You have finally invested in a cloud POS system, hoping to streamline your restaurant operations and boost efficiency. But, now, you’re wondering — what about your employees? Are they equipped with the proper POS system training to leverage it successfully?
Most of your staff have been in the industry since the time when orders were taken on a notepad. Hence, they are apprehensive about this new change, not everyone is tech savvy and they are not very eager to learn either. Without an effective training plan, your costly new system may sit idle or worse — get used improperly. So where do you start?
To overcome this challenge, you can incentivize them. By promising your staff to reward them for their effort, you guarantee they put in the effort to learn and perform exceptionally. This is just one way you can ensure the success of your POS system. Read along as we discuss a five-step guide that will help you create the perfect POS training for restaurant staff.
Steps to Prepare Your Staff for an Easy POS System Training
Customer satisfaction is directly related to employee training — the more trained your employees are, the better service they will provide, which will increase customer satisfaction. The best way to accomplish this is by creating an effective POS training process for your team and new employees.
To start with, here are five steps that will help you create basic POS training for restaurant staff to enhance their performance:
1. Set a Conducive Learning Environment
Before starting your training program, you must ensure all your staff has access to essential resources. These can include:
- POS training manuals
- A quick guidebook
- Guest lectures
- A fully functional POS system
While gathering these resources, keep in mind the diverse learning styles of your staff. For example, some employees may better understand colorful diagrams and flowcharts, whereas others might thrive on explicit instructions.
Also, to ensure the training process is healthy, promote a culture of open communication. This will help your employees feel comfortable asking questions and making mistakes without fear of judgment.
2. Structuring the Training Program
After you’ve all the resources and have identified the best way to train your staff, it is time to make a training plan.
Start by developing a clear timeline and breaking down the training into manageable modules – begin with fundamental functionalities and gradually introduce advanced features. You can also set tests and quizzes at the end of each module to track progress and keep your staff motivated.
Also, create specialized courses for your employees based on their expertise. For example, the servers will require a comprehensive understanding of order-taking and payment processing. At the same time, managers might benefit from in-depth inventory management and reporting knowledge.
3. Apply Effective Training Techniques
Hands-on learning is undoubtedly the finest way to learn because it allows your employees to interact with you while using the equipment. For example, you can role-play as a guest and ask your employee to take orders and process transactions on the POS system. This allows the employee to obtain immediate feedback on whether they are using the POS correctly and what they should change.
Simulated drills are another approach to adding skill development into your POS training program. POS training simulators allow staff to put what they’ve learned into practice without disrupting normal corporate operations. You may, for example, mimic a lunch or dinner rush to help employees feel comfortable handling numerous jobs at once.
4. Evaluate Training Effectiveness
Simply teaching your staff isn’t enough. Assess the efficiency of their training program in terms of learning outcomes and business objectives. Ensure your training program meets its goals and increases your company’s performance.
This will also help you identify the strengths and limitations of the program, allowing you to make necessary modifications.
You can measure and analyze the outcomes of your training program using:
- Surveys and questionnaires
- Tests and evaluations
- Reports and analytics
Apart from these forms, you can also set key performance indicators (KPIs) such as speed and accuracy of transactions, customer satisfaction ratings, and error rates.
Tracking and measuring these metrics against your pre-training data will help you evaluate the impact of your efforts.
5. Reward the Natural Leaders
Only some employees will welcome change. To get employees to use the new POS quickly, you can incentivize them to learn how it works and its features. For example, you can hold a competition to see how many servers can upsell items, such as convincing customers to add extra toppings.
You can then recognize staff members embracing the new POS in public and award the winners a prize for their POS abilities. This competition will also help your staff get used to your POS’s advanced features and remind them that they can use this tool for other service tasks, like serving dessert with coffee.
Dealing with Common Training Challenges
While these steps will help you create basic POS training for restaurant staff, some challenges can arise, such as staff’s unwillingness to learn or technical difficulties. Here are some tips to help you navigate those challenges with ease:
- Overcome Staff Resistance: To convince your employees to adapt to new technology, you need to start by highlighting how it will simplify tasks and improve their efficiency. Get your staff involved by asking for their feedback and incorporating their suggestions. You can also gamify the process for them by offering rewards to the top employees who dial in the most orders on the POS system.
- Address Common Performance Issues: Some employees might need help to meet performance expectations even after training. So, you need to identify the problem—a lack of understanding or insufficient practice—and then offer a one-on-one personalized training process.
- Leverage Technology and Online Academics: If you don’t have the time or expertise to train your employees on new technology, you can invest in online learning, such as Restroworks Academy, to do it for you. These online learning programs offer in-depth training and guidance to your personnel with lifetime access and provide credentials based on their performance.
Wrapping Up
Your employees must understand how to use your POS system for your company to remain operational and satisfy your customers. For this, you should have a training strategy describing how they will operate a POS system, including troubleshooting.
Similarly, providing practical training and hands-on experience to your staff in smaller sessions will increase their confidence and enhance the consumer experience at the point of sale. You can also follow the steps mentioned above to ensure that your employees have a positive first encounter with the POS system.
You can also try Restroworks Academy, which will help you and your staff upskill and reskill. With Restroworks, you get POS training online with lifetime access — learn at your own pace without rushing through the lectures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top three features to look for in a POS system?
Three features that will help you decide on a POS software for your restaurant are:
- Integration with other restaurant management software
- Types of payment methods
- Compliance and security
How long should POS system training typically take?
Generally, 40 hours is a good time for your employees to understand how to use POS software. This might change depending on the size of your restaurant and the complexity of your POS system.
What are some common mistakes to avoid during POS training?
Some of the most common mistakes that you should avoid when POS training your employees are:
- Not clearly defining your training goals and objectives
- Not providing enough time for training.
- Not providing adequate resources.
- Not focusing enough on practical usage.
- Not measuring the effectiveness of your training.
