4 Plan for Continual Engagement and Progress Checks

A strong culture of food safety is a constant work in progress. The process is not a straight line with a finish nor end, but rather a cycle that is assessed, revised, adapted, and constantly maintained.   Companies should develop a plan of continued engagement and conduct periodic assessment for effectiveness. The focus areas should include:

1. Systems. Do the processes and procedures for both the front and back of the house include written food safety culture language that encourages positive behavior? How often are the processes and procedures reviewed? Is there employee input into the writing and designing of the materials?
2. • This would include HACCP recipes, temp logs, daily control sheets, purchase orders, inventory sheets, guest checks or Point of Sales terminals, etc.

Without having the proper procedures in place in the front and back of house leaves the employees making up their own procedures and feeling very resentful of management for not not providing direction. In addition, inconsistencies of products and services leaves the guest never knowing what to expect. No established standards leaves employees complacent and angry, the guest unsatisfied and confused and ultimately moral is low and profits suffer.

2. Employees Training. Is employee training and evaluating based on the established standards? Is the best training available so that the employee can recognize potential food safety issues and present them in such a way that fosters a positive food safety attitude? Is there accommodation for a variety of learning styles? Do the employees feel comfortable bringing concerns about food safety, processes, or procedures to management? Are employee check – ins done with a variety of employee levels?

Employees carry the culture of the organization from paper to execution in their every day actions both within the organization and in public. When employees engage in a culture they believe in, morale goes up, productivity and customer service goes up and ultimately they will perform their best at every opportunity.

When employees are not given proper training and left to figure it out themselves through fellow employees, bad habits, behaviors and attitudes are shared and the negative culture perpetuates.

3. Tools. Do employees have the tools they need to perform their job according to the established standard? Are they being properly trained on those tools?

When employees do not have the tools they need to execute their daily jobs it has a negative impact on their behavior, attitude and morale. As stated earlier, when talking about Systems, when they are unhappy and become complacent values suffer and inconsistencies happen.

4. Employee Assessment, Formal. Is a schedule published for ongoing assessments, information sharing, and retraining between all levels of employees? Is this schedule manageable within the context of a normal business day? Is the schedule sustainable for employees over the long term?

No one likes a surprise assessment, as it takes time away from their duties. With a published schedule of assessment, employees are ready for it and they are more likely to be aware of small negative behaviors that allow small problems to stay small as they can be addressed right away.

5. Employee Assessment, Informal. When and how often is management checking in with employees on an informal basis? Does the Compliance Manager and other managers have an “open door policy” whereby employees can just stop in and share ideas or questions throughout the business day? Is there time set aside for an employee round table for sharing of information? Do the management check – ins foster a positive food safety culture or do employees feel compelled to have something to talk about?

Much like for the formal food safety culture assessment, employees like to be involved in positive change. Employees like to feel they are valued and that their opinion counts. When management has an “open door” policy and employees feel like they can share their thoughts it leads to increased morale on the part of the employee and they are more apt to have more pride in the job they do. Which in turn creates a positive culture within the operation.

6. Messaging. Is there adequate messaging posted throughout the operation that reinforces food safety and a positive food safety culture? Is the internal messaging helpful? Does the messaging speak to the different levels of employee from line level to upper management and owners?

Every written piece of material an operation generates a message to either employees, suppliers or the general public. This messaging can be internal pieces such as the menu, employee schedule, organizational chart, recipes, etc. It also includes messaging that is sent out externally such as social media posts, customer reviews on public sites, emails, commercials, print ads, etc. It is important that messaging generated by either management but also employees be consistent in tone no matter what the guest posts, the operation needs to stay positive.

In addition, it should become part of the food safety culture to train employees that their social media can also have a negative impact on the culture of the operation. While it will be difficult to implement any consequences, employees need to understand that as an employee of the operation they represent the operation in everything they do.