Before opening his new restaurant, Bob Borich spent two weeks training his personnel. While the money spent on employee salaries and other training costs added substantially to the pre-opening costs, Bob justified the expense by noting the large number of restaurants that failed in their first year because of inadequate service. Bob believed that in the long run, his training costs would be viewed as money well spent.

Six months after opening, Bob experienced a turnover of about 50 percent. As a result, he found himself hiring new employees weekly. Because Bob was busy with the operation of the restaurantparticularly since he had started cooking three shifts a week to ensure food qualityhe turned orientation over to a group of employees who had been with him from the start. He reasoned that since these employees had been through the full training program and had displayed their loyalty, they would provide just the type of orientation that he wouldif he had the time.

Unfortunately, although the new employees seemed perfectly suited for their jobs, turnover increased dramatically. Within three months after starting the orientation program, Bob was experiencing turnover in excess of 100 percent annually. While still below the national average for his industry, Bob was dissatisfied with the high rate of turnover. Sitting down with a cup of coffee, Bob thought over his problem at the end of a particularly frustrating week.

1. What advice would you give Bob Borich?

2. How unique do you believe Bob Borichs current situation is?

3. What parts of orientation should be turned over to employees to conduct?