View Current Press Releases from People Report

Chain Leader Magazine-

April 2006 Special Edition
Best Places to Work Edition

People Report contributed data to the 2006 Best Places to Work Edition for Chain Leader Magazine. Read CEO and Founder, Joni Thomas Doolin's guest editorial.

Nation's Restaurant News-

April 3, 2006
Balancing Act

Amid demanding schedules and gender bias that many say is present in the industry, women strive to find career success without sacrificing their personal lives.

While the hourly workforce is split 50-50 between men and women, percentages of women decline with each level of management, according to People Report's Survey of Unit Level Employment Practices.

Chain Leader Magazine-

May 2006
Latin Influence

Recruiting Hispanics drives retention and supports ongoing growth at Cantina Laredo and El Chico.

Hiring diverse employees correlates to lower turnover, according to People Report, the Dallas-based human-resource benchmarking firm. Turnover trends 12 percent lower on average among top-performing People Report subscribers in casual- and fine-dining chains that report high levels of diversity. What's more, the presence of male Hispanic managers positively affects retention in quick-service and family-dining chains.

American Express Briefing-

May/June 2006
Workforce 2006

The People Report 2006 study underscores that the labor-intensive restaurant industry faces a significant challenge due to a shrinking pool of employees, and their migration to other industries - notably, retail, grocery, banking and healthcare.

Workforce.com-

May 2006
Cheesecake Factory Cooks Up a Rigorous Employee Training Program

Workforce training and development initiatives are ubiquitous in the restaurant industry. But there are only a handful of programs that can rival the breadth and depth of those that are offered by the company.

Nation's Restaurant News-

November 2006
People Report: Worker Turnover Rate Continues to Climb

Restaurant employee turnover is inching upwards as the labor market tightens, and the trend does not appear to be short term, according to data unveiled at the People Report Best Practices Conference held here recently. Average annual hourly turnover was more than 107 percent, and average annual management turnover was close to 29 percent by the second quarter of this year for the restaurant companies that are members of People Report, a Dallas-based firm that tracks human resource data for restaurant companies.

Nation's Restaurant News-

December 2006
Chains Build Employment Brands to Compete For Workers

With nearly half of all restaurant employees now being under the age of 30, the competition for workers is going to increase, and restaurants' recruiters should borrow a page from marketers, said Joni Doolin, chief executive and founder of People Report, a Dallas-based firm that tracks human resources practices among some 100 restaurant chains.

Restaurant Finance Monitor-

March 2006
Tapping Untapped Labor

Given the workforce challenges that face restaurateurs, the need for timely and accurate data on industry employment practices is vital for identifying best practices and operating efficiencies and opportunities.

Dallas Morning News-

March 17, 2006
Portion of Older Managers at Restaurants Rising
By Karen Robinson-Jacobs

"One could reasonably say that those service industry companies that follow [demographic] trends will need to hire these older managers in order to keep their restaurants staffed, period," said Teresa Siriani, president of People Report, an Addison-based firm that tracks food industry workplace trends.

Nation's Restaurant News-

February 6, 2006
Diversity at the Top
By Dina Berta

Quick-service restaurants lead the restaurant industry in hiring and promoting women and minorities into management positions, according to a recent analysis by a firm that researches restaurant personnel information.

Franchise Times-

February 2006
How Healthy is QSR?
By Paul Olsen

Given the litany of challenges facing the QSR sector day-in and day-out, it's a wonder it continues to attract so many operators. The continual increases in construction, labor and commodity costs squeeze margins at the same time that competitive pressures- including the explosion of quick-casual players-make competition in the industry that much more fierce.

Restaurant Business Magazine-

January 2006
Labor: The Benefits Hook
By Betsy Cummings

Forget HMOs and flexible hours. When Glen Agritelley, owner of Mercy Wine Bar in Dallas, talks employee benefits he means cross country flights and free nights at vineyards. "It makes more of a difference than paying staff more," says Agritelley, a former Microsoft executive who opened his wine bar three years ago.

Nation's Restaurant News-

November 15, 2005
HR execs at People Report confab predict worsening labor shortage
By Dina Berta

Another major labor shortage is currently in the making for the restaurant industry, People Report founder and chief executive Joni Thomas Doolin told attendees of the human-resources tracking firm's 10th annual conference here.

Restaurant Weekly Connections-

September 12, 2005
Critical Labor Crunch
By Charles Bernstein

Teresa Siriani, president of the Dallas-based People Report, emphasizes that the real issue is retention. "Wooing employees goes beyond just adding cash to a paycheck," she says. Most of all, employees want more flexibility. And the individual's needs of incentive packages are crucial.

Restaurant Finance Monitor-

August, 2005
Compensation Survey Hints at Tightening Labor Market

Despite the intense focus on worker productivity in today's economy- credited for allowing robust growth without runaway inflation, while at the same time blamed for hindering job creation- the restaurant industry continues to depend heavily on its vast army of employees.

Nation's Restaurant News-

July 11, 2005
Top-performing managers harder to retain, research firm indicates
By Shyam Patel

As the economy picks up and unemployment slows down, top-performing restaurant managers are getting harder to keep, according to a recent survey of restaurant companies by People Report, a human resources research firm based here.

CNN.com-

June 23, 2005
McDonald's bosses to boost job image

Finding talented employees is getting tougher for all fast-food companies, according to People Report founder Joni Thomas Doolin, due to stricter immigration policies and fewer teenagers in the work force.

Women's Foodservice Forum-

May 2005
Acceptance Speech
By Joni Thomas Doolin

Acceptance Speech for her Trailblazer Award at Women's Foodservice Forum

Restaurantu.com-

May 2005
Trailblazers: Is The WFF 'Messing' With The Lone Ranger and Superman?
By Peter Langlois

When I received the press release that a dear friend, Joni Doolin, had received this year's WFF Trailblazer Award at their Orlando Conference, my first thought was how deserving Joni was/is.

Nation's Restaurant News-

March 7, 2005
McD takes HR strides to cement worker loyalty
By Amy Garber

The industry's average turnover rate for 2004 was about 111 percent, People Report said. "I wouldn't say there is one single thing that we do," which has led to reduced turnover and improved morale, Floersch said, adding that human resources have benefited from the company's holistic turnaround plan. "It's the reimaging, it's the choices that we're offering, it's the investment we are making in our people, it's the contemporizing of the brand," he said.

The Herald-

January 30, 2005
Waiting for servers
By Tilde Herrera

Teresa Siriani, president of People Report, a Dallas-based research firm that tracks 87 restaurant chains, including fast food restaurants, said an area's unemployment rate can also have an impact on the restaurant industry's ability to maintain staffing levels because fewer people are looking for work when the unemployment rate is low.

Workforce.com-

January 7, 2005
Jack in the Box Tackles Turnover
By Todd Henneman

The estimated cost of replacing an hourly employee is $2,399, according to People Report's survey of 12,798 restaurants ranging from fine-dining to fast-food establishments. Jack in the Box estimates that it costs $1,000 to recruit and train each new employee. Its health care plan will pay for itself if crew turnover decreases by just one-tenth of a percent, CEO Nugent says.

Peter's Popper's-

November 8, 2004
Peter Popper People Report: Leaders with Ideas
By Peter Langlois

Continuously striving to improve using energy and mental agility, I find the company members and the portfolio of high-powered speakers of this conference bring stimulating critical perspectives to our business. I also like the pace that comes with a 1˝-day conference rather than the typical three to four day sagas that simply don't hold my interest. You ever wake up one morning at a conference and wonder why am I spending another day here? Couldn't I just go ahead and go the dentist? Not at this conference!

Nation's Restaurant News

August 16, 2004
Immigration reform push offers relief for job woes
By Milford Prewitt

"Beginning in 2010, for every new employee who enters the workplace, two will be leaving," said Joni Thomas Doolin, chief executive of People Report, which conducts Internet-based employment analyses of labor and management trends in foodservice and hospitality.

The Business Journal of Kansas City

July 9, 2004
PB&J owners have no guilt about hogging employees
By Erin Beatty

Khoury said it's important to him to reward loyal employees in an industry where faces change often. He wouldn't disclose PB&J's turnover rate, but People Report, a Dallas-based human resource analysis and tracking firm, put the industry rate at more than 100 percent.

Pizza Marketplace.com-

June 11, 2004
Raises for restaurant CEOs outpace frontline workers’ in 2003

The 2004 People Report Corporate Compensation and Benefits Survey showed that raises given restaurant industry employees last year were smaller than those fetched in 2002.

Nation’s Restaurant News-

June 7, 2004
Industry Business Offer Veterinary Health Care for Man’s Best Friends
By Dina Berta

People Report, a Dallas-based firm that tracks human-resources trends in the industry, first inquired into the practice in its Survey of Unit-Level Employment Practices in 2003. Of the 78 foodservice companies that responded, 4 percent said they offer pet insurance to management employees and 3 percent offered it to hourly employees, including part-time workers.

Nation’s Restaurant News-

May 10, 2004
Experts: Domestic-partner Perks Bolster Staffs Retention
By Dina Berta

Applebee's is now among several restaurant companies that provide health benefits to unmarried partners of employees. At a time when gay and lesbian marriage is a hotly contested topic in courts and legislatures around the country, the number of American businesses offering the benefit is rising. About one-third of Fortune 500 companies provided benefits to domestic partners in 2002, 13 percent more than those that did so in the prior year.

QSR Magazine-

April, 2004
The Benefits Advantage- Quick-serve’s pool of potential employees is dwindling. Will offering benefits stem the flow?
By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey

As aging Boomers make way in the workplace for a smaller Generation X and the overall job market picks up, restaurant industry analysts warn that that the pool of potential restaurant employees is shrinking. In fact, the Dallas, Texas-based human resource analysis and tracking firm People Report warned at its recent Annual Best Practices Conference that by 2006 “there will be only one new employee entering the workplace for every two who are leaving.”

Chain Leader Magazine-

April, 2004
People and the P&L- Guest Letter
By Joni Thomas Doolin

People Report teamed up with Chain Leader Magazine to create a special edition based on the Best Places to Work. The information used for the issue was derived from People Report’s 2003 Survey of Unit Level Employment Practices.

Workforce Management-

April, 2004
Turnover Is the New Enemy at One of America's Oldest Restaurant Chains
By Rachel King

Seventy years ago, Steak n Shake started selling burgers and milkshakes with a special focus on customer service. By last year, service was suffering as turnover topped 200 percent. The company is working to turn things around, an effort that could save several million dollars a year and increase the rate of new-store openings.

Nation’s Restaurant News-

March 28, 2004
Survey: Link between economy, lower turnover rates
By Dina Berta

The tepid economy again is proving to be the strongest motivator for keeping restaurant employees from leaving their jobs, according to a recent report of human-resources trends. In a nationwide study of 78 restaurant companies, representing 683,000 employees and more than 45,000 managers, People Report, based here, found that turnover had fallen for both hourly and managerial staff over a two-year period.

QSR Magazine-

January, 2004
Following the Leaders
By TJ Schier

In case you haven’t studied the recent correlation between the economy and restaurant turnover, here are a few items to get you off easy street. Though millions of jobs have been lost over the last 2 years (increasing applicant flow), restaurant jobs continue to increase.

Nation’s Restaurant News-

January 5, 2004
People Report: Data links low turnover rate to retention of Hispanic managers
By Dina Berta

Limited- and quick-service restaurants that promote and develop minority employees, particularly Hispanic males, experience lower turnover, according to a recent analysis by Victor Fernandez, a senior analyst for People Report, the Dallas-based firm that tracks human resource practices and information for restaurant companies.