While action does drive satisfaction, there's nothing wrong with having a little fun on the job. Effective games can help your employees improve their performance (and enhance the service levels and sales) in a fun manner. Here's a list of some games people play in the hospitality industry. Thanks to my friends and colleagues at the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (chart) for sharing some of these ideas.
100 CLUB: Employees earn a pin for learning 100 guests' names. Teaches interaction and the importance of learning who pays their check!
"GET TO KNOW ME" BINGO: Pass out bingo cards to your employees with general information about people: clothing, eye color, number of children, first-time guest, etc. As they talk to the guests, they get the square when they find a guest with the item they are looking for. Prizes are awarded for first bingo, completing all squares, etc.
GUESTS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS: Share the funniest thing a guest says on the phone, silliest question, oldest guest, youngest guest, biggest dollar order, etc. Fun way to encourage listening to the guests and sharing the stories with the other employees. Works great for cashiers, drive-thru, and guests calling for delivery/to-go.
TRAINING BINGO: Provide each employee a bingo card with specific items to sell or make or even skills to demonstrate to you. As they complete each item, they get the square. Focus is on refreshing skills they may have forgotten.
V.I.G. CARDS: Pass out cards or coupons to all employees and have them distribute them to friends, neighbors, offices...anywhere outside of your parking lot. Everyone is a salesperson. The employee earns points for each one redeemed. They can save the points for prizes and you can have larger prizes for the top salespeople.
CLOSEST TO THE PIN: You can do this prediction game for a variety of functions. For cashiers, it can be over/short, how many of a specific item they will sell, or total sales for the day. In the back of the house, it can be for guessing total food waste, number of remakes, busiest product hour, or ideal food cost versus theoretical.
FIND THE DOT, CLEAN THE SPOT: Place date labels around those hard-to-clean places, including under the dish machine, behind equipment, under stacks of cups or boxes-basically, any place you need clean. The employees find the dots, clean the spots, and earn points/prizes. You get a sparkling restaurant and help open the eyes of the team.
COOK TIME/QUALITY: Have a specified number of points, lottery tickets, or tickets for a drawing available to the kitchen staff for the shift. Every time a product goes over the specified time or doesn't meet standards, points are deducted or tickets lost. Staff divides up whatever remains at the end. Peer pressure is more effective than management pressure, and it promotes teamwork and quality.
Allowing your employees to earn points or "company bucks" encourages them to save for larger items-and stay with you longer-and ensures that the folks driving your business earn rewards. The employees can choose prizes from a list or catalog, or you can have a points auction to have them bid on items donated from vendors or that you've purchased from local merchants. Some of the most effective rewards are:
GET-OUT-OF-SIDE-WORK CARDS: Everyone loves getting out of side work! MANAGER CLOSES FOR YOU: Manager does the employee's closing duties for the night (and gets checked out by the employee). Walk a mile in my shoes! Who learns more in this example? GET-OUT-OF-WORK-EARLY CARD: They can redeem points for an extra 15/30 minutes added on to a break or to come in late/leave early, with prior approval. MAKE YOUR OWN SCHEDULE FOR A WEEK: They get to write their own schedule for one week. It doesn't cost you anything, but it's worth plenty to them. GIFT CARDS: Trade-out with your neighboring businesses or purchase gift cards that can be used for phone calls, gas, video rental, coffee, or movie theaters. OTHER STUFF: Other effective rewards include electronics, CDs, DVDs, uniform parts, certificates for a car wash, or gift certificates from giftcertificates.com (where employees can choose from over 700 different gift certificates so you don't have to worry about what to buy).
Just remember: "Mandatory recognition is not recognition." How you present the award is as important as what you are presenting. The games are meant to help you begin to recognize and reward your staff. If you or your managers are doing this just because you have to, don't even bother doing it at all.
Your competition will!
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