Employee Relations for Food and Beverage
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
What this looks like in food and beverage
The parts of employee relations that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Relations in Outlets and Kitchens
Where pressure is high and the shift lead decides.
What this coversHide
Relations in Outlets and Kitchens
Where pressure is high and the shift lead decides.
What this coversHideKitchen and outlet environments generate relations issues quickly: pressure, proximity, long shifts and a hierarchy that is usually informal.
- Grievance route independent of the outlet manager and chef
- Conduct standards enforced within kitchens, not tolerated as culture
- Protection of staff from customer behaviour
- Roster, break and section-allocation disputes handled consistently
- Consistency across outlets so precedent does not vary
- Shift lead and outlet manager capability in early handling
- Harassment and bullying concerns routed formally, immediately
- Central record across outlets
Kitchen conduct is the area where businesses most often accept behaviour they would not accept elsewhere. Naming the standard and applying it consistently is the substance of the work.
The general method — what employee relations covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the grievance and disciplinary process page. What is above is the part that differs for food and beverage.
Other HR topics for food and beverage
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for food and beverage, or another industry.