How-To-Yelli: Creating Training Schedules
In this article: How to use Yelli to create custom training schedules for new hires to follow during on-the-job training.
We know that training restaurant staff can be a challenge. Train them consistently? In an organized manner? Well, that’s a whole other can of worms.
Working in hospitality means adapting to the fast-paced environment and sometimes chaotic elements that go with it. Typically, training a new employee takes on some of this culture, meaning there is a lack of organization and consistency from one employee to the next.
Maybe this sounds familiar: A new server has been training for 5 days, and tonight is her first shift alone. At the end of the night, she is assigned to the “refills” sidework. She comes to you and says “hey, no one ever showed me how to do the refills sidework.” So now you or someone else on the team has to take the time to show her, even though this should have been covered in her training.
What if you could make sure that every position in your venue - servers, hosts, bartenders, bussers - all completed the exact same training? Not only would it give you and your managers peace of mind, but it would also make you look REALLY good to your new employees. A restaurant that’s organized and has their s**t together? Most of us have never heard of her.
Related: Investing in Your Best Assets: How Training and Organization Improve the Employee Experience
Let’s take a look at what it takes to create streamlined training schedules, and how you can use Yelli to execute and track training progress within your organization.
Step 1: Get clear about your training objectives and expectations
Before you can even begin to think about getting your team to train the way you want them to, you have to get clear yourself about the nuts and bolts of the whole operation.
Start simple - with a notebook and pen or blank word document.
First, outline every job role in your venue. Hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers, line cooks, etc. For each job role, you want to create a training program for every person joining your team in that role to follow. Start by deciding how many days of training you want them to complete, and then you can begin listing the actual learning objectives for each day.
Related: Building An Effective Training Program For New Restaurant Employees
Take your time with this. Maybe even delegate some of this process to your other managers, or team supervisors. If you don’t already have clear training objectives outlined, keep in mind that the best person to create this material is typically whoever the top person in the position is! Talk to your lead server, or best bartender and have them help you create a great training program for their department.
Once you have organized your training objectives and expectations for each role, it’s time to build them in Yelli.
Step 2: Build training schedules in Yelli
Now for the fun part!
Yelli is a modern restaurant training platform that allows you to create training schedules for every job role. To get started, log in to your Yelli account, or sign up here if you haven’t already.
Once logged in to your manager dashboard, you are going to select the Roster tab. Make sure that you have created all of the job roles that your restaurant needs.
Next, you will go back to the home screen and select the Train tab. All of the job roles listed on your roster will populate here! Select the role that you want to create a training schedule for, and then add as many days as you need.
Under each day, outline the specific tasks you want them to complete that day. This might be reviewing information, watching a video, taking a test, or tasting food. You can add as many tasks to each day as you need.
It’s as simple as that! Make sure you save any changes, and then your new training schedules are ready to go.
Step 3: Onboard your team and track progress
Once your training schedules are ready to go, it’s time to onboard your team.
To do this, you will go back to your manager dashboard and click the Roster tab again. At the bottom of the page you will see “Add New Employee.” Enter the employee’s information, click Invite, and they will be sent an email with an activation link.
Once they have logged in, they will be able to access their assigned training schedule by clicking the Train tab on their dashboard. Based on their assigned job role, their training is automatically assigned to them. They can complete training days by checking off individual tasks as they complete them.
Managers can track employee training status via the Roster page, where they can view individual employee profiles and see which days and tasks have been completed.
Extra Tip!
If you ever want to add training items for your team to complete, simply add them to the training schedule and everyone who is assigned that job role will be able to complete them.
Conclusion
Training team members in any industry is no small task. In fact, most people will say that hiring and training new talent is the #1 hardest part of running a successful business. However it is also the #1 most important thing you have to do to be successful!
Your team is your business. Without them you can’t do what you do. Creating clear, organized training and executing it efficiently is just one of the puzzle pieces here, but it is an important one.
Related: Organization: The Key To Restaurant Success That Most Overlook
Remember, just as much as your new employee wants to make a good first impression on you, you want your restaurant to make a good first impression on them. Use Yelli to build a great training program customized to your restaurant, and then watch your team soar to the next level of hospitality excellence.
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