More staff are leaving jobs in hospitality now than at any time since the start of the pandemic, a new report from Fourth has found.
As many as 8.3% of the hospitality workforce departed the sector between August and September, the highest percentage since March 2020 when 15.6% left their roles, research by the inventory and workforce management solutions provider showed.
Data pulled from a database of more than 700 companies across the restaurant, pub, bar and hotel sectors, revealed the leaver rate was highest in pubs (10.8%) and restaurants (9.8%).
This was followed by quick-service restaurants (8.1%) and hotels (6.5%).
Despite this, overall staffing numbers in the sector remain higher than a year ago with a similar number of recruits joining as well as leaving.
The overall hospitality headcount grew 8.8% in the 12 months to September 2022, however, numbers fell by 2% between August and September, the report suggested.
Pubs now have fewer workers (-4.4%) than a year ago, while restaurant staff numbers are up 7.2% but fell by 4% between August and September.
“The latest data in the Fourth Hospitality Workforce Report shows that the industry is precariously placed,” Sebastien Sepierre, managing director – EMEA, Fourth, said.
“While staff numbers and collective hours worked remain solid, this is set against a backdrop of inflation at a four-decade high, the cost-of-living crisis, rising fuel costs and an understandably cautious consumer base, all making it far harder to turn a profit than a year ago.”
Other findings showed that 25.7% of new starters in September were from a non-EU background, while just 14.1% were from the EU. The remaining 60.1% were British.
In July 2021, non-EU workers made up 12.7% of the workforce but this has grown to 20.1% as of September, the data found.
In the same period, the number of EU workers fell from more than a third of the workforce (35.9%) to under a quarter (24.3%).
“There are currently as many people starting jobs as leaving them,” Sepierre added.
“It is now essential that operators focus on retention and ensuring that recruits can see the benefits and rewards that a long-term career in hospitality offers. If not, they face the prospect of continual rounds of recruitment rather than consolidating teams to drive their businesses forward.”
This week a survey by UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) and Hospitality Ulster, suggested that more than a third of the UK’s hospitality businesses risk going bust in what has been dubbed the ‘cost of doing business’ crisis amid escalating energy costs and food price inflation.
