Who has the worst staff turnover?
Restaurant Employee Turnover by City and State + Retention Playbook
Turnover in restaurants is as high as ever. Labor shortages, health crises, and general economic trends have made it a struggle — and restaurants need help.
But we're at an inflection point in the restaurant industry. It's not enough to just pay more than the restaurant next door. The restaurants that prioritize employee retention above all will come out on top. The restaurants that are able to keep employees around treat the employee experience with as much regard as the customer experience, if not more. They offer work-life balance, flexible schedules, useful benefits, and operate on strong core values.
But before we dive in, let's look at where turnover stands right now—and what's causing it.
Table of Contents
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Restaurant Retention Data Study
- Turnover in the restaurant industry remains high
- Back-of-House and Front-of-House
- What about managers?
- State by State Breakdown
- City by City Breakdown
- Why do employees leave their restaurant jobs?
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Real ways to tackle restaurant retention problems
- Check your culture
- Establish Clear Lines of Communication
- Track and manage employee workload
- Schedule with empathy
- Offer tailored, valuable benefits
Restaurant Retention & Turnover Data Study
Turnover in the restaurant industry remains high
High turnover has long been a core tenet of the hospitality industry.
For restaurant employees added in the past year (August 2021-August 2022), the average employee tenure is just 110 days—a little over three months.
When looking at the data overall, restaurants have an average turnover rate of 45% across the United States. Let's break this down further.
Back-of-House and Front-of-House are an even split
7shifts data shows no large discrepancy between turnover rates in the front- and back-of-house.
Front-of-house positions (including servers, hosts, and bartenders), fare slightly worse than back-of-house positions (including cooks, porters, and dishwashers).
Front of House Positions: 41% turnover rate
Back of House Positions 43% turnover rate
What about managers?
Managers fared a bit better than hourly employees—with a turnover rate of 28%.
State by State Breakdown
While the data didn't vary drastically state-to-state, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Hawai'i fared the best.
On the bottom of the list were New Mexico, North Dakota, and Idaho.
Read the full article here.
