Performance check-ins for hourly staff: a 15-minute monthly format

Many small restaurants have no reviews at all. Feedback happens in the moment ("watch the milk temperature"), raises happen when someone asks, and the first real conversation about how someone is doing is the one where they quit or get let go.

A yearly review doesn't fix that. A year is too long for a barista who started in March, and it turns one meeting into a verdict. What works better for an hourly team is short and regular: 15 minutes, once a month, on the calendar.

This is the second post in our series on leading your first team. The first post covered delegation; this one covers the conversation that keeps delegated work, and everyone else's work, on track.

This is general information, not legal advice. Updated October 5, 2026: the Department of Labor page cited below was re-checked.

Why monthly, and why 15 minutes

• Small problems stay small. A habit you mention in week three is easy to change. The same habit raised at a yearly review feels like an ambush.
• It's short enough to actually happen. A 15-minute slot fits before a shift or in the slow hour after lunch. An hour-long review gets rescheduled until it doesn't happen.
• It builds a record. Twelve short notes a year tell you much more about a person than one long one, and they matter later when you decide on a raise, a promotion or, sometimes, a final warning.
• It's the same for everyone. The person you like and the person you find difficult get the same format, the same questions and the same amount of your time.

If your team is bigger than you can see monthly, have each shift lead check in with the people on their shifts, and you check in with the leads.

The 15-minute agenda

Use the same five parts every time, in the same order:

The order matters. Starting with their own concerns tells them this isn't only about you judging them. Ending with what you'll do tells them it goes both ways.

Prepare in five minutes

Before each check-in, look back over the month and bring:

• Two specific examples of good work. "On Saturday, you noticed the walk-in was at 44°F and moved the dairy before telling me" beats "you're doing great."
• One thing to work on, with an example. If you can't think of a specific moment, it may not be the right topic yet.
• Last month's note. Did they reach the goal? Did you do what you said you'd do?
• Anything from their side you already know about: a time-off request, a schedule change, a training module they finished.

Don't bring a list of every small mistake. That turns a check-in into a hearing.

Feedback people can use

For the "one thing to work on" part, a simple pattern keeps it specific and fair:

1. What you saw. "On Tuesday and Thursday, the closing checklist was signed off but the milk fridge wasn't wiped."
2. Why it matters. "The opener finds it sticky, and it's on the health inspection list."
3. What good looks like. "Wiped and dry, door gaskets included, before you tick it."
4. Ask, then listen. "Is something making that hard?" Sometimes the answer is that the closer runs out of time because the dish pit backs up. Then the fix is different.

Talk about the work, not the person. "The tickets were late" is something they can change. "You're slow" isn't.

What to write down

Keep one short note per check-in, in the same place each time. It doesn't need to be long:

• Date and who was there
• What went well (one or two lines)
• The thing to work on, and the goal for next month
• Anything they asked for, and what you said
• Anything you agreed to do

Write it the same day, and stick to facts you saw or numbers you can point to. Write it as if the person will read it one day. A note that says "missed the close twice, agreed to set an alarm" is fair to everyone. A note that says "attitude problem" isn't useful to anyone.

These notes are also what make later decisions fair. When you get to raises (the next post in this series) or, sometimes, to a final warning, you'll have twelve months of the same questions asked the same way, not a feeling.

Pay for the time

A check-in about the job is work. The Department of Labor's guidance on hours worked is specific about meetings: attendance at "lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time only if four criteria are met, namely: it is outside normal hours, it is voluntary, not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed" (DOL Fact Sheet #22). A check-in about someone's work is job-related and you're the one asking for it, so it's paid time.

The easiest way: hold it during a scheduled shift, in a slow hour, or schedule it as a short shift of its own. Don't ask anyone to come in on their day off "just for a chat" unpaid. That also counts toward overtime if it takes them over 40 hours in the week; our post on time clock and overtime mistakes covers how overtime is counted.

Keep it from going wrong

• Don't cancel. Moving a check-in once is fine. Cancelling them tells people they don't matter. If you're short-staffed, do it at the end of a shift instead.
• Don't save bad news for it. If something serious happens, talk about it that day. The check-in is for patterns, not for surprises.
• Don't promise a raise in it. If they ask, say when and how raises are decided, and follow up. A vague "we'll see" sounds like a no.
• Don't do it in front of the team. A back table before opening, or a walk to the bank, works fine. The middle of the floor doesn't.
• Do it the same way for everyone. Same format, same length, same questions. It keeps you fair, and it keeps your notes comparable.

The 90-day version for new hires

New hires need it more often at first. Our post on keeping your first team suggests check-ins on day 3, day 30 and day 90, and a stay-interview style question list. Fold those into this format: day 3 is mostly "their turn," day 30 is the first full check-in, and from day 90 they join the monthly rhythm with everyone else.

Where Mays fits

Mays doesn't have a performance review or check-in feature: there are no goals, review forms or dated notes per person. What it does have is the record you bring to the conversation:

• Attendance. Scheduling → Reports → Attendance shows, per person, their scheduled shifts and how many were Sick, No-show, Late, Call-outs or Left late. Use it to replace "you're always late" with a number.
• Their work. Tasks → Tasks on the web has Team Stats: each person's completed and open tasks for the week or the dates you pick. Opening a task shows what they submitted, a photo for photo tasks.
• How their shifts felt. After clocking out in the app, staff are asked How was your shift?, with one to five stars and an optional comment. Managers see the ratings by name at the bottom of each day's Logbook. They aren't anonymous, so treat them as a conversation starter, not a survey.
• Training. If you use Learning, an admin can see each person's quiz results under Who's taken it.

Where to keep the check-in note: the Logbook is visible to managers and admins only, and has a Staff category, but an entry isn't linked to a person, and every manager and admin at the location can read it and gets a notification when it's posted. The Notes box on a person's profile (web) is a single text field, with no dates or history, that anyone who can open their profile can read. So keep check-in notes in your own private file, and use Mays for the facts you bring to them. Don't use a custom form for check-in notes either: completed tasks show up in the team's activity feed.

Your check-in checklist

• A 15-minute slot, once a month, for every person, on the calendar
• The same five-part agenda every time
• Two specific examples of good work, and one thing to work on
• A short written note the same day, facts only, including what you agreed to do
• Check-ins held during paid time
• New hires checked in with on day 3, day 30 and day 90

Run your next check-in with Mays

Keep the notes, the goals and the follow-ups next to the shifts they're about.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Next in this series: how to set raises and pay bands for a small team.