| A single fast food restaurant in the United States may absorb employee turnover as high as 200%, in a given year. Between 2010 and 2016 the turnover rated grew by 16.3% across the industry, capping at 72.9% in 2016. The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to investigate the role managers and supervisors have in employee retention in the U.S. fast food industry. This study consisted of one focus group, 11 face-to-face interviews, and one pilot interview of current fast food employees in the state of Georgia. The population for this study was crewmembers, supervisors, and managers at the store level. The specific problem was whether or not managers lacked a strategy to address employee retention. The primary focus was on the retention aspect of turnover in the fast food industry. The following questions were proposed to guide the study: Research Question 1( RQ 1). How are managers' strategies viewed by employees in the fast food industry when used to retain employees and why? Research Question 2 (RQ 2). How do employees view strategies implemented by managers that affect turnover in fast food restaurants? The findings of this study provided fast food restaurants with qualitative data that can be used to increase employee retention. Although, some fast food restaurants currently have retention programs in place this study revealed that the programs in place are not always what entices employees to stay. Three areas related to employee retention/turnover in fast food restaurants materialized during the face-to-face interviews and focus group: lack of respect, pay was not the number one concern of participants, and evaluation reports. This study further confirmed that employees would like to be trained for higher positions and given more responsibility; unfortunately, the participants did not find the current training systems as adequate. |
