How to create a warm company culture in a hospitality staffing agency?
By: Julia Valler
Tags: Hiring Strategy, Company Culture

How to create a warm company culture in a hospitality staffing agency?

At Julia Valler Staffing, a hospitality staffing NYC based agency, we take company culture very seriously. Our wait staff for hire performs guest-facing responsibilities and always operates under the expectation of being their most courteous and accommodating. Knowing this, we aspire to lead by example and look for opportunities to show every team member that they are supported and appreciated. These are the three principles we rely on:

I. Unity through clearly defined goals

It starts with the onboarding process. As an event staffing agency, we go through a high volume of applicants and new hires. In the busiest seasons, we hold 2 small group interviews per day. Despite the high volume, we do our best to relay to each potential hire our direction, goals, specifics of work, and recommendations on how to succeed and get booked more often. They receive a copy of the Staff Manual with this and other relevant information, as well as instructions on how to reach the office with further questions. Clarity of goals and expectations helps to bring employers and employees on the same page and creates unity from the early days of working together.

II. Consistent communication and feedback

Every event with more than 3 servers or bartenders for hire will have a Team Leader, an experienced team member responsible for the timekeeping and evaluating the success of our work at a particular event. We ensure to make the Team Leader aware if there are any new hires on the team, so they can offer their support and guidance as needed. The evaluations are not limited to the first-timers only but are our routine procedure to keep us on track of delivering excellent service. Most importantly, the team members get to evaluate their Team Leaders as well. Because no matter the role, everyone’s opinion is equally valuable to us, so both sides are given a fair chance to voice it.

In addition to the evaluations, we send out a yearly survey to gather our staff’s opinions, suggestions, and overall satisfaction with their work experience at Julia Valler Staffing. The results are reviewed by our leadership team and in the past have led to innovations such as introducing a new booking app and reconsidering some of the policies based on the feedback we were getting.

III. Building trust and teamwork through socializing

An annual company party is something both our office and hospitality teams are usually looking forward to. It’s a fantastic opportunity to share food, conversations, fun memories of events worked together, play sports, and do other team-building activities. Unlike the office staff, who interacts on a daily basis, our servers, bartenders, and models for hire work various events and sometimes can go weeks without seeing each other. So creating opportunities that bring everyone together become invaluable for cultivating trust and teamwork.

It takes time and other resources to build and maintain a warm and welcoming company culture. But not many companies can afford to save on this. Employee satisfaction is a cornerstone of the success of any business, so set yourself up with a strong foundation.