as our team is like a small family.

He thought that employees had unrealistic expectations of the restaurant industry as they “expect a

lot of excitement when in reality the work is tough, with long hours and average pay”. He said that

many workers did not anticipate the amount of cleaning and health and safety checks required.

4.2 Results from current employees


Half of the current employees expressed that they would like an increased provision of training. 75%

of the kitchen staff expressed that they would like to receive more training, however only 25% of

front-of house staff wanted to receive more training.

Employee who want training Employee who don't want training0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Front house staff

Kitchen Staff

Figure 1: Current employees' views on the increased provision of training.

75% of current employees stated that they did not want empowerment introduced in the

restaurant. The kitchen staff did not think that empowerment would lower the level of employee

turnover for similar reasons as the front-of-house staff but they also felt that “there is a natural

hierarchy in the kitchen so empowerment is not suitable in this context”

One of the main reasons that front-of-house employees felt that empowerment would be unsuitable

was because of the size of the restaurant. For example, the front-of-house staff felt that when they

were working in a group of three people including the manager, that there would be no point of

empowerment. Additionally, the entire front of- house staff wanted to work in another industry so

they were not concerned with achieving a higher position in the restaurant.

Only 3 out of 8 employees said that they were content with their wage. However 5 employees stated

that they were unhappy with their current wage and that they would most likely leave if they were

offered higher pay with similar working hours elsewhere.


When current front-of-house staff was asked about tip percentages, only one employee said that

they would move to a different restaurant if they could earn higher tips. The other employees said

that it was not a major concern for them for various reasons. One of them was that many other

restaurants enforce a 2-5% administration fee for tips and other staff said that many restaurants tax

tip money which reduces the value from the tips by quite a large amount.

When current employees were asked if their job affected their social lives, 75% responded that it

affected their social lives in a negative way, this was especially true for employees with families or

lone parents. 90% of employees mentioned something related to their working hours, when they

were asked about aspects of work that they disliked. Most of the interviewee complaints where

about the long inflexible working hours and not having free weekends.

Only 3 out of 8 current employees said that their expectations were met working in the restaurant

industry. Both front-of-house and kitchen employees weren’t aware of the amount of cleaning and

health and safety checks required. Kitchen staff also commented on the amount of preparation that

they needed to do, and how their working hours were a lot longer than they thought before applying

for the job.

50% of the employees have already served more than a year at this restaurant and the average stay

of current front-of-house staff is already 11 months and the average stay of kitchen staff is a year.

Under 6 months

25%

6-12 months25%

13-18 months37%

19-24 months13%

Lenght of service time


Figure 2: Length of time served by current employees

When current employees were also asked about how much longer they were expecting to same, a

variety of results were obtained. Over 60% of the employees stated that they wished to stay at least

18 months longer. Interestingly, only 2 current employees (both chefs) thought that they would be

able to find a similar job in other restaurant easily.

4.3 Results from past workers

75% of past employees expressed that an increased provision of training would not have stopped

them from leaving the restaurant. Most past employees did not think that this was a suitable

method to decrease employee turnover. All of the past employees stated that they would not have

wanted empowerment to be introduced and that they thought that it “would not have reduced

employee turnover in this context”.

All of the past employees interviewed stated that one of the reasons that they left was because they

were offered a higher wage somewhere else, which the manager could not match. It should be

noted that there were other reasons to why they chose to left but all the participants mentioned

that higher pay was one of their main reasons.

The two past front-of-house employees stated that higher tip percentages would not be a reason to

why they would leave a restaurant, and they did not place a lot of concern on the level of tips

attained. 75% of past employees also agreed with current employees that their social lives were

affected by their job. Similarly, they wanted the occasional weekend off, and more flexible working

hours. Only 1 past employee described his hours as excessive, most accepted that the working hours

were average for the industry.

75% of past employees said that they working in the restaurant industry did not meet their

expectations and stated that they wanted to work in another industry. This implies that in general

that employees’ expectations are not met. Past employees generally stayed less than 6 months with

the exception of one worker who stayed 7 months. The past kitchen staff only stayed for an average

of 4 and a half months, showing that in the past employee turnover was extremely high because of

different economic conditions which caused jobs to be found more easily.


75%

25%

Lenght of time by past employees

under 6 months6-12 months13-18 months19-24 months

Figure 3: The length of time served by past employees

All the past employees said that one of the reasons they left was because it was extremely easy to find a similar job in another restaurant and that they had received numerous offers from otherrestaurants.

5.0 Discussion

Within this section of the project the results of the interviews will be analyzed and the researcher can determine which hypotheses can be either accepted or rejected using also the past literature review.

5.1 Analysis similarities in outcome of the research and literature review

The general response from the interviewees was that they did not want more training and thought

that it would not decrease employee turnover. The results of the study support Marlow’s (1992)

study, which found that employers were generally sceptical of formal training except for when

necessary for example health and safety. It was also discovered that the manager found the

provision of training to be problematic due to a lack of time and sufficient resources, which

supports the findings of Harris and Cannon’s study (1995).


More than half of the employees had unmet expectations of working in the restaurant industry.

Using data from past and present employees this led to job dissatisfaction. A study conducted by

Looij and Benders (1995) found that unmet expectations were common in the restaurant industry.

This investigation found that past employees’ dissatisfaction with compensation was one of the

major reasons why they chose to leave which is similar to Boles et al. research (1995).

Derry and Shaw (1997) found that employees left their workplace either due to positive or negative

reasons. This investigation found that employees mostly left for positive reasons, for example higher

salary offered by other restaurants.

Cheng and Brown (1998) found that the hospitality sector had much higher than average skills

shortages and labour turnover. The manager also reported that employee turnover was high and

that it was very tough to fill vacancies due to many candidates not possessing the necessary skills.

Additionally, he noted that employees tended not to stay for a long period of time, supporting Cheng

and Brown’s findings.

Abbas et al. (2000) found that high employee turnover due to competition from rival restaurants,

which caused employees to change the restaurant that they worked in a lot more. The manager as

well as several current and past employees mentioned this factor as one of the reasons contributing

to high employee turnover.

5.2 Analysis Differences with the findings of the literature review

One of the biggest differences with the findings of this study in comparison to the findings of the

literature review is the issue of cooperation. Dann and Hornsey (1986) found that there was a big

lack of co-operation in many restaurants however, the majority of employees said that there was a

lot of teamwork and a positive working atmosphere. The reason for the difference may be due to

Dann and Hornsey’s study being conducted in 1986, which is over 27 years ago. Thus it can be

assumed that during this period of working environments have changed within restaurants.


Lashley’s investigation (1995) implied that empowerment was a method that could be used to lower

employee turnover in customer service operations. Overall, the manager and employees did not

think that empowerment would work for various reasons. Lashley’s study mainly concentrated on

much larger chain restaurants that employed a large number of people and had access to a much

higher level of capital and many other resources, it did not include the effect empowerment would

have on a small independent restaurant.

Ingram and Jones (1998) study found rivalry between different teams in a restaurant for example

between front house staff and kitchen staff, Only one employee mentioned tension with the head

chef, hence the results found are not similar with this study. Most employees did not have any

negative comments regarding their colleagues or manager. This difference can be explained due to

Ingram and Jones’ study focusing on much larger restaurants, which employed a larger amount of

people separated into different teams. In those situations, conflict and rivalry were more likely to be

present in comparison to a restaurant with less than 15 employees.

Purcell and Rowley (2001) implied that employee turnover is an element within the control of

management, which contradicts the findings of this study as it was found that the local competition

for labour was a significant reason for employee turnover, which is not within the control of

management. Purcell and Rowley’s study included five sectors in the hospitality industry, one sector

being a large hotel; consequently, the assumptions made cannot fully be applied to the restaurant

industry.

Lyn’s study (2002) found that tip percentages had an impact on employee turnover. Most of the past

and current front-of-house staff did not view tip percentages as important, which does not support

Lyn’s findings. Lyn’s study was carried out in the U.S.A., which could explain the difference found

within this investigation.

Pollit (2006) found that increasing the provision of training increased retention rates and employee

satisfaction. This largely differs from the results of this study as the manager stated in the past that

training has increased turnover and the majority of staff did not want to receive training. A possible

reason for the difference was that Pollit’s study was based on chain restaurant Nandos, who can

afford to invest a lot of money on training and consequently raise staff salaries after training. The

manager stated that his budget was tight so he was unable to raise employees’ salaries, which would

explain why employees are not concerned with receiving more training.


5.3 Managers findings

There are various implications of the findings of the study for the manager because there some

changes that can be done to improve current situation. This investigation found that most of the

employees tended to be income maximisers hence employees tended to leave if they were offered

higher wages elsewhere. Although it could be assumed, a relatively small increase in wages or

increased benefits would stop employees from leaving in reality due to tight budgets and few

resources, small restaurants are unable to increase employees’ wages. Furthermore, if one

employee’s wages increases, other employees may expect an increase in their wages too; this may

cause rivalry between staff and a higher number of grievance procedures which may be bought

forward to an employment tribunal. According to the Equality Act ( 2010, Acas, 2013).

“the employer has no right to prevent or restrict employees from discussing their pay with work

colleagues to for the purpose of establishing if difference exit”

From this investigation, it can be assumed that employee turnover is partly related to external

factors such as the economic environment. For example, when the economy is in a recession

employee turnover has decreased, whereas when the economy was booming employee turnover

tended to be much higher as employees had greater choice to move to different restaurants. The

manager can do very little to tackle this problem as has no control over external factor but can utilize

a Pestel framework to understand the external environment and take right decisions and forecast

the future according to the outcome of the framework (Lynch, 2006,p.84).

Many employees complained about their working hours and wanted more days off. This is unlikely

to happen because the manager would need to hire extra staff so that sufficient numbers of staff are

present in the restaurant every evening. An alternative solution might be to offer employees more

flexible working hours as in the interviews employees expressed that this is something that they

would like. For instance, on days when it is not busy, employees said that they would like to go home

early or arrive later or also provide employees with the option of job sharing, thus employing 2

people on part time basis but working together to cover a full time post (Bach, 2005, p.158).

Conclusion key points


Some of the key points of the dissertation are that employee turnover in restaurants should be

continually expected by managers. It also should be expected that the restaurant industry will

continue to have higher employee turnover in comparison to other industries, for example the

banking industry. Small restaurants do not have access to the resources and capital that larger or

chain restaurants do. This is a major disadvantage and means that investment cannot be made into

efforts that may lower employee turnover. Competition between rival restaurants is intense which

further worsens the problem of employee turnover. External factors such as the state of the

economy also has an effect on employee turnover, this study has shown that when the economy is

in good state employee turnover is higher compared to when the economy is in recession.

6.2 Implications for this restaurant

Although this study has suggested that employee turnover will continue to be a problem in the

restaurant industry, there are some actions the manager to take in order to reduce the employee

turnover. Increasing flexibility of working hours for employees could prove very beneficial as well as

giving employees the occasional weekend off. Although these actions seem quite small, employees

expressed inflexible working hours and lack of weekends off as some of the main reasons for their

dissatisfaction. It is also very important that if any changes are implemented that it does not change

with the current running of the restaurant. None of the employees mentioned any conflict, which

has been found to be common in many restaurants, so cooperation between employees needs to be

maintained.

6.3 Implications for the restaurant industry

One of the main implications for the restaurant industry is that the ‘poaching of staff’ does not seem

to be in the best interests of restaurants. Although, it may have short-term benefits, in the long run

it increases employee turnover as employees move around different restaurants much more. It also

drives up costs, as restaurants enter bidding wars for the best employees. This study has shown that

employees are income maximisers, suggesting that they are extrinsically motivated and

consequently they may not be concerned with empowerment or training schemes if it did

not mean a pay increase.

6.4 Limitations of the investigation


This investigation adopted a case study approach; hence some may argue (Seale ET. Al., 2004, p.421)

that the assumptions made cannot be generalised to other restaurants as the results are based on a

unique environment. To an extent, this is true however; the conclusions made will apply to many

small-scale restaurants in the U.K. who suffer from high employee turnover and a lack of resources.

Certain aspects of the study also apply to much larger or chain restaurants as the issues of

employees being income maximisers and dissatisfied with working long unsociable hours are likely

to be present in these contexts too. Ideally, more interviews from past employees should have been

undertaken, but the study still maintains a large degree of validity. Insights were obtained from 13

participants who provided detailed information from which results and conclusions were drawn.

A limitation could be whether participants in the study were truthful when answering the questions

for example when they were asked about their dislikes; they may have kept certain details to

themselves for fear of losing their jobs. It would also have been preferable to interview participants

for longer, most interviews lasted 20 minutes due time constraints, and ideally, they should have

been approximately 30 minutes. Causes of employee turnover may change over different periods of

time, so the causes of turnover found in this study may not be the same for this restaurant in five

years time.

6.5 Recommendations for further research

Further research could also investigate other potential reasons for turnover for example location; it

may be that employees are more likely to leave restaurants in small towns, in search for jobs in big

cities. Rowley and Purcell’s (2001) study commented that in 2001 several employers were finding it

hard to fill positions in their restaurants as employees were being enticed to work in London.

Whether this is an issue for employers in the current market could be investigated. Research could

also be conducted on a large restaurant to see if there are any differences between the rate and

reasons of employee turnover compared to smaller restaurants. It may also be interesting to carry

out this study at the same restaurant in a years’ time. Whether any of the current employees were

still present could be investigated as well as differences in attitudes towards empowerment and

training. Other restaurants in the local area of similar size could be investigated to see whether the

causes of employee turnover apply to restaurants in the local area. This would help to determine

whether causes of employee turnover are specific to each restaurant. One of the biggest difficulties

in conducting the empirical work is that trying to gain insights about people’s feelings on certain

subjects is quite difficult especially when the topic is sensitive.


Reference List

Mullins,L. J. (1998) Managing People in the hospitality Industry. 3rd edn. Harlow: Longman.

Horn, R. (2009) Researching and writing dissertations. London: CIPD.

Smith, E. M and Thorpe, R. And Jackson, P. R. (2008) Management Research. 3rd edn. London: Sage

Publications LTD

Johnson, P. And Gill, j. (2010) Research Methods for Managers. London: Sage Publications LTD

Fisher, C (2010) researching and writing a dissertation: An essential guide for business students. 3rd

edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd

Riley, M. And Wood, R. C. And Clark, M. A and Wilkie, E. And Szivas, E. (2010) Rsearching and writing

dissertations in business and management. Hampshire: Centage Learning.

Lynch, R. (2006) Corporate Strategy. 4th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education LTD


Appendix 1

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

Appendix I - Interview Questions To the Manager

Do you work in the kitchen/ front of house? How long have you worked here? How much longer do you expect to work here? What are the things you like most about working here? What things would you like to change? Is there any conflict between you and your co-workers? What are your views regarding working conditions here? Do you feel valued and respected by your employees? How much training did you receive? Ideally, would you like the opportunity to receive more training or be given the chance to further develop your skills? Is there a problem with employee turnover in this restaurant? How many employees have worked here in the last three years? Do you think employees need more training? In your opinion, do you think more training will reduce turnover? Do you think that employee empowerment would reduce

employee turnover? Could you increase pay and benefits to employee? Have you considered leaving to work in another industry? Have you considered working in a different restaurant? What would be your reasons for leaving? Have you any suggestions to how employee turnover could be Reduced? Why do you think employee turnover is so high? Are vacancies easy to fill? What is the local competition for labour like?


Appendix 2

Waitress advert

Contract typePermanent

***** In North London is looking for experienced waiters for an immediate start. We are looking for people who are passionate and knowledgeable about food and customer service, who is open minded and who are enthusiastic team players. We need at least 2 years’ experience in high quality and high volume fine dining restaurants. You need to be fully flexible and willing to learn and develop, and have an exceptional level of attention to detail. If you meet the above criteria please send us your cv. We Offer : Competitive rates Opportunities to grow and develop Opportunity to work as part of a successful team It is essential that you are able to remain calm under pressure, whilst providing professional service and a fantastic smile Due to the vast quantity of applications received, regretfully we are only able to contact those who have been successful in obtaining an interview. All applications are retained on file for a period of 4 months to enable us to refer to them should a suitable vacancy arise. If you have any objections to us retaining your details for this purpose please let us know. STRICTLY NO AGENCIES (Gumtree, 2013)

***Restaurant name omitted in advert for privacy reasons.

It is clearly visible from the advert that the employer seeks employees who already have had training

and experience within the sector, to maintain training cost low.


the causes of high staff turnover

Recruiting & HR