How to become an HR pro while in QSR Ops

QSR operations requires fractured thinking. One moment, you are handling ordering for the restaurant, and the next moment you are handling employee discipline. You have to familiarize yourself with a lot of concepts and wear many hats. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to become great at HR when your time is spent in many different business areas.

Today, we will break down seven simple things you can do to learn HR skills (even when you're in operations!)

1. Implement human resources best practices

One of the first things you can do to become an HR pro is implementing human resources best practices. HR is constantly changing, but a few ideas have stood out that make businesses better:

• Having annual reviews to keep employees up to date on their progress and the skills they need to succeed.
• Using rubrics to hire the best employees so that you can avoid potential bias at work.
• Conducting quarterly employee satisfaction surveys so you can keep track of employee burnout or dissatisfaction. 
• Performing compensation and benefits reviews consistently, so you are keeping in line with the competition in your area.
• Reviewing and updating employee manuals regularly to ensure your employees have the latest copy of your rules.

2. Create standard operating procedures for HR

If you’ve been in operations for a while, you probably have created checklists for almost every aspect of your store. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) help you manage the restaurant and delegate tasks when you can’t be present.

Besides delegation, SOPs help you build confidence in your work in HR. Writing down all the steps you need to take for tasks like writing a job description or doing an annual review will save you a ton of time, especially if you don’t do a task often. It can be deflating to return to a task only to realize you forgot how to do something.

Create a list of all the HR tasks you do, and start putting together documents of the steps you take the next time you have to do it. You’ll be surprised how much time you save by taking these simple steps.

3. Become a forward thinker

Human resources requires forward-thinking. Employees in the QSR industry are leaving or moving on to new restaurants rapidly. To keep talented employees, you have to see the bigger picture and set up a restaurant that can retain employees and grow year after year.

Take your time to work on your business and be proactive instead of reacting to things as they come to you. The best HR pros are thinking about what they can do to sustain and grow in 2022 and beyond.

4. Get an HR certification

If you are not fully educated in human resources, you can study and become HR certified. There are many certifications you can get from SHRM and HRCI. You can take these tests even if you don’t have a college or post-graduate degree in HR.

Taking these certifications is a time-consumptive process, but studying helps you understand more about HR processes.

Your company’s headquarters or franchise owners might help you with the process of being certified since getting one would help them too. If you are interested in learning more about human resources, it’s crucial to have a conversation with your organization's leaders. Let them know that you want to take a more active role in your company’s HR decisions. From there, you can pick the best certification for your knowledge level and create a study schedule or take classes to help you pass the test.

5. Learn alongside other HR professionals

Before getting certified, you can still connect and learn from other HR professionals. Taking what you learn and translating it into your own organization will help you bring fresh ideas to work.

Here are a few ways to learn with other HR pros:

• Connect with other operations professionals at area businesses to learn more about how they deal with HR.
• Find a local chapter of SHRM to join and attend meetings.
• Use LinkedIn and other networks to find and chat with HR professionals in the field.
• Read blogs (like the Workstream blog) to learn more tips for the HR industry.

6. Track and use HR metrics

If you want to build your HR skills, try tracking and using HR metrics. It’s essential to get a pulse on your restaurant's cost per hire or retention rates. The easiest way to do that is to understand what goes into these metrics so you can track where things are and make decisions based on data.

Reporting these metrics to your managers and acting on the insights you get will help you be seen as an authority at work. By taking 30 minutes each week to keep track of your company, you can save the organization money and step up your status as an HR professional.

7. Hire an HR consultant

Last, if your company needs help with HR, hire an HR consultant. Working with a consultant can give you all the information you need to know:

• Where your company is.
• How to make it better.
• How to maintain that status once the consultant leaves.

HR consultants are not cheap, but spending a week with someone who understands HR and how to make your life easier is worth the money.

Before you hire a consultant, think about the areas of your business you want to focus on. For example, you might want help with hiring, firing, retention, benefits or any number of items. Find a consultant who can help you address these issues and take ample notes while they are at your restaurant.

With the help of one consultant, you can transform the way HR works at your restaurant.

Take your time to become an HR pro

Becoming better at human resources takes a lot of dedication. By using the seven strategies covered in this article, you should be able to go from operations to HR (or just beef up your HR process) without stressing out.

Human resources is an essential function of running a business. The best QSR operations managers understand the value of implementing HR best practices and thinking ahead. Now, it’s time to make sure that everyone is on the same page about you stepping up and leading your team to a solid HR strategy.