Interview Marking Guide

Attachment 6 – Assessment of Ill Worker Policies Study: Manager Interview Marking Guide

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This document is designed to provide a consistent set of definitions and guidance for marking each question on the manager interview.

1. How many years have you worked in food service?

• Select range based on total years worked in food service irrespective of position or establishment

2. Have you ever had food safety training?

• This is a broad based question looking at whether they have ever had food safety training. This could include instructor led, web-based, etc.

3. Have you ever been certified in food safety (such as with the ServSafe® Food Safety Manager course)?

• Mark Yes if they have ever been certified in food safety – this is a broad-based question we ask in questions #23-24 if there is a Certified Kitchen manager

• Mark Yes if the certification is still valid

4. How long have you been employed at this food service establishment?

• Select the range based on total time at this restaurant, regardless of position.

5. What title would best describe your position?

• Indicate the interviewee’s working title

6. Does the restaurants food safety performance, such as inspection scores, affect your compensation?

   • Mark Yes if this affects their compensation (e.g. bonus for good score, poor performance review for bad score, etc.)

7. In your opinion, sick workers can transmit their illness through food.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief that food can be a vector of disease transmission from a sick worker

8. An employee calling in sick creates a minor problem for the running of my restaurant.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief that an ill worker creates a logistical problem for them running the restaurant

9. If employees wash their hands more than normal it is okay to work while sick.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief that handwashing alone can prevent illness transmission

10. Employees call in sick because they want a day off, not because they are actually ill.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief about the main reason that employees call in sick

11. If we cook the food it will destroy any germs on the food that may have come from a sick worker.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief that if food is cooked it will be unable of transmitting illness

12. There is no risk from an ill worker handling a plate or food once it has been cooked.

• Mark score from 1 – completely disagree with statement to 5 – completely agree with statement

• This question is asking about their belief that food or a utensil can be contaminated post-cooking from an ill worker

13. Which of the following options best describes the restaurant style?

• Family style – typically offer table-side service and non-disposable dishes

• Fast Casual – Slightly more upscale than fast food, more of the food is prepared onsite than in fast food restaurants, food is typically ordered at a counter and utensils may be disposable or non-disposable, restaurants tend to have open kitchens

• Fast Food – typically ordered at a counter and then the patron carries their food to a table, utensils are typically disposable and customers dispose of their own waste

• Fine Dining – Offer table-side service on non-disposable utensils, with servers in formal wear

• Buffet – Customers serve themselves from food that is placed out for self-service

• Café/Bistro – typically food is served at a counter and food items are limited to non-TCS bakery products, sandwiches, and soups

• Other – Use this option if the restaurant style does not fit into the above categories

14. What are your approximate sales per customer?

• This is calculated as total sales/total number of customers

• It may also be referred to as average sales per cover

15. What is your average number of transactions or tickets per day?

• This is the number of tickets or transactions per day, this is differentiated from the number of customers (q. 14) in that you may have multiple customers on one ticket (e.g. a party of 4 would have one ticket but would represent 4 individual custormers)

16. Approximately how many meals do you serve on an average day?

• Insert approximate number of meals

17. How many people work here including employees and managers?

• Insert the total number of employees

• This includes both front and back of house and employees and managers

18. What is your average rate of employee turnover per month?

• Number of new employees/number of positions – if they are unsure in general then ask about employee turnover for the previous month

19. What is the average length of employment for:

    • Managers – Enter the number of years and circle yr – if less than 1 yr enter the number of months and circle mo

    • Cooks - Enter the number of years and circle yr – if less than 1 yr enter the number of months and circle mo

20. How often do you review the restaurant’s profit and loss statement?

• Select the appropriate time interval, if they do not know what a profit and loss statement is select the option for Doesn’t know what this is

• The intent of this question along with question 21 is to understand the intensity in which a restaurant monitors their finances

21. How often do you review the restaurant’s prime costs?

• Select the appropriate time interval, if they do not know what prime costs are you can prompt them with it is the total cost of goods sold and total labor cost, if they are still unsure of what this is – mark Doesn’t know what this is

22. Is the manager over the kitchen a Certified Kitchen Manager?

• Has the person in charge passed one of the ANSI accredited tests and is it still valid?

23. Does the restaurant have a Certified Kitchen Manager for all hours of operation?

    • Is there at least one Certified Kitchen Manager present during all hours of operation

24. Does this restaurant allow employees to handle ready to eat foods with their bare hands?

• If the facility allows bare hand contact mark yes

• If the local health requirements allow bare hand contact, mark the box for bare hand contact allowed

25. Are you able to ask employees about any illness symptoms or diagnoses they may have?

• This is a knowledge question to see if they know if they can ask questions about illness symptoms.

• Mark Yes if they can ask

• Mark No if they can not ask (e.g. due to HIPAA or other legal requirements)

26. Does this restaurant have a policy about what to do if an employee is sick?

• This should be the restaurants policy and not the specific managers thoughts

27. Is the policy written or verbal?

• If written, ask to see a copy of it, if they are unable to locate it mark unavailable

• Written – Written and available

• Verbal – Oral only

• Unavailable – Written but NOT available for review

• You may check both written or unavailable AND verbal if there is a verbal policy to supplement gaps in the written policy

28. Are employees trained on this policy?

• This would include any training provided by the manager to employees on not working while sick

29. How are employees trained on this policy?

• Mark any methods that employees would use to find out about this policy

30. What symptoms or illnesses does the policy cover and what actions do you take?

• Ask about specific symptoms and illnesses and mark yes or no if their policy covers the condition and whether they would exclude or restrict the employee based on their policy

• For the interviewer mark the next two boxes if there is a requirement in the jurisdictions food code for the condition and whether the establishment is in compliance with the requirement.

• If the policy is written, verify that what the manager relates is consistent with what is written down and then you can fill out the table based on the written policy

• If the written and verbal policies differ – fill out the table based on the verbal responses and note the differences in the additional comments section

31. If you send an employee home or they call in sick what criteria do you use to let them return to work?

• Mark any methods that the restaurant manager reports or the policy lists for allowing an employee to return to work

32. Who does this policy apply to?

• Are there different policies for different groups?

33. What are the differences between the groups?

• If there are different ill worker policies based on position, highlight the major differences between groups

34. Do you require employees to let you know when they are sick?

• YES – employees are required to report illness

• NO - employees are NOT required to report illness

• Employee Reporting Agreement – If employees are required to report illness AND there is a written employee reporting agreement

35. Does the restaurant maintain a log of when employees call in sick or are sent home sick?

• YES – they maintain a written log

• NO – they do NOT maintain a written log

• Verified – they maintain a written log and you are able to see it and that it is filled out – if it has never been filled out do not mark verified

36. Approximately how many employees have you had that were out sick over the past month?

• Enter either an approximation from the manager or the value from the log

37. Do you actively look for signs or symptoms of illness in your employees?

• Are they asking or monitoring employee health even cursorily

38. What symptoms do you look for?

• Mark the appropriate box – malaise would be a general look of being run down

39. When you hire a new employee do you ask about prior illnesses

• This is getting at the question of inquiring about conditional employees

40. What do you do if an employee calls in sick?

• How do they currently manage running the restaurant if someone calls in sick

41. Do you have any processes or procedures in place to keep ill workers from working?

• If they have any processes mark yes – follow up in 25 about specific processes

42. What processes or procedures do you have implemented?

• Mark yes if they report having the process in place

• For the interviewer mark the next two boxes if there is a requirement in the jurisdictions food code for the condition and whether the establishment is in compliance with the requirement.

43. Who in the restaurant would be able to make changes to this restaurants ill worker policy?

• Mark who the appropriate individual/group would be – we are trying to determine who is the person responsible for making the change

• If this is the person being interviewed mark the box for Is this the person being interviewed

44. In your opinion, which of the following processes would be most likely to be adopted by this restaurant?

• Read all of the options that are bolded

• We are trying to gather which of the interventions would be most acceptable - there is no expectation that they will implement any of these

• Paid sick leave or additional paid sick leave – If a restaurant already provides sick leave, either voluntarily or is mandated by local ordinance would they consider offering additional paid sick leave

45. Do you have written policies for cleaning of the facility?

• Mark yes if they report have written policies or have checklists that indicate how frequently the facility should be cleaned

46. Does the policy differentiate between routine cleaning and whether a bodily fluid is spilled?

• Do they have special procedures for cleaning after a bodily fluid has been spilled (e.g. vomiting, feces, blood)

47. Are there specific policies to address cleaning of vomit or diarrhea?

• If they have either specific policies or their existing policy addresses this issue mark yes

• Mark box if there is a code requirement for this provision

48. Does the policy include how to clean up the vomitus or feces?

• Mark yes if there are specific actions such as adding a coagulant or using dustless methods

49. Does it include how to disinfect the area

• Does the policy address how to disinfect the area

50. What type of sanitizer do you use and at what concentration for disinfecting these incidents.

• Mark the sanitizer that is used and the reported concentration

• If they are unsure of the concentration leave it blank

51. Do employees use any personal protective equipment while cleaning these incidents?

• If yes, follow up with the type of PPE used in question 52

52. That type of equipment is used?

• Indicate the specific PPE that is used

53. What do you do with food that may have been potentially exposed?

• Mark what actions they report taking

54. What do you do with the plates or other utensils that may have been exposed?

• Mark what actions they report taking

55. To the best of your knowledge has this restaurant ever had an incident of vomiting or diarrhea that required cleaning?

• Mark this based on their recollection

Site (Enter name of EHS-Net Site)

Establishment Code Number (Enter facility number for establishment)

Visit # (Enter 1 if this is the first visit to the establishment, 2 for the follow up, and 3 if it is a control restaurant that has a follow up)

Intervention (Mark Y if this is an initial intervention restaurant or N if it is an initial control group restaurant)

Additional Notes: (Include any additional comments or notes that would clarify above responses)