The hospitality sector has a problem with staff retention not recruitment according to the latest report from People1st which suggests of the 993k staff needed in the sector by 2022, 870k will be to replace existing employees.
The rate of replacing staff is exceeding the rate of growth in the sector.
People1st’s report suggests greater employee engagement, promotion of career progression and systematic training is required in hospitality to boost staff retention rates.
Hospitality and tourism adds £46.5bn gross value to the UK, which is significantly lower than comparable retail and construction sectors.
People1st found 21% of hospitality and tourism businesses reported their staff lack essential skills compared to a 15% shortage in other UK businesses. This shortage, according to People1st, is due to staff not remaining in a role long enough to receive adequate training.
To slow the rate of turnover, People 1st recommends a sector-wide focus on employee engagement to aid retention; promotion of career progression both to existing staff and to attract new staff. It further suggests targeting sustainable labour pools such as older workers and mothers returning to work who would benefit from the flexible hours offered in many hospitality jobs.
“Considerable attention has been given to the recruitment challenges in the sector, but evidence suggests that paying more attention to staff retention would help not only to tackle our recruitment problems, but also increase the competency of the hospitality and tourism workforce. The recruitment of transient staff is largely driving the high rates of turnover, however, few businesses are looking at diversifying their recruitment pools, which could help address their recruitment problems as well as aid retention.
“Linked to this, the lack of visible career pathways is having a detrimental impact in attracting sufficient numbers of skilled applicants. Employers are finding this to have an adverse effect on finding candidates with the required customer service behaviours, but also sufficient numbers of chef and management applicants.”
The hospitality and tourism sector employees 2.2 million people – a rise of 268k since 2009, which is growing at a greater pace than retail, or construction.
“Latest figures conservatively indicate that labour turnover at 30% is costing the sector £274m annually. However, it is not just the cost of constant recruitment and initial training that is taking its toll, hospitality and tourism businesses are likely to report other consequences on their businesses, as a result of high labour turnover.”
One result of such a high rate of turnover is businesses are more likely to report staff who lack essential skills.
Employers reported staff being new to the role was the most common reason for these high rates of skill gaps (63%), followed by training being only partially completed (61%); both a consequence of high rates of labour turnover.
The report found 61% of employees lack customer handling skills; 58% lack planning and organisation skills; 53% need greater team working skills; 49% require more oral skills and 49% problem solving skills. The only section hospitality staff are more equipped than the rest of the industry was technical, practical or job specific skills.
The majority of vacancies in the sector are for front facing and entry level roles with 68% of employers reporting vacancies. Again, this reinforces the effect of high labour turnover, as turnover rates are higher for these roles.
The report concluded: “Evidence suggests that paying more attention to staff retention would help not only to tackle our recruitment problems, but also increase the competency of the hospitality and tourism workforce. The recruitment of transient staff is largely driving the high rates of turnover, however, few businesses are looking at diversifying their recruitment pools, which could help address their recruitment problems as well as aid retention.”
