Electronic House Call - September 17, 2004

ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - September 17, 2004

While I am there, I will be working out the logistics for the Birthday Bash in November. If this event is not already on your radar, you will want to be sure to read the article below. Seats are going fast.

Q&A
A quick service operator recently posted the following question on the Forum: "We apparently have a flaw in our policy of letting people call in sick. We tend to believe them. As a result, we end up short-handed on some shifts. Without becoming tyrannical, how do we minimize the frequency of 'illnesses?' Do we reward those who come to work (by paying them?) or come down hard on those who seem to be ill more often than others?"

My response: You cannot let people go for being sick, however, you CAN let them go for failing to maintain their schedule due to repeated absences. You should avoid threats ... but it would certainly be respectful to discuss your concern that if you cannot rely on them to be there when you need them, you will have to find someone else you can count on.

That said, if they really loved their jobs, they would want to be at work ... so your most productive approach is to find out why they are calling out so often in the first place. Real illness is a possibility, but more likely there is another problem. It could be that they are being harassed by a co-worker, there could be omething about the working conditions, they might be bored out of their skulls or have a job that is over their heads. It could be that the job is just not a good fit for them. It could even be that you are the problem for some reason.

I suggest that you sit down with the offenders one-on-one, get "stupid" and start asking good questions. Understand that people do what they do because it makes sense to them ... you just need to find out why this behavior seems appropriate IN THEIR MINDS. The hard part is to not judge their motives or have a reaction to what you learn. The more neutral and genuinely curious you are, the safer an environment you will create and the more information you will get. When you identify a problem, look for ways to fix the system rather than the people. I suspect we have all had jobs where we were more motivated to show up than others. Get in the detective mode and find out why they have lost interest.

Click here to reach the Restaurant Doctor Forums.

New Overtime Rules
Just when you thought that the bureaucratic red tape couldn't get any thicker, comes the first major changes in federal overtime regulations in decades. The new rules took effect August 23rd and spell out which so-called "white-collar" employees are entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay under federal law when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

Whether you support the changes or not, the new rules put another ball into your juggle and you had better learn how to keep it in the air. The National Restaurant Association has compiled expert answers to your most likely questions on the new law and how it affects you. The link below will let you download a PDF file with the inside story.

Click here to download the overtime FAQ.

Free is Good
All birthdays are special ... but some are more special than others. This November, restaurant marketing wizard Joel Cohen and I celebrate significant birthdays -- I will turn 60 on November 1st (yikes!) and Joel will be 57 on November 20th. OK, so maybe 57 is not be quite as big a milestone as 60, but Joel thought he was turning 54 this year! Talk about a rude surprise ... and a poor memory!

In any event, we wanted to mark the occasion with something truly spectacular, so we decided to give YOU a present -- we call it Bill and Joel's Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash and it happens in Las Vegas on November 15-16.

We are joining forces again to share some of our most powerful ideas -- tools that will help you prosper in today's challenging economy, raise your level of service and set yourself apart from the competition. We promise a fast-paced program crammed full of politically incorrect, no-nonsense, proven ways to increase sales, bring your operation up a notch or two and generally get out of your own way!

What will really surprise you is the price we decided to put on this one-time event ... it's free! To find out why, click on the link below. At the rate that registrations are coming in, we could be out of space by October 1st ... so you will want to act sooner rather than later. If you delay, you risk getting closed out of the best professional development deal of the year! This an offer you can't refuse ... and you are not likely to see it again!

Click here to get the full story on the Las Vegas Birthday Bash.

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

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