Digital technology has revolutionized the way that we can provide training, education, and information to our restaurant employees. Instead of printing lengthy manuals and watching long training videos, we can now transfer manuals online, send regular training updates to our employees via video text, and ensure consistency across multiple locations all while increasing relevance and lowering costs. It’s a convenient way to provide education which is more consistent, timely, and accountable than traditional means of getting training to your staff. In short, digital training provides a host of new and exciting options to more efficiently train and manage your team.
Digital Training Improves Performance Tracking while Empowering Restaurant Employees
Utilizing digital training avenues in your restaurant doesn’t have to be an overly expensive or elaborate affair. It can be as simple as making short, instructional videos about new methods or how to use new products and texting them once a week to all of your staff. You can embed a link to further information, track who has reviewed the information, quickly update training modules, and even see exactly which test questions employees are stumbling over. Some restaurants even use employees’ test scores from weekly material to determine who gets put on the schedule for the following week.
This method of training is convenient for your employees as well. They can take the training on their own time and review materials repeatedly until they can pass the test. However, while your Millennial employees are going to relate particularly well to this form of imparting information, it’s important to keep in mind that older generations may still need more traditional training methods to thrive.
Digital Education is Perfectly Suited to Teach Skills Needed in Restaurant Employees
Digital training is particularly well suited to teach certain skills essential to restaurant employees. For example, instructions for how to properly prep a dish, place a fork, or fold a napkin are technical skills that are easily imparted through digital technology. It is especially useful for teaching pre-hires how to place an order or use the POS system ahead of time, so they can better pay attention to other details they receive in one-on-one training.
Soft skills, such as how to greet a guest or make menu recommendations, are not as black and white as technical skills are and can be somewhat more challenging to teach online. That said, digital modules can still be utilized to assist employee training in these areas as well, especially in terms of situational protocol simulations or memorizing scripts, for example.
Digital Training should Compliment not Replace Hands-On Learning
Providing digital education for your staff should never replace one-on-one, hands-on learning and time spent under the tutelage of your restaurant’s management. Solid interpersonal relationships between your managers and their employees are critical to the successful functioning of your team. Instead, digital training should be used as a tool to compliment and enhance your employees’ training experiences. Doing this creates further team cohesion and efficiency, as well as a highly trained, effective staff.
Jim Balis' Blog 