Table of contents
There’s been a bump in employment this year, according to the New York Department of Labor, meaning that a lot of New York City business owners are in the middle of building teams and investing in growth. And data from the NYC Independent Budget Office shows the majority (88%) of local businesses have fewer than 20 employees, so high turnover and employee burnout can really make or break them.
What keeps employees around? Having a sense of community, growth opportunities, and, research shows the right tools makes all the difference. Alex McCrery, co-founder of Tilit NYC, a hospitality workwear brand in Manhattan, agrees. “When employees feel good and feel supported at work, they’ll be more productive, friendlier, more outgoing with other team members, and with your customers,” he said. “Your guests will feel their energy.”
You get what you put into the business. Peter Phillips, co-founder of Chip City, a dessert shop with 48 locations that started in Queens, emphasizes that hiring people who take on a sense of ownership is key. “The mentality of somebody who has ownership in a company is always going to differ from that of an employee. And that’s been the model that we followed to make sure that we have the right people in the right places to ensure continued success and growth.”
New York’s entrepreneurs are as creative as they come. Here’s how they’re nurturing staff to benefit their workers, customers, and, ultimately, their bottom line.
Show you care on a personal and community level
Attract and keep the best people by instilling pride. That means providing the simple things, like a respectable uniform, and the more tangible things, like genuinely giving back to the communities your people come from and serve.
Before founding Tilit NYC, Alex McCrery worked as a chef and saw that a lot of restaurants weren’t paying close attention to the well-being of their servers and chefs, down to the uniforms they wore. He said thinking about the details, including how staff members present themselves, is an opportunity to show that you support them and care about how they feel, on and off the clock.
“Taking care of your team starts with basics like fair pay, benefits, and treating employees with respect. But even seemingly little details go into how your employees feel,” McCrery said. “One way to show your team you care? Make sure they look fantastic and feel comfortable.”
Uniforms also foster a sense of unity and belonging. “I think about it like a professional versus an amateur sports team; a group playing pickup basketball isn’t going to work together the same way as a team with their own uniforms; it just isn’t the same,” he said.
A sense of belonging can also come from a shared mission. For Black Seed Bagels, committing to a community-minded mission has helped. Every night, they donate surplus bagels to City Harvest. “When you have 10 stores, you have a lot of leftovers,” said owner Matt Kleigman. “We live in a city where there’s a lot of food insecurity, and bagels, unfortunately, are generally sold over one day, even though they can be eaten for many days. We made a pledge internally not to throw a single unsold bagel out.”
Invest in career development
Treat your staff like they’re here to stay. Providing development opportunities allows workers to learn on the job, which makes them more confident in their tasks and gives them a place to plant roots. Even here in New York City, where there’s always somewhere new opening, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development, according to LinkedIn.
At Charles Pan-Fried Chicken in Harlem, COO Quie Slobert not only hires within the community but also trains and prepares staff members to eventually run their own restaurants. “They’re getting paid to learn what I learned,” Slobert said. “Anyone who works for Charles Pan-Fried Chicken would know how to open a restaurant in New York City in less than a year. Instead of paying to learn it, they’re getting paid to do it. All the red tape, all the plumbing, electricity, how to bill, what tools to use — everything.”
Slobert, whose kitchen cooks what is widely regarded the best fried chicken in New York City, says it’s how he came up at the company and wants to pay it forward by doing the same for his staffers. Seeing Chef Charles Gabriel cook was life-changing, he said.
“Charles saved me without knowing he saved me,” Slobert said. “So imagine who we’re going to save next. When you see a Charles Pan-Fried Chicken, you’re going to see a ‘Cooking with Shirley’s Son.’ You’re going to see a neighborhood where [kids] come through and learn how to do things. A place where they can go and get off the streets.”
Make sure everything at work, works
Every job is easier with the right tool, and when things are smoother for your employees, they’re smoother for your customers, too.
Over at Chip City, in-store kiosks allow customers to peruse the menu more easily and check out seamlessly with Square Register. Peter Phillips said this has increased sales and created stronger customer interactions.
He also noted that employees benefit from Square’s tools, like how new team members can onboard quickly. With features that assign certain roles to certain employees, with customizable permissions, it helps ensure workers aren’t overloaded with functions they won’t use and can’t access anything they shouldn’t, avoiding costly mistakes.
“Having a solution that is simple and easy for not only the consumer to use but also for staff to use is very important because no matter how good of a company you run, you’re not going to keep people forever,” Phillips said. “And as staff turns over, you want to try to limit the amount of time it takes them to understand the technologies they have to work with because that is going to impact customer experience.”
New York City businesses have a lot to contend with, from lengthy permitting processes to increasing costs. Having a team owners can rely on is a key step toward success. When team members feel supported with seamless technology, the opportunity to learn new skills, and a sense of community, business owners can foster loyalty, cut down on turnover, and acquire top talent.
In New York, there are a lot of places to work, and a lot of places for customers to spend their money. But when employees are happy, customers take notice, and that impact can be felt through the community.
