Food services and hospitality are high risk areas when it comes to employee injuries. High employee turnover and an increasing part-time workforce add to the risks for hotel restaurants.

Training new hires is one of the biggest investments a company can make. But is it worth the cost to implement intensive training both in job function and company policy and procedures?

It’s a difficult situation. New hires aren’t expected to work off the cost of the training during their tenure.

Many companies short-hand their on-boarding process for high turnover and part-time jobs. As a consequence they are being faced with far bigger costs in the long run.

The fact is, the cost of worker’s compensation is going up. The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) reported that the total costs paid for worker’s compensation went up from $60 billion in 2000 to $74 billion in 2009.

When an employee gets injured on the job the company pays twice.

Health and Safety Procedures -

Don’t simply hand a new hire a stack of forms to initial. You should incorporate the health and safety procedure training into the job training. Safety should be a part of the way your employee's do their jobs. It should not just be a form in the employee file that only gets pulled out if an employee sues.

Combat High Turnover Rates -

The service industry gets a bad rap for being a dead-end job category. You want a workforce of well trained, happy and healthy employees. It makes sense to show them that their hard work will eventually pay off. Implementing a health and wellness program can prevent injury and there for help avoid worker's comp claims while keeping your employees happy and healthy. 

You can also do this by creating a culture of promoting from within. By offering bonuses and rewards for excellent work. Most importantly, by showing your employees that you expect and want them to continue to grow and move forward with your company for years to come.

Constant Learning Environment -

Don’t stop training. The industry, and the world of technology is evolving. Create comprehensive training opportunities so that employees can improve themselves. Create training programs in direct job functions. Also create training classes for things that will engage them and excite their enthusiasm. If your employees are excited about coming to work then they will be excited about working and doing their best job for the company.

If your servers aren’t smiling than your customers won’t either. Well trained happy and healthy employees have fewer injuries, and produce better work. They save you money while making you money!