--- title: "Taco Bell franchisee shares: 3 ways to engage employees and improve staffing" description: Last week, we hosted a webinar on how to drive effective communication with Cathy Blankman, Growth Leader at K-Mac, a 300+-location franchisee of Taco Bell. image: https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/Marketing/Clients_Photos/customer_TacoBell4_KMAC.jpg --- [![Crew Logo](https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/Marketing/Logos/logo_crew_red.svg "Crew Logo")](https://www.crewapp.com/) - [Features](https://www.crewapp.com/features) - [Help](https://help.crewapp.com/) - [Signup or Login](https://crewapp.com/app) - [Crew App](https://crewapp.com/app) - [Command Center](https://crewapp.com/enterprise/commandcenter/) [Request Demo](https://squareup.com/us/en/staff/team-communication/contact) ##### [Team Communication](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/team-communication) [Keep employees connected and engaged](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/team-communication) ##### [Labor Optimization](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/labor-optimization) [Give employees instant access to schedules and open shifts](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/labor-optimization) ##### [Culture & Recognition](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/culture-recognition) [Inspire great work by highlighting outstanding performance](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/culture-recognition) ##### [Knowledge Management](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/knowledge-management) [Ensure your team is aligned and informed](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/knowledge-management) ##### [Administration & Analytics](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/command-center) [Manage your workforce and gain immediate insight](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/command-center) ##### [Compliance Suite](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/compliance) [Protect your people and your organization](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/compliance) ##### [Integrations](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/integrations) [Integrate with critical operations and reporting tools](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/integrations) ##### [Employee Management](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/employee-management) [Manage your workforce at scale with an end-to-end employee toolset](https://www.crewapp.com/enterprise/employee-management) [![logo_crew_red](https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/Marketing/Logos/logo_crew_red.svg "logo_crew_red")](https://blog.crewapp.com/) - 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[Features](https://www.crewapp.com/features) - [Help](https://help.crewapp.com/) - [Signup or Login](https://crewapp.com/app) - [Crew App](https://crewapp.com/app) - [Command Center](https://crewapp.com/enterprise/commandcenter/) [The Crew Blog](https://blog.crewapp.com/) # Taco Bell franchisee shares: 3 ways to engage employees and improve staffing by [Nicky Budd-Thanos](https://blog.crewapp.com/author/nicky-budd-thanos), on June 3, 2019 Last week, we hosted a [webinar on how to drive effective communication and improve staffing](https://www.home.crewapp.com/staffing-webinar-recording) with Cathy Blankman, Growth Leader at K-Mac, a 300+-location franchisee of Taco Bell. [The recording is available to watch at any time](https://www.home.crewapp.com/staffing-webinar-recording) and we encourage you to share with your team! Cathy drew from her 32 years of experience, working every role from team member all the way up to Growth Leader, to share some great insights with us and we wanted to share some of our favorite takeaways from Friday’s [webinar](https://www.home.crewapp.com/staffing-webinar-recording). First, to set the stage, let’s look at some of the interesting - and staggering - stats we shared from the QSR industry. The average [turnover](https://www.home.crewapp.com/post/4-steps-to-understanding-and-improving-employee-retention) within QSR regularly exceeds 100% and the average costs of turnover can come in at $150,000 per year. ![](https://blog.crewapp.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Rich%20Text%20Pasting/unknown-1593248521742.webp?width=600&name=unknown-1593248521742.webp) With that in mind, it makes sense that employees who are engaged will have a longer tenure than those who are not. We also know that [disengaged employees are a growing problem](https://www.home.crewapp.com/post/why-restaurant-gms-are-more-disengaged-and-how-to-change-it). But what does it mean to actively engage your employees and what does that look like? Cathy shared with us three guiding principles for how to build engagement that she and her team rely on: **1. Seek positive attitudes** One of the interesting things Cathy mentioned to us while preparing for the webinar was how she and her managers work to identify the “we cans” vs. the “we can’ts” on the team, whether that’s in day-to-day operations or in hiring. The question isn’t whether something will go wrong or whether things will get busy and overwhelming - the question is what type of attitude your employees will have when that inevitably takes place? **2. Recognize great work** Part of seeking and cultivating positive attitudes is modeling that yourself. In a position of authority, Cathy said that recognizing the extra effort people put in or the exemplary job they do on different tasks cascades down, until the act of recognizing good work and spreading positivity is across every level of the organization. You can learn more about Crew’s system of recognition, Gold Stars, and how they’re used [here](https://www.home.crewapp.com/post/crew-tips-how-do-i-use-gold-stars-on-crew). **3. Communicate early and often** Part of keeping employees engaged and happy at work is making sure that they are aware of the expectations on their performance. With Crew, Cathy is able to communicate exactly what her team needs to know about - their schedules, any changes in training or procedures, even their fellow employees’ birthdays - right in their pockets. You can hear more from Cathy on how to then implement effective communication across your engaged team by [tuning into the webinar recording](https://www.home.crewapp.com/staffing-webinar-recording). We’ve got plans for more insightful events and content coming soon and you can access the recording to [Staffing & retention in QSR with K-Mac](https://www.home.crewapp.com/staffing-webinar-recording) at any time. Let us know what you think of the webinar’s takeaways on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/crew_app?lang=en)! Topics:[Best Practices](https://blog.crewapp.com/topic/best-practices)[Employee Engagement](https://blog.crewapp.com/topic/employee-engagement)[Internal Communications](https://blog.crewapp.com/topic/internal-communications) ## Comments ### The Crew Blog Best practices and guidance to help you build happier, more productive, and better informed frontline teams. - [Recent](https://blog.crewapp.com/taco-bell-engage-employees#recent) - [Topics](https://blog.crewapp.com/taco-bell-engage-employees#topics) - [Archive](https://blog.crewapp.com/taco-bell-engage-employees#archive) - [Best Practices (33)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/best-practices) - [COVID-19 (20)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/covid-19) - [Crew Stories (4)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/crew-stories) - [Crew Tips (31)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/crew-tips) - [CrewU (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/crewu) - [Crisis Comms (7)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/crisis-comms) - [Employee Engagement (61)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/employee-engagement) - [Employee Recognition (13)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/employee-recognition) - [Internal Communications (57)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/internal-communications) - [Mastering Crew Enterprise (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/mastering-crew-enterprise) - [Product Update (11)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/product-update) - [Scheduling (15)](https://blog.crewapp.com/tag/scheduling) More... - [April 2019 (11)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/04) - [May 2019 (9)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/05) - [June 2019 (9)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/06) - [June 2020 (9)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/06) - [October 2019 (8)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/10) - [July 2019 (7)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/07) - [March 2020 (7)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/03) - [May 2020 (7)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/05) - [July 2020 (7)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/07) - [April 2020 (5)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/04) - [January 2019 (4)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/01) - [August 2019 (4)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/08) - [February 2020 (4)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/02) - [May 2018 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/05) - [June 2018 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/06) - [December 2018 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/12) - [September 2019 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/09) - [November 2019 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/11) - [January 2020 (3)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/01) - [July 2018 (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/07) - [November 2018 (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/11) - [February 2019 (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/02) - [August 2020 (2)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2020/08) - [May 2017 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2017/05) - [September 2018 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/09) - [October 2018 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2018/10) - [March 2019 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/03) - [December 2019 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2019/12) - [July 2021 (1)](https://blog.crewapp.com/archive/2021/07) More... ### Subscribe to Updates ## More stories from Crew Customers ![client-footer-TacoBell-450x600-2](https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/client-footer-TacoBell-450x600-2.jpg) ##### Taco Bell keeps 140,000+ frontline employees connected ###### [READ MORE](https://www.crewapp.com/customers/taco-bell) ![client-footer-ALG-450x600-2](https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/client-footer-ALG-450x600-2.jpg) ##### 80% lower turnover at Affinity Living Group ###### [READ MORE](https://www.crewapp.com/customers/alg-senior) ![client-footer-Harps-450x600](https://blog.crewapp.com/hubfs/client-footer-Harps-450x600.jpg) ##### Harps Foods deepens engagement with 5,000+ team members ###### [READ MORE](https://www.crewapp.com/customers/harps) [Get started](https://squareup.com/us/en/staff/team-communication/contact) ### Request a Demo ## Get a free, personalized demo No ads. 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