Dick Finnegan Featured in Total Food Service Magazine

total food service july issue

Why F&B/Hospitality CEOs Say Employee Turnover Is Their Top Business Issue... and How to Fix It

The Midtown Manhattan headquarter s of Marsh & McLennan served as the backdrop for a most infor­mative session last month.
     “Why Food & Beverage/ Hospital­ity CEOs Say Employee Turnover is One of Their Top Business Chal­lenges…and How to Fix It,” was the title of the event that brought some most innovative industry minds to explore solutions.
     “We continue to hear from our
customer base just how challenging turnover is for them and we wanted to do something proactively to as­sist them ,” noted Richard Hartman. The energetic Hartman who hosted the event serves as a Food & Bever­ age/ Hospitali ty Industry Leader for the Marsh & McLennan Agency.
     The event featured an eye-open­ing discussion with leaders in the industry on a continued threat to the operational risk that face the restaurant and hospitality operator. The keynoter was Dick Finnegan, Speaker, Author, and CEO of C­ Suite Analytics and The Finnegan Institute.
     The Florida based expert brought
a fresh new approach to the problem: “If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers.” Executives and often HR think they can solve turnover and disengagement with programs. However, programs cannot overcome a non­ trusted boss. When’s the last time

you heard a really good worker say, “My boss treats me like dirt but I am holding on for Employee Appreciation Week”? It just doesn’t happen.
     Finnegan shared his unique strat­egy in which direct supervisors conduct “stay interviews” on a one­-on-one basis. The goal is to con­nect with employees and to learn why they stay in addition to what that supervisor can do to keep that employee longer and to engage him or her better. This sounds too old­ fashioned , too non-electronic to work, but our research says it cuts turnover by up to 70% and signifi­cantly cures disengagement.
     The session also included presentations by Marcum’s National Food and Beverage leader Lou Biscotti and Paylocity’s Brian Krejci. The in­dustry veteran Biscotti who recently moved to Marcum talked about his deep roots in the food industry and how they can help the restaurant and hospitality professional stay focused on management at­tracting and keeping talented team member s. Marcum supports their customer s with a comprehensive portfolio of tax, accounting and consulting services that are la­ser focused on our industry. Krejci outlined how the selection of the right Payroll firm can be crucial in keeping people motivated. He lent insight into the importance of an operator having a resource that has the industry specific knowledge re-

dick finnegan with hmg team

lawrence cavitt and richard harman

quired by a restaurant or hospitality professional. Hartman also took a creative approach with a presen­tation by Caity Moseman Wadler of Heritage Radio Network. She spoke about the value of creating a brand people want to build their careers with through the creation of podcasts.
Once again, Hartman’s creativ­- ity created a successful event with a number of takeaways for seminar attendees.

dick finnegan with hmg team lawrence cavitt and richard harman lawrence cavitt and richard harman
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