According to a new study for front-line service industry operators, every task is essential, and chaos ensues when they forget something during a shift. The survey of 1,000 service industry employees in the food, beverage and hospitality sectors revealed that an average worker completes 11 tasks at the end of a shift.
Forgetting a task for front-line service industry workers leads to chaos
Usually, early shifts are the busiest, with respondents working in the mornings saying that they complete an average of 23 tasks daily, which is almost twice the overall average. Three-quarters of the employees claim that if they forget some of their tasks, there will be chaos.
Conducted by OnePoll for Wisetail, the study asked participants to look beyond specific tasks to explore behaviours, training and skills needed to perform their jobs successfully. Around 74% of the workers employ various life skills, including critical thinking, multitasking and time management. Also, respondents cited the ability to keep things organized and presentable alongside prioritizing tasks as some of the skills needed.
These skills are very important to workers considering their job is stressful, affecting their work quality. However, respondents indicate that they would work better if employers provided training to workers. As a result of the stressful nature of the job, around 53% of the participants admitted to having missed an important task that ended up creating an unpleasant or dangerous situation at work.
Training can help service industry workers avoid mistakes.
According to respondents, there are several reasons for making mistakes at work, such as malfunctioning equipment (36%), taking other workers’ tasks (38%), and lack of access to proper training (40%). Interestingly, the workers stated that most mistakes are avoidable with appropriate oversight and training. Top consequences of making mistakes include someone getting hurt (57%), breaking work equipment (58%) and getting numerous customer complaints (62%).
Study results reveal that employees frequently receive their initial training via an online platform managed by the employer (44%) or a third party (28%). In total, 61% of employees attend ongoing work training.
