Pals is a fast food restaurant located in Kingsport, Tennessee and was the first restaurant company to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award. Putting it in the company of companies like Ritz Carlton, and FedEx. This small 26 location company has a crazy low turnover rate given the fast food industry. For front line employees, it’s just 1/3 of the industry average and for its assistant managers it’s a meager 1.4%. How do they do it?
3 key ingredients
- Hire for attitude and train for skill.
What Pals found out was if you got the attitude right with an employee, you could train them for the skills you need. Attitude over skill any day.
- Lots of opportunity for training and improvement.
Employees spend a lot of time on training and retraining. They get certifications and opportunities to continue to learn.
- Get serious about teaching.
The company has assembled a reading list of key books that an employee is expected to read. And not all the books are on business but rather include some timeless classics such as The Prince by Machiavelli.
What is your secret sauce to hire and retain a great work force?
Mike