I’ve been thinking about the word ‘coping’ recently. It is a word I dislike because it is used far too often, without thinking about its actual implications. Whenever I have watched service in my own restaurants at times when we’ve been short staffed, I always hear ‘we coped’.
What the team mean when they say this is: we didn’t have any serious complaints; none of the staff walked out; we didn’t get asked to take money off bills. We survived a struggle.
So, if we’re only ever coping, we’re lowering the standard of our businesses. Everyone knows that as industry we have, and continue to, overcome cost pressures and labour shortages, amongst other struggles. And yes, perhaps just getting by means we are faring better than others. But, when staff say, ‘we coped’, what they are really saying is: guests were ignored at times; bills went down too late; service was very slow; our starter and dessert penetration dropped; we didn’t offer second drinks; we stopped looking at the guest in case they wanted something; tips dropped but not too badly; the customer might think twice about coming back next time. Our staff didn’t feel great about their shift, and didn’t feel that, as a company, we care about service or how their shift goes, because otherwise, we would have put more staff on. So yes, maybe they did ‘cope’, but without customers or staff, you won’t be in business much longer.
What we should be doing is solving the problem. We all love giving guests a brilliant time and feel great when they leave with a smile and a compliment. So why don’t we make the changes that can ensure all of this happens? Which of course, means rotaing the right number of staff at the right times, ensuring service standards are never compromised, and then identify areas improvement and strategies to improve productivity, whether that be through the help of consultants, or within the team.
There are many questions we could ask as to why we aren’t matching deployment levels to demand. Is it because staff don’t want to work then? Is it because we have run out of budget? Is it because we have got into the habit of only putting a certain number of people on because we believe that coping is good enough? Is it because we just haven’t got the part-time staff? Is it because we have allocated staff at a different time of the week? All of these questions require us to look into our labour habits and then find a way to manage them across the business so that we can be our best in every shift.
I wouldn’t have written this article if I didn’t think that the word coping has created a lens through which we excuse ourselves for poor service. As the owner of a labour tool which constantly highlights the need for more staff when we are busy, I am constantly surprised by the number of sessions which are planned to be short-staffed.
I am reminded of when I used to be involved in the Trout in Oxford, the beautiful pub on the river made famous by Inspector Morse. Whenever there was a sunny day people flocked to the pub, only to be disappointed by the service and then not to return until the next sunny day. If you are not careful you end up in the very vicious circle of being busier in the quieter sessions, because your reputation during peak trading times is not quite good enough.
So, the next time you hear the word cope, please do explore it a bit more.
