By:Prateek Wangnoo
Introduction:
The QSR industry is a dynamic and fast-paced environment where developing and maintaining high levels of Food Safety among all stakeholders can be a major deciding factor with respect to the popularity and acceptance of the Brand among consumers. In this write-up, we will aim to explore the Training Need Identification in the QSR industry while also emphasising its significance in enhancing Employee performance as well as the overall success of the Business via the statement “Never feed what you won’t eat”.
Understanding the Training Need:
“How we do one thing, is how we do everything”.
Everyone at home washes their hands before they eat, cleans the utensils before and after they use them for other purposes, stores cooked products in different utensils and at different temperatures, etc etc, which implies that every person has a fundamental and natural understanding of the need for Food Safety. Through TNI, knowledge gaps and skill gaps can be identified to bridge the said gaps and turn the natural knowledge into informed knowledge that can be actively implemented to achieve Food Safety.
This will be addressed by stating to the team that one should Never feed, what you won’t eat, as any negative impact on the product being handled due to a single individual can cause a huge snowball effect, small lapses in judgment can pile up, and cause to not only undermining their own hard work and the work work of their colleagues but also negatively impact the brand itself, which in the long term will impact the growth of every individual employee. This is done as a matter of fact, Food Safety has to eventually become a natural habit for food handlers instead of a job requirement and will also prompt colleagues to prevent their peers from making any Food Safety blunders.
Significance of Training Need:
“People don’t learn by being told, people learn by watching how it’s done and then practising .”
Once the Training need has been established, it is important that employees be shown the best practices to follow during operations, unless the team believes that the target being provided is not just achievable but something to be sought after, the impact of the training will decrease with time, to ensure that doesn’t happen it is important to highlight the significance of TNI:
Improve Employee Performance & satisfaction: When TNI activities are conducted and concluded on a regular basis, each employee can get personalised feedback on their areas of improvement as well as their areas of performance which will not only boost morale but give them an achievable goal to attain for personal as well as professional growth. This will also demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to employee development which will enhance the employee satisfaction level.
Enhance resource management: By conducting and implementing targeted TNI activities, will help optimize resource utilisation by streamlining the workflow and also result in improved productivity.
Improve customer satisfaction: As TNI will lead to standardisation across all practices, it will directly impact the consistency of the product customers receive hence directly influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty, which can lead to improved business via good marketing and repeat customers.
Safety & Compliance: By conducting TNI the organisation can ensure that all its employees are adequately trained as per the local legislation regarding the food safety protocols and minimise the risk of any health code violation.
Methods of Training Need Identification:
“A problem rightly identified is a problem half solved.”
There are a multitude of methods that can be implemented across a QSR to assess the employee’s training needs once the objective of the TNI has been defined. In this part of the write-up, a variety of the same will be discussed ranging from general activities to specific activities needed by the industry:
Skill assessment/preparation: When an employee joins a QSR, they may or may not be familiar with the concept of Food Safety or Good Hygienic Practices. Therefore the very first and foremost order of business will be to train or retrain the employee’s understanding of both of these topics in respect of the current QSR regardless of their previous level of knowledge regarding the topic and conduct a short written assessment to gauge the knowledge retention of the employee. Assessment of basic Food Safety and Good Hygienic Practices should be conducted regularly to prevent skill atrophy and provide the employees with up to date knowledge regarding the same.
Attention to customer feedback: Customer feedback, even though a subjective measure, can still provide valuable input regarding areas where an employee might require additional training. In most QSRs each station is manned by a different person, making it easier to identify the station that requires retraining.
Observational feedback: A team leader/supervisor/manager can make observations in daily operational practices and accordingly suggest retraining of an employee. Observational feedback can also help highlight the best practices being conducted that can be incorporated into future training programs. To ensure that the employees are working to the best of their natural ability, it is imperative to reiterate that the observations being made are non-punitive and for training purposes only. The reason for that being that a) a nervous employee might make unnecessary mistakes which they normally don’t during the course of the action if they believe they are being punitively observed or b) the idea of being punitively observed might hinder with the accurate assessment of a gap area.
Interviews: The best and most direct method of getting feedback regarding the current status of operations, it can provide a diverse set of perspectives of the people who are to receive the benefits of TNI directly.
Employee growth Road map: Giving employees a growth road map, is a two layered function, which a) Teaches employees the essentials of understanding their own current role and the provides them the knowledge to grow beyond it & b) Ensures that the employees being promoted to a higher role are well prepared and better equipped to handle the change in responsibilities. In a kitchen, a good cook might not make a good manager, but a good manager was definitely once a good cook. Employee growth road map helps ensure that the people being promoted are well versed in all the QSR related activities that they might undertake.
Bench-marking & Continuous Improvement: Bench-marking involves comparing one’s own organisation’s practices against those of industry leaders or competitors to help evaluate or predict where some training initiatives might fall short. Keeping up to date with the latest developments in the industry concerning best practices or emerging trends while incorporating the best practices observed within one’s own organisation can help the organisation stay a competitive leap ahead
Conclusion:
In conclusion, effective training needs identification as a vital requisite for driving performance excellence and sustaining competitiveness in the rapidly evolving realm of the QSR industry. Through the utilisation of diverse methodologies to assess and address training disparities, employee performance & customer satisfaction can be achieved, directly contributing to the long term success of a QSR business.
The author is a Food Technologist
