How UConn’s foodservice holds turnover at 6%

When it comes to keeping employees long-term, it’s about more than just telling your team the plays before the game, according to Dennis Pierce, executive director of dining services at the University of Connecticut, better known to sports fans as UConn. He should know, as his turnover rate was 6 percent last year. Here are three tips that Pierce says are a part of the recipe for high retention.

1. Invest in benefits that set your jobs apart

UConn’s candidate pool is limited since it isn’t located near any big cities. Due to that, Pierce says it’s important for the university to provide potential employees with incentives that position the facility as an employer of choice. “We pay 100 percent of our employees medical insurance and strongly believe this is a reason why we don’t have the turnover most people in the industry would.”

2. Be creative about engagement and morale boosters

To foster pride, UConn has hosted an annual culinary competition among its chefs. “It’s an exercise where they show off their skills and creativity,” says Pierce. “We’ve had it for the last 15 years and at the end of it you always look at the dishes and say this isn’t college food because it’s not what people expect from it.”

3. Recruit nontraditionally

“We work closely with local high schools that offer culinary classes and provide internship opportunities,” says Pierce. “Very often those students who intern come work for us. So you’re really going after them at a grassroots level.”
 

Related:UConn’s new dining hall draws big crowd