Chick Fil A Employee Handbook Pdf
I started boycotting Chick-fil-A long before it became popular—almost nine years ago, actually. Gta 5 for android 2.3 free download.
That’s when I chose to eat vegetarian. The spark that precipitated my decision was a conversation with a friend who raised a host of ethical reasons not to eat meat in America’s farm-factory system—animal cruelty, greenhouse gas emissions, and public health risks.
This isn’t another article to sell you on vegetarianism. It really isn’t even about eating meats or nonmeats, or even about whether you should support a boycott of Chick-fil-A. It’s about pointing out the importance of letting ethics inform consumer decisions.
In the Chick-fil-A battle, fought on the status feeds of Facebook and the hashtag counts of Twitter, I have noticed one argument on which I want to push back. Call it the blowback to the blowback. Many folks are saying not to care about the moral positions of a company, and that the consumer market should never be made to make a moral point. I could not disagree more.
The Chick-fil-A controversy erupted when its CEO, Dan Cathy, citing Biblical values, commented that he personally did not approve of gay marriage. Gay rights activists responded with a call to boycott Chick-fil-A.
The boycott does not seem to have hurt Chick-fil-A in the shortrun. Lovers of Chick-fil-A chicken and opponents of gay marriage have rallied around the restaurant, leading to reports of long lines at many of its locations.
In an Atlantic article, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandell asks what isn’t for sale in our consumer-driven capitalist society. Sandell notes that in different places across America you can buy a prison cell upgrade for $90 a night, the services of an Indian surrogate mother for $10,000, and the right to immigrate to the United States for $500,000. Obviously not everyone can purchase these things, but Sandell also points out new ways to make money. You can sell advertising space on your forehead with a tattoo and receive $10,000, fight in Somalia or Afghanistan with a private contractor for $1,000 a day, or serve as a guinea-pig in drug trials for $7,500.
Chick-Fil-A, Workwear. T-Shirts/Active Polos/Knits Fleece Caps Active Wear Outerwear Woven Shirts Workwear Bags Accessories: WORKWEAR. Industrial Work Shirts: Stain. I started boycotting Chick-fil-A long before it became popular—almost nine years ago, actually. That’s when I chose to eat vegetarian. The spark that precipitated my decision was a conversation with a friend who raised a host of ethical reasons not to eat meat in America’s farm-factory system—animal cruelty, greenhouse gas emissions, and public health risks. If you’re looking to end 2020 with a Nugget Tray or ring in 2020 with Waffle Fries, Chick-fil-A will be open for both. Most Chick-fil-A locations will be open on New Year’s Eve from 6:30 a.m. To 6:00 p.m., while on New Year’s Day, most restaurants will be open from 10:30 a.m. Inside Chick-fil-A.
Are we really ok with all these types of transactions and other similar ones? If so, is there any limit on what can be bought and sold in America? Most of us have ethical qualms with child labor, slavery and sex trafficking. Many of us even support ethical interventions in the market for things like a minimum wage. But where do we draw the line between inserting ethical considerations and allowing the free market to work?
Market values, and even market vocabulary, have come to dominate American life. Market values have seeped from the sphere of economics into the fabric of our social and ethical lives. Even our vocabulary reflects this amoral marketplace. We associate free-markets with the ethical judgment of ‘good’ and nonfree markets with the ethical judgment of ‘bad.’ We are now seeing people telling other people to keep their morals out of the marketplace.
But there might be a cost (pun intended) to this market thinking. In the words of Sandell, “sometimes market values crowd out nonmarket values worth caring about.”
In this case, I don’t think it’s fair to boycott a company based on the personal beliefs of its CEOs (Chick-fil-A isn’t practicing discrimination against gay individuals after all), but the gay rights movement is a long-term civil rights campaign and change only happens through adversarial actions like boycotts. As long as it doesn’t alienate more folks than it attracts, more power to the movement.
I’m not that excited about the boycott, but I’ll support it because I support the movement.
Sometimes consumer driven behavior does change the behavior of big powers quite drastically–think of the Montgomery bus boycott. Sometimes it creates new markets and opportunities for people to practice their ideals–think of the growth of the organic and local food industries.
Ultimately, the main reason for practicing responsible consumer behavior–if you have the means to do so–is for yourself. To borrow from Gandhi, happiness is when what you say, what you think and what you do are in harmony. It will cost you more, but if you think, for example, sweat shop labor is wrong, you will be happier if you don’t buy clothes from companies that use sweat-shop labor.
I give major credit to activists who believe that fighting for equality of gay and lesbian individuals in America is more important than market values.
I even give some credit to the folks on the other side, lining up at Chick-fil-A because they believe in so-called Biblical values. I appreciate that they bring something to the marketplace more than just dollars and cents. That’s all the credit I will give them before I start arguing with them that they are wrong, but that’s for another article.
Some things are more important than a delicious piece of chicken.
Companies are profit-maximizers. Only a demand shock can change companies production practices, not an appeal to their moral sentiments.
The first step towards responsible consumer behavior Is to do the hard work of defining your own values and being intentional about your consumer purchases. Don’t let the bigness of the challenge scare you. Start small, maybe with just one type of consumer purchase like dairy or making your home more energy efficient. Buying local whenever possible is a great first step. The second step is to engage others who disagree with an open mind. Changing consumer demand at a critical threshold means persuading others to join you. Preaching doesn’t change minds or hearts.
Ultimately, if we want to create an ethical society that is also prosperous, we must price our values into our consumer decisions while doing the hard work of understanding people with other values and engaging in dialogue.
Update: A reader points out that the boycott isn’t just about the personal beliefs of Chick-fil-A’s CEO, but also about the corporate practice of giving corporate cash to groups opposed to gay marriage. This is certainly more troubling and leads me to support the boycott more enthusiastically.
Most consumer-facing businesses could stand to learn a few things about customer experience and employee engagement from Chick-fil-A. I recently connected with a friend and colleague of mine, T.J. Hammond, who works in learning and development at Chick-fil-A. I’ve enjoyed a knowledge-sharing relationship with T.J. for several years based on our shared beliefs in what makes a superior customer experience, especially as it relates to a company’s culture.
So I was thrilled when he arranged for me to take a few tours behind the scenes of their Support Center operation and share with me the strategies this quick-service restaurant (QSR) has in place to support their franchisees. To say I was impressed by what I learned would be an understatement. If I were going to get into the QSR business, I’d seriously consider Chick-fil-A, because of their attention to detail. No wonder this brand often gets referred to as an example of great customer service. They leave nothing to chance.
Here are just a few things Chick-fil-A gets right about employee engagement and customer experience:
1 – They Put Control of the Experience in the Owners’ Hands
Chick-fil-A franchise owners are responsible for everything that happens under their roof, including the service climate unique to that restaurant. Owners hire and train their employees and are in charge of their engagement. And most importantly, each owner has the freedom to do different things for their own staff to make sure they’re engaged and motivated. Instead of “we can’t/don’t do this or that because it’s not Our Way,” Chick-fil-A Corporate asks their franchisees, “What do you think will work, and how can we support you?” Figuring out how to address your own challenges is part of their culture.
Chick-fil-A trusts the people on the ground doing the work, and empowers them to make decisions and try new things based on their own observations. For example, some owners offer tuition assistance as an employee benefit, to help attract the best hires. It’s not an organizational mandate, or even a suggestion from on high; it originates with the owners, and the organization makes it happen.
2 – They Encourage Collaboration & Transparency between Franchisees
Chick-fil-A is very transparent with their customer experience data – which they track, across multiple channels, on a daily basis. Rather than pit stores against each other to encourage competition, Chick-fil-A wants its franchisees to feel as though they are all on the same team. They’re more than willing to support those efforts with data and enable owners to learn from each other.
Chick-fil-a Employee Handbook Pdf Restaurant
For example, let’s say a store in one part of the country is struggling with breakfast sales and unsure of how to turn the tide. Chick-fil-A will gladly fly one of its top breakfast performers out to that location to give the owners face time and allow them to coach each other. They’ll invest in these mentor/mentee relationships because they know they’ll see a return.
3 – They Have the Training Chops to Support Employee Excellence
Chick-fil-A’s employee training is thorough, customizable, and designed around the behaviors and operational aspects that really matter to customers. Individual owners are encouraged to put their own touches on how they train their teams. At the same time, the materials, resources, and methods supplied by the organization are top notch. For example, they hire actors and run simulations of all kinds of different customer scenarios and challenges. Their employees are ready for anything, from cleaning the coffee filter to building the perfect sandwich to handling customer grievances. They also have an excellent New Employee Onboarding process, as well as supporting new franchise owners with a “grand opening” team for weeks to help them get off the ground.
4 – They Value Their Employees
Unusual perks like tuition assistance are just one way that Chick-fil-A treats their employees like people, not just worker bees. One of the most striking things I noticed during my tour is something I’m not even sure Chick-fil-A realizes is so powerful. Rather than calling people “managers” and “customer service representatives” and other generic job titles, they use titles like Leader, Influencer, and Stakeholder. These aren’t just empty titles handed down through a memo: their practices demonstrate that they really believe in these titles and take them seriously.
What Banks (and Others) Can Learn from the Chick-fil-A Model
Chick-fil-A clearly understands the connection between building a customer-centric culture and what that takes from a support standpoint. What can you do today to be more like them?
- Empower your branch leaders to innovate. There is a time and a place for brand consistency. That ends when policies and procedures become so inflexible that branch managers feel their hands are tied, or like they can’t make suggestions for improvement or change. You’ll see a return on innovation if you actively support your managers to think for themselves.
- Encourage collaboration over competition. Pool your resources – there’s more than enough to go around. Whether within a particular branch or between branches, managers and employees can all stand to benefit from mutual coaching and mentor/mentee relationships.
- Keep your training engaging and current. Don’t be afraid to stray from the typical corporate training models. Be bold, be memorable, try new things. Be proactive, not reactive, and update your materials and resources regularly. Let employees make suggestions and lead initiatives instead of always handing things down from the top.
- Give your employees what they want and deserve. There’s more to employee engagement than health insurance and retirement plans. Much more. If you want to attract and retain the top talent, and not just fill empty positions, go above and beyond the bare minimum that employees expect to find anywhere.
Not coincidentally, these are many of the same values and strategies we endorse at CSP. We’re proud to support our clients in creating and fostering a superior customer experience based on comprehensive, current customer data. Change isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard, either, with the right support and resources.
Jeff Dahms is Vice President of Research & Development at Customer Service Profiles. Jeff has over 12 years of experience managing and consulting to data for both internal and external clients, and has extensive experience in helping Executives focus on key indicators in order to achieve maximum results.