Short YouTube commentary by Donald Burns arguing that hiring solely for skills harms restaurant team morale and stability. He explains that bringing in skilled hires can make existing staff feel threatened, which spreads low morale, escalates drama, and leads to more resignations—creating a repeating cycle of turnover.
As soon as you hire for skills. See, what happens is your team starts to question if they're a good fit and they're going to see this new hire as a threat. And then they start to have doubts about their position on your team. See, low morale and doubt on your team. It's kind of like throwing gasoline on a fire. It's going to spread quickly and it amplifies the drama. Drama is great for movies, really bad for restaurants. And then what happens is more people quit. Then you try to get back on track by hiring in to replace the person who just left, and what happens is you're getting the same results.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
