Quick-service restaurants continue to struggle with high turnover rates, and traditional job applications may be the driving force. Restaurant owners and operators seek innovative ways to hire and retain quality employees.
Rhiannon Wilson, human resources manager for Lafontant Organization, LLC, has adopted the platform Sprockets to help lower turnover rates. Wilson oversees three McDonald’s locations with roughly 200 employees at any given time. “I oversee hiring orientation, policy writing, training, development, people incentives, and conflict mediation,” says Wilson.
“My stores were running higher turnover than the national average,” Wilson says. “80 to 90 percent of hires were turning around and walking right back out the door before working 90 days. I hit a wall. It didn’t matter what I did or what incentives I set. Nothing helped.”
That was until Wilson decided to implement Sprockets. Sprockets is an AI-powered platform built to overcome today’s hiring challenges and reduce employee turnover. “The set-up was super easy, and their support team was very helpful,” says Wilson.
Sprockets integrates with McDonald’s existing hiring platform and provides applicants with unique questions to evaluate how well they will fit in with existing staff. “My favorite question that Sprockets asks is, ‘If you could go anywhere on vacation right now, where would it be and why?” says Wilson. “Having those questions engages people and allows us to understand potential hires’ personalities better.” After completing the short three-question survey, applicants will be given a score based on how well they match the restaurant culture.
“Employees work elbow to elbow for up to ten hours a day, so many of them can be easily irritated,” Wilson says. “However, with the integration of Sprockets, less of that happens because when people share personality traits, they have more things to joke and talk about.”
Wilson discovered several other good practices while using Sprockets to maximize its benefits. “I always look at the stats of somebody who scored low at one store to see if they would fit well with another location. I have them reapply to that store, which has been extremely beneficial,” says Wilson. This way, Wilson isn’t letting go of valuable future employees and is helping her other locations that are hiring.
“Now, my McDonald’s locations have some of the lowest turnover rates in the region,” Wilson says. “Today, my 90-day turnover rate is down to 54 percent. My trailing 12-month turnover is 125 percent, compared to the original 200 percent. My current employees show up to work 98 percent of the time, and my average crew size has doubled since using Sprockets.”
“People are nicer to each other and customers. It’s a beautiful thing,” Wilson says. “I think Sprockets is a great platform to have in place in any setting, especially the food service industry.”
Visit the Sprockets website to decrease your turnover rate and ease hiring challenges.
By Abby Winterburn
