A Way to Predict Staff Turnover in Quick Service Restaurants- A Pilot Study

According to the National Restaurant Association [6], the restaurant industry as a whole has one of the highest employee turnover rates in the U.S. labor force, at 62.6% compared to a 42.2% overall turnover rate in the private... [ view full abstract ]

According to the National Restaurant Association [6], the restaurant industry as a whole has one of the highest employee turnover rates in the U.S. labor force, at 62.6% compared to a 42.2% overall turnover rate in the private sector companies. Mirman [4] cited the following three most often mentioned factors that are keeping turnover rates high across the restaurant industry, from quick service to fine dining establishments:

1. Student Workers: There are a high percentage of workers in school, many of them in college or university programs (41% for servers).
2. Seasonal Changes: The restaurant industry is one of the greatest sources of seasonal jobs making it difficult to retain trained workers from season to season.
3. Few Opportunities for Upward Mobility: Quick service restaurants have lower paying jobs and fuel higher turnover. In fact, some quick service restaurants face turnover rates far beyond the 63% average - much closer to 150%-400% [9].

This research effort proposes that other factors within the soft-skill category predict turnover rates. A pilot Internet survey among workers in a franchise company of a national quick service restaurant chain was conducted using measures of emotional intelligence (EI), self-perception, operations performance, self-expression, interpersonal skills, stress management, happiness, and goodness-of-fit (GOF) among the EI sub-scales. Based on the results of a stepwise regression, two measures predicted turnover rate: operations performance and self-perception.