Incentive programs and labor turnover in hospital foodservice

The foodservice industry is well-known for high labor turnover rates. Effective retention strategies are of great interest to foodservice management administrators. Research in the business industry suggests using incentive programs to reward employees may improve performance. The purpose of this study was to determine types of monetary and non-monetary employee incentive programs offered in hospital foodservice operations and their effect on labor turnover rate of full-time and part-time foodservice workers. An online survey tool was used to obtain information on incentives offered, reward criteria and staffing from hospital foodservice managers or directors. Fifty-one completed questionnaires were analyzed. Correlation t-tests revealed no significant difference in labor turnover rate between operations offering non-monetary incentives and those offering monetary incentives. Study results suggest that incentive programs have little effect on labor turnover rate in foodservice operations.