This article was downloaded by: [University Library Utrecht] On: 18 September 2013, At: 11:53 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjht20 Identifying Job Motivation Factors of Restaurant Servers Margot B. Dermody a , Marilyn Young b & Susan Lee Taylor b a College of Business Administration, Belmont University, 1900 Belmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA b College of Business Administration, Belmont University, USA Published online: 21 Sep 2008. To cite this article: Margot B. Dermody , Marilyn Young & Susan Lee Taylor (2004) Identifying Job Motivation Factors of Restaurant Servers, International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 5:3, 1-14, DOI: 10.1300/J149v05n03_01 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J149v05n03_01 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,
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This article was downloaded by: [University Library Utrecht]On: 18 September 2013, At: 11:53Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK
International Journal ofHospitality & TourismAdministrationPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjht20
Identifying Job MotivationFactors of Restaurant ServersMargot B. Dermody a , Marilyn Young b & Susan LeeTaylor ba College of Business Administration, BelmontUniversity, 1900 Belmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN,37212, USAb College of Business Administration, BelmontUniversity, USAPublished online: 21 Sep 2008.
To cite this article: Margot B. Dermody , Marilyn Young & Susan Lee Taylor (2004)Identifying Job Motivation Factors of Restaurant Servers, International Journal ofHospitality & Tourism Administration, 5:3, 1-14, DOI: 10.1300/J149v05n03_01
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J149v05n03_01
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,
and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Insight for the Developmentof Effective Recruitmentand Retention Strategies
Margot B. DermodyMarilyn Young
Susan Lee Taylor
ABSTRACT. An exploratory qualitative research study was carried outamong chain and independent restaurant workers to identify employeejob motivation factors for remaining in jobs in the restaurant industry.Interviews with servers of both independent and chain restaurants wereconducted in a metropolitan city located in the southeastern region of theUnited States. The results of these interviews indicate that motivation isinfluenced by both financial and non-financial incentives. Althoughcompensation and monetary awards appear to be the most important fac-tors (over 50% of sample) for both independent and chain restaurant em-ployees in choosing to work in and remain in the industry, otherimportant motivation factors were also discovered such as relationshipswith co-workers, flexible working hours, atmosphere of restaurant, etc.The information garnered from this study provides an entry point in the
Margot B. Dermody, MPS, is Instructor of Management, College of Business Ad-ministration, Belmont University, 1900 Belmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37212(E-mail: [email protected]).
Marilyn Young, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Accounting, College of BusinessAdministration, Belmont University.
Susan Lee Taylor, DBA, is Associate Professor of Marketing, College of BusinessAdministration, Belmont University.
Address correspondence to: Margot B. Dermody at the above address.
International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, Vol. 5(3) 2004http://www.haworthpress.com/web/IJHTA
The recruitment and retention of good employees remains a critical issuefor restaurant operators. People Report, a Dallas-based research consultingcompany that tracks human resources information for its member restau-rants, found that the foodservice industry has a more unstable workforcethan most other types of retailers (Zuber, 2001). In fact, statistics indicatethat most hourly restaurant workers will have from five to twelve differentjobs during their tenure in the restaurant industry (Morris, 2000).
Despite the historical trend toward restaurant employee volatility, inrecent years there have been improvements in the turnover rate. From2001 to 2003, hourly turnover dropped from 124 percent to 104 percent(Berta, 2003). However, this period also saw a steady increase in unem-ployment rates, from 4.7 percent to 6.0 percent (Bureau of Labor Statis-tics, 2004), which introduced uncertainty into the job market, andencouraged workers to hold onto jobs that they might otherwise leave ifemployment conditions were more favorable. To the extent that the im-provements in the turnover rates of restaurant employees is driven byweak economic conditions, a strengthening of the economy could leadto higher turnover rates if restaurant workers are only staying in theirjobs until they find a better job (Riehle, 1997).
Recent surveys of restaurant workers seem to support the link betweenthe weak economy and the drop in the turnover rate. The NeighborhoodMarketing Institute (NMI) found that only 39 percent of restaurant em-ployees see themselves working at their current job for another year; only15 percent of employees view that job as a career; a mere 41 percentwould recommend their company as a place to work, and just 59 percentof these employees indicate they receive the training necessary to per-
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form their job duties (Feltenstein, 2001). Further, most of the restaurantemployees do not view their employment as a long-term career, and theydo not enjoy their jobs (Berta, 2002; Schier, 2004).
There are early indications that the improvement in the restaurant jobmarket is already underway. From August to December 2003, the res-taurant business accounted for 20 percent of the total job growth in theeconomy (Day, 2003). Maintaining the turnover gains experiencedfrom 2001-2003 will only become more challenging in the presence of agrowing job market and a lower unemployment rate unless restaurantmanagers build a strong attachment to their hourly employees (Schier,2004). Yet employers in the restaurant industry seem to know very littleabout the motivational factors that are important for restaurant workersas they make decisions to remain with or leave an employer. Furthercomplicating the problem is that managers often think they know whatemployees want, and their assumptions are wrong (Woods and Macaulay,1989). The purpose of this manuscript is to explore the perceptions ofhourly restaurant workers, specifically servers, related to their satisfac-tion with their employment in the restaurant industry and provide insightfor the development of recruitment and retention strategies.
Who is the restaurant employee?
The restaurant industry employs 11.7 million people in the UnitedStates and is considered the nation’s largest private-sector employer(Restaurants, 2003). Historically, over 50 percent of restaurant employ-ees are between the ages of 18-35 (Morris, 2000) and 25 percent areteenagers. But this level of participation by teenagers is expected to fallin the future. The Next Generation (2002) predicts that current teenag-ers, dubbed Gen Y, are delaying entry into the workforce, even on apart-time basis, until they have completed their education. Therefore,the pool of teenage workers will not continue to support the number ofentry-level jobs in the restaurant industry. Further, a growing job mar-ket will only increase the competition for entry-level workers not onlywithin the restaurant industry, but also there will be pressure from out-side the industry from other retail businesses (Chapman, 2003). As a re-sult, workforce changes are imminent for the restaurant industry. Thejobs once filled by teenagers are expected to be filled by more women,retirees, and immigrants (Operators, 2003). These changes mean thatthe old methods of recruiting and retaining younger, less experiencedworkers may not be appropriate in the future, and management mayhave to develop alternative approaches to control turnover.
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What are the costs of turnover?
According to Carbone (1995), between 40-50% of a restaurant’s op-erating budget is devoted to human resources. Thus, controlling the costof labor is central to the long-term profitability of a restaurant (Morris,2000). Included in Carbone’s estimate of the magnitude of labor costson the budget is the cost of turnover, and these costs can be significant.Researchers have estimated that the combined direct and indirect cost oflosing one hourly restaurant employee can range from $1,500 to $5,000(Halton, 2002). Those costs directly linked to turnover include: adver-tising the job opening, recruiting a replacement worker, loss of produc-tivity of management during the selection process, training the newworker, overtime costs incurred to cover the shifts during the recruit-ment process, and the cost of new supplies, such as uniforms, for thenew worker (Carbone, 1995). The most significant of these direct costsis training new staff. Annually, the food-service industry spends about$4.3 billion on new-employee training, according to Ellen Moore, se-nior vice president of the learning and certification division for the Na-tional Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (Zuber, 2001).The indirect costs of turnover, while harder to estimate, are no less sig-nificant. These costs include: the lack of productivity of the new hire,the potential loss of reputation or goodwill of the restaurant, more wasteand breakage due to accidents, and low morale among the existing staffattributable to the loss of an employee (Carbone, 1995). Collectively,these indirect costs can have a considerable impact on the restaurant.According to the Halton Company (2002), 70 percent of customers whosay they will not return to a restaurant cite a negative experience with anemployee as the reason. Thus, recruiting good people to the industryand keeping them satisfied is an integral part of building a successfulrestaurant.
Estimating the costs of turnover is less of a challenge than uncover-ing the causes of turnover. According to Shapiro (1989), the reasonsemployees leave a restaurant vary. Most employee turnover (over 50percent) occurs in the first 30 days and is a result of poor selection pro-cedures. Employees leaving after 60 days generally do so because of in-adequate training, and a failure on the part of management to motivateand provide growth opportunities. Further, once turnover is present, itbecomes increasingly more difficult to control. High levels of turnoverfoster even higher levels of turnover, since restaurant managers experi-encing problems with turnover generally implement crisis recruitingand selection techniques resulting in a significant increase in the ex-
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pense and time devoted to recruiting and selecting new hourly employ-ees. In addition, this environment leads to steadily increasing costs oftraining these newly hired staff as many times these quickly hired em-ployees end up as turnover casualties (Rothwell, 1982).
What motivates employees?
Motivation has been described as an internal force that drives behav-ior. However, the simplicity of this definition obscures the complexityof the issue. Through the years, motivation has been studied by manytheorists who have produced a wide variety of motivational theories(e.g., Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory,McGregor’s Theory X and Y, Expectancy and Equity Theory, andOuchi’s Theory Z). Although these theorists have divergent views, theyagree that there is not a one-size fits all solution for motivating employ-ees, and the approach has to be tailored to the individual. This requirestime and a commitment to each individual employee because motiva-tional factors are not only unique, they are also dynamic. The reasons anemployee commits to an employer will change with the individual’sage, personal life, and career phase (Premoli, 2003). Therefore, the rea-son an employee initially accepts a job, may not be the reason that theemployee continues to stay with the employer years after joining thecompany. The following partial list represents some of the most com-mon motivation factors listed by employees:
• The organization for which they work• Their boss• Money• The work environment• Recognition• The achievements they can produce when they play a specific role• The power that a position enables them with• Status• Their peers, team and co-workers• The work schedule (Premoli, 2003).
The time and effort necessary to understand each employee’s moti-vation for working in a restaurant can be expensive. But the cost of notmaking the investment can lead to an increase in turnover which candramatically increase labor costs. Thus, if a restaurant manager wishesto avoid the cost of turnover, it is imperative that managers understand
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and monitor employee motivations. However, Weaver (1988) warnsthat through the years, managers have experimented with various moti-vational theories to address turnover issues and improve employee re-tention rates, but these experiments have had minimal success becausethey are based on reward systems that do not adequately address theneeds of hourly workers.
METHODOLOGY
Sixty restaurant servers in a metropolitan city located in the south-eastern region of the United States (thirty from fifteen independent res-taurants and thirty from fifteen chain restaurants) were interviewed toacquire data on recruitment, job motivation, incentives and retentionpractices from the employees’ perspective. The selection criteria for therestaurants were: (1) medium-sized restaurants (82-384 seats); (2) inbusiness over two years; (3) relatively small staff of 22-65 employees;(4) serving lunch and dinner or dinner only; and (5) moderately pricedmenu items ($8-$39 entrees). There was no formal attempt to ensurethat the survey results were representative of any defined group of sub-jects as the purpose of the study was not to profile server groups butrather to investigate job motivation factors.
A semi-structured questionnaire was developed as a general guidefor conducting interviews with the servers. Restaurant managers werecontacted by telephone to explain the purpose of the study and to getpermission to interview some of the servers employed by the restaurant.Interviews were scheduled during off-peak hours with two randomlyselected servers at each sample restaurant. The interviewing processwas completed during a four-week period. The two groups of restau-rants (i.e., independent and chain) were chosen to explore the potentialdifferences in the motivation factors of their employees.
Very little is known about the factors that lead restaurant workers toremain with or leave an employer. In situations such as this, when theproblem has not been clearly formulated, exploratory research is appro-priate. Thus, for the purposes of this study, exploratory research is un-dertaken to gain background information about the general nature of jobmotivation factors and to learn what questions should be asked to deter-mine specifically what motivates hourly restaurant workers. The methodof exploratory research used in this study is an experience survey admin-istered to restaurant servers.
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A six-item paper-survey was developed for this study. The questionsincluded in the study were adapted from a previous exploratory study ofrestaurant managers conducted by Dermody (2002). The list of ques-tions was used as a general guide for the interviewers as they questionedrespondents. The first four items were asked as open-ended questionsusing a probing format where each respondent was instructed to make acomment, followed by the interviewer asking for additional informa-tion. This technique was utilized to encourage respondents to provideinformation beyond their initial first comment. Questions five and sixwere designed using an unlabeled scaled-response format with one (1) in-dicating the lowest rating and five (5) indicating the highest rating. Ques-tion five measured server satisfaction with their current employer in sixcritical areas (i.e., management, promotions, raises, incentives, team-work, and restaurant working environment). Additionally, question sixwas designed to measure the overall satisfaction level of the server withhis/her employer. The questions are listed below:
1. What characteristics of restaurants attract you to the restaurant in-dustry?
2. What motivates you in your work environment?3. Does your restaurant have an incentive program?4. Why do some servers quit their jobs?5. Please indicate your level of satisfaction with your current em-
ployer regarding: management, promotions, raises, incentives,teamwork, and restaurant working environment.
6. Please indicate your overall level of satisfaction with your currentemployer/restaurant?
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Table 1. What characteristics of restaurants attract youto the restaurant industry?
Similarities existed between independent and chain employees interms of the number of comments indicating money as the primary mo-tivating factor. Of the thirty employees interviewed in independent res-taurants, twenty considered money a primary reason for working in theindustry, while twenty-one chain restaurant employees indicated moneywas the characteristic which most attracts them to the industry. Employ-ees of independent restaurants cited relationships with co-workers (4 re-
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sponses) as the second most important characteristic attracting them tothe industry. Other reasons given for working in the industry were: at-mosphere, clientele, food, and management. Chain restaurant employ-ees cited management (6 responses) as the second most importantreason they work in the industry, followed by relationships withco-workers, reputation, and flexible hours.
Table 2. What motivates you in your work environment?
When employees were asked what motivates them in their work en-vironment the responses of employees in independent restaurants andchain restaurants both emphasized the importance of co-workers andwork environment. Twelve employees of independent restaurants con-sidered relationships with co-workers as a motivating factor for work-ing in the current environment. Other motivating factors receivingmultiple responses were professional atmosphere (5 responses), clien-tele (5 responses), money (5 responses), air conditioning/comfort (4 re-sponses), hours (3 responses), and reputation (3 responses). Chainrestaurant employees cited relationships with co-workers/work envi-ronment (17 responses) as more important than money (9 responses).Other comments included flexibility (4 responses) and understandingmanagement (4 responses).
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TABLE 1. What Characteristics of Restaurants Attract You to the RestaurantIndustry?
IndependentRestaurant
Characteristics
Numberof
Responses
ChainRestaurant
Characteristics
Numberof
Responses
Money 20 Money 21
Relationships with Co-Workers 5 Management 6
Clientele 3 Relationships with Co-Workers 5
Atmosphere 2 Reputation 3
Food 2 Flexible Working Hours 3
Not Corporate 2 Restaurant Hours 1
Management 2 Benefits 1
Family Referral 1
Reputation 1
Total 38 Total 40
Note: Characteristics are ordered by number of responses received and some respondentsprovided multiple answers.
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Table 3. Does Your restaurant have an incentive program?
Incentive programs were more pervasive in the chain restaurants (8 outof 15) than in the independent restaurants (3 out of 15). Four employeesfrom the independent restaurants and three employees from the chainrestaurants cited that there were some, but irregular incentive programs,and the incentive programs varied in all restaurants. However, someservers did not understand the concept of incentives, since they were notused in their restaurant.
Table 4. Why do some servers quit their jobs?
The reasons why servers leave their restaurant jobs were varied.Among servers of independent restaurants the top two responses werethat the server found a better job and dissatisfaction with the hours (6 re-sponses and 5 responses, respectively). The third most common reasonwas that the server desired to earn more money (4 responses). The re-maining responses can be categorized as personal and human resourceissues such as, leaving to attend school or moving, disagreements withco-workers, or not getting promoted. For servers in chain restaurants,the top response was that the server found a better job (7 responses). The
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TABLE 2. What Motivates You in Your Work Environment?
Note: Motivation factors are ordered by number of responses received and some respon-dents provided multiple answers.
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second most common responses were that the server left over money is-sues or problems with the number of hours the server was required towork (4 responses each). Similar to the independent servers’ responses,the remaining reasons given can be categorized as personal choices andhuman resource issues such as: conflicts with management or co-work-ers, the job was seasonal employment for the server, or the servermoved.
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TABLE 3. Does Your Restaurant Have an Incentive Program?
IndependentRestaurants
Incentive Programs
Numberof
Responses
ChainRestaurants
Incentive Program
Numberof
Responses
Yes 6 Yes 16
Sometimes, but Irregular 8 Sometimes, but Irregular 6
No 16 No 8
Total 30 Total 30
Note: Numbers reported reflect two servers per restaurant. Servers within restaurants wereconsistent in their responses. Thus, if six independent servers reported the presence of anincentive program, this translates to 3 restaurants.
TABLE 4. Why Do Some Servers Quit Their Jobs?
IndependentRestaurants
Numberof
Responses
ChainRestaurants
Numberof
Responses
Better or New Job 6 Better or New Job 7
Hours 5 More Money/Little Tipping 4
More Money 4 Overworked/Hours 4
Moving 2 Moving 2
Disagreement withCo-Workers/Not Fitting In
2 Disagreement with Co-Workersor Management/Rude people
3
Inappropriate Behavior 1 Laziness/Can’t handle the job 2
School 1 School 1
Seasonal 1 Seasonal 1
Not Getting Promoted 1 Don't Know 6
Don’t Know 7
Total 30 Total 30
Note: Reasons are ordered by number of responses received.
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Table 5. Satisfaction ratings of current employer regardingcritical restaurant characteristics.
Employees interviewed in independent and chain restaurants appearedto be very satisfied with both the management and work environment oftheir employer. Specifically, management of independent restaurants re-ceived a 4.08 on a 5-point scale from their servers, and the environment/atmosphere received a 4.21. The servers were less satisfied with other el-ements of their jobs: promotion and raises (3.38) incentive programs(3.67), and teamwork (3.79). Employees of chain restaurants voiced asimilar level of satisfaction with their management (4.12), work environ-ment (4.04), and the level of teamwork (3.96) as their independent servercounterparts. However, they voiced an overall dissatisfaction with pro-motion and raises (2.20) and incentive programs (2.80).
Table 6. Overall satisfaction level with your current employer/restaurant.
Despite the levels of dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the job,the overall job satisfaction scores among servers of both the independ-ent and chain restaurants is impressive; 4.10 for independent restau-rants, and 4.36 for chain restaurants.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Recruiting, motivating, and retaining a talented workforce will con-tinue to challenge the restaurant industry in future years. Not only willrestaurant managers have to face the perennial problems that are inher-ent in the industry, but also a growing economy and lower unemploy-ment rate will further complicate the efforts to keep turnover low. Theresults of this exploratory study indicate that restaurant servers are pri-marily attracted to the restaurant industry by money and they are moti-vated to stay in the industry because of their work environment. Thesefindings support prior research of hourly employees outside the restau-rant industry. Frank (1984) states that “the more strongly a worker’soutput depends on his level of effort, the more closely linked his/herwages should be to the value of what he/she produces” (p. 549). In otherwords, hourly workers are motivated by cash, and can most effectivelybe motivated by incentive pay programs that have the potential to in-crease cash wages. In addition, prior research suggests that some effec-
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tive work environment tactics used to fight turnover include introducinginnovative benefits (such as cash bonuses or non-cash prizes for goodperformance), flexible work schedules, improving training programs,and designing mentoring programs (Zuber, 2001 and Day, 2003).
When employees come and go, it disrupts attempts to deliver seam-less service (Zuber, 2001). These findings suggest that improvement inthe areas of promotion, raises and incentives could lead to higher levelsof job satisfaction among servers. Identifying gaps in employee satis-faction can be addressed through a well-defined, concerted effort bymanagers to connect with their hourly workers through education, train-ing and motivation (Operators, 2003). If managers understand the moti-vation factors it will be easier to create a work atmosphere wheremotivation flourishes and turnover is low (Premoli, 2003).
LIMITATIONS
The findings of this study are exploratory. The qualitative researchutilized provides some information although it is not exhaustive. Assuch, these findings were produced from a small sample size in a homo-
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TABLE 6. Overall Satisfaction Level with Your Current Employer/Restaurant
Restaurant Characteristics IndependentRestaurants
(n = 30)
CorporateRestaurants
(n = 30)
Overall Satisfaction 4.10 4.36
Note: 5 point scale (1 = Low Satisfaction Level to 5 = High Satisfaction Level)
TABLE 5. Satisfaction Ratings of Critical Restaurant Characteristics
Restaurant CharacteristicsIndependentRestaurants
(n = 30)
CorporateRestaurants
(n = 30)
Management 4.08 4.12
Restaurant Atmosphere 4.21 4.04
Promotions 3.38 2.20
Raises 3.25 2.10
Incentives 3.67 2.80
Teamwork 3.80 3.96
Note: 5 point scale (1 = Low Satisfaction Level to 5 = High Satisfaction Level)
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geneous geographic location and cannot be generalized to the popula-tion of restaurant workers. A small sample is inconclusive so results aredirectional rather than conclusive. Further research to investigate bestpractices in larger more geographically diverse samples would be en-couraged. In addition, the survey included only servers who are cur-rently employed in the restaurant industry and does not include workersthat left their jobs. Thus, there is a bias towards job satisfaction, andthere is no information regarding the motivation factors of unhappy em-ployees who have left the industry.
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RECEIVED: 07/23/03REVISIONS RECEIVED: 02/20/04
ACCEPTED: 03/25/04
14 International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration
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If you have read a reprint or photocopy of this article, would you like tomake sure that your library also subscribes to this journal? If you havethe authority to recommend subscriptions to your library, we will send youa free complete (print edition) sample copy for review with your librarian.
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