Understanding the rules and regulations before hiring employees is vital to ensure that you do not place yourself in a precarious position. Employees are the face of your F&B business as they are how customers view your “brand” as a whole. As such, investing time and effort in your hiring process can bring your F&B business to greater heights and minimize staffing issues.
Here’s an overview of the rules and regulations:
Legal Age restrictions for:
SG/PR’s: 17 years old
Foreign workers: 18 years old
Working hours:
All FT/PT can only work for 6 days a week, not more than 44 hours per week
Validity of employment passes for foreign workers:
1-2 years, A levy will be charged on employees for S and work permit employees
To find out more, you can read it here.
Steps to Find Great Employees for Your F&B Business
1. Job Postings
There are various ways for employers to find their potential employees. Before advertising on job posting platforms, employers should draft out and create an employee profile to determine the types of employees you want to hire.
The employee profile should consist of:
Experience needed to fulfill the requirements of the job
E,g. Managers, Chef roles - Proven F&B management experience through certificates or through past experienceTraits required for the role
When hiring front of house employees, it is important to look for the one that has great soft skills and attitude. Front-of- house also refers to staff that represents the “Face” of the company and they perform Managerial , Bartending, Waiters/Waitressing, Cashiering roles.
E.g. A Manager role - Patience, Ability to hide their moods, Teamwork, Good Communication skills, Able to resolve problems efficiently.
Click here to find out on the skills framework for front of house staffWhen hiring Back-of-house employees, it is important to look for people with BOTH soft and hard skills. Back-of-house refers to staff who work in the kitchen and normally, customers do not see them. Such roles include Cook, Commis Chef, Dishwasher, and etc. roles. Soft skills here refers to teamwork and communication skills, while hard skills refer to the relevant cooking and baking skills.
E.g. For a Chef role - Creativity, Attentive to details, Organizational skills, Able to work for long hours
Click here to find out on the skills framework for back of house staffCore values of the employee - If core values of the applicant coincides with the F&B business, chances are that the person will be willing do their best for the business
After identifying the criteria of your future employee, you can now work on creating job postings.
Once job postings are completed, Employers/ Managers can use these job posting platforms to find employees::
Gumtree
JobCentral
JobStreet
Monster
YY Part Time Job
Facebook (on your Business page)
Telegram (@sgcareers, @singaporeparttimejobs, @sgjobsspace_hotelfnb, @sgparttimers, @sgquickjobs)
Other than the platforms listed above, employers can use social media (Facebook and Instagram) to source for their potential employees.
For example, Most of the Stickies Bar staff are youths and young adults. As such, to gather their applicants for hire, they have opted for social media as a platform. Such platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Telegram which are popular among many young adults.
Referred candidates usually turn out to be more reliable – so you should consider referrals from friends, family, and colleagues.
2. Conducting Interviews
Moving onto the next step which is to select the right person for the job. Book an appointment date and arrange a meeting to speak to the selected ones.
This can be done at the F&B outlet or through an online platform such as Zoom/Skype. During the interview, it is important to tell the prospect hire of the company culture - How does the company function, the goals and mission of the company etc. This would provide an overview for the applicant to know what they are getting themselves into which can help in deciding whether their goals align with the company.
Questions Employers can ask when hiring
When hiring managers, Employers can ask questions such as:
Have you participated in opening a new restaurant, and if yes, what was your role?
How would you handle a dissatisfied customer?
How do you balance quality and minimize costs for the restaurant?
Tell me a time where you had to deal with a stressful situation and how did you overcome it?
Hiring a pastry chef, Employers can ask questions such as:
“ What are your past experiences as a pastry chef?”
“ Why do you want to work for Rad Bakery as a pastry chef?”
“ What are your expectations that you set for yourself?”
Employers may also request chefs to demonstrate their cooking skills which allow employers to observe the way they work and then taste the food that they prepared to determine if he/she hits the mark.
Through evaluating their previous experience, body language, and responses from the candidate, employers can determine if the person is suitable for the job. Besides that, it is important to note that employing based on skills is as important as having the right attitude, the willingness to learn and taking up new challenges.
3. Hiring of employees and Signing of Contract
After selecting the right person for the job, invite them to the F&B outlet and speak to them.
To avoid miscommunications from occurring, Employers must clearly state:
The Job Responsibilities, Dress Code, Vacation, Annual Leaves, and Remuneration
The starting date for the employee
Benefits agreed upon the employer (Health insurance, free staff meals)
Beyond technicalities, Employers can speak to the new hire on the company rules, hygiene rules, expectations they have for them and how the new hire’s work will be valued and how it can contribute to the team.
Signing of Employment Contract
Once the new hire agrees to accept the job, Employers MUST provide a contract for the employee to sign. To prevent misunderstandings from occurring, the signing of a contract must be done in person and NOT through an online platform.
The contract of employment must mention:
Appointment position
Working schedule
Probation clause
Job responsibilities
Remuneration package
Employee benefits
Code of conduct
Termination
*To read more about what goes into a written contract, click here
Once the contract is signed, Employers can welcome them onboard with the team and pass the work uniform for the new hire to wear on their first day of work.
You may save this infographic for easy reference:
4. Managing New Hire On-boarding and Team Expectations
New Hire On-boarding
Employers should introduce and provide the new hire an idea of the hierarchy of the team - Managers, Head Chef, Sous Chef etc.
By understanding the hierarchy of the team, it helps the new hire to :
1. Know who they can speak to if they have any questions/ when they encounter problems
2. Be respectful and familiarize themselves with their colleagues - this will be beneficial to the team and the F&B business.
Providing training
Employers may also provide training for the new hire by requesting them to turn up for work an hour earlier on their scheduled working dates to guide him/her on how the operations work in the F&B establishment. Some of such training include counter and table service, kitchen preparations etc.
(E.g. Opening hours of OMONI CAFE : 9 am, staff may be asked to report to work at 8 am to familiarize themselves with its operations and to help out with preparation work)
Employers have to monitor and track the employee’s training to ensure that the employee is benefiting from it and his/her skills has improved.
Managing Existing Team Expectations
Employers should never forget about his/her existing team – give a heads up to your existing team that you are hiring an additional helper to better prepare the team. This would not come off as a shock when the new hire turns up for work.
If the team and the employer has a group chat, he/she should add the new hire into the group chat and facilitate by introducing the new hire’s name, position in the restaurant, and his/her starting date to the team so that they can get familiarized with the new staff easily.
Employers can also allow and encourage their existing staff to voice out to them if there any concerns pertaining to the new hire's work performance, attitude along the way.
“Time well spent is an investment of the present for a practical and abundant future.”
All in all, allocating time and effort in finding the right staff for your F&B Business. It is vital as it not only allows you to increase your business efficiency, productivity, it also helps to retain your existing staff.
This article is written in collaboration with HRMLabs, a HR system for SMEs, that streamlines attendance-taking, shift-scheduling, leave management and more.
Caroline Yap is the editor and intern at iCHEF Singapore. She manages iCHEF Club, a growing community of F&B owners in Singapore – organizing events, an online newsletter and the F&B Entrepreneur Bootcamp, the only regular workshop on opening a new restaurant in the country. In her spare time, she loves drawing, painting and creating new visuals. Her love for Korean food runs deep such that you can spot her at any famous Korean Restaurants in Singapore.
