"And burnout is obvious. Management level employees rarely work fewer than 10 hours per day, while 12 is more common and 14 hours or more is not rare. Five- or six-day work weeks are standard. Hourly employee schedules vary greatly by market; in places where the minimum wage is $15 or more, overtime is less common, but in other markets, hourly employees tend to work similarly longs days as management. Numerous studies suggest that working over 40 hours a week leads to a decline in cognitive functions. In a restaurant, this could be the reason why your server makes a mistake with your order or seemingly disappears, why the cook burns or undercooks your dish or any other slew of dining mishaps. In a world dependent upon repeat guests, missing the mark during a diner's first visit can mean losing money in the long run. "In great restaurants, those mistakes are more often the result of an exhausted team, not one that doesn't care. That exhaustion is often the result of being understaffed," says Alison Arth, director of development for Soigne Hospitality (Gavin Kaysen's Spoon and Stable and Bellecour) in Minneapolis." - Marisel Salazar