Attracting Top Talent: The Key to Thriving in the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is in a tough position, facing well documented challenges including the loss of valued team members during COVID & post-Brexit, quieter city centres impacting trade and rising costs. With such challenges, recruiting and retaining talented people is vital to the future success of any business within our sector.
It’s important for every stakeholder in the hospitality industry to tackle the key workforce issues in our industry. With the help of Hospitality Rising, hundreds of pubs, bars and restaurants have already committed to elevating the hospitality industry’s status as providing careers of choice.
Hospitality Rising, led by Mark McCulloch, is a collective effort to promote and elevate the hospitality sector. The #risefastworkyoung campaign is now live and being promoted through digital advertisements and screens in major cities, featuring the benefits of working in hospitality, including rapid career advancement and the opportunity to stay youthful.
Whilst larger organisations can deploy recruitment and retention programmes via their in-house HR teams, independent businesses need to seek out appropriate levels of support, advice and guidance from trusted partners. LSG Purchasing works with a range of companies ready to help in the area of recruitment and staff retention and have already assisted many hospitality businesses with invaluable advice
Recruitment in the hospitality industry
Having exceptional staff members is critical to your business’s success. Attracting top talent can be challenging, but by positioning your business as an exciting and rewarding place to work, you can build a team that is committed, loyal and passionate about hospitality.
It’s important to promote hospitality to prospective employees as an exciting and dynamic sector, providing opportunities to build personal and professional skills. By showcasing the many benefits and joys of working in your establishment, you attract individuals who are looking for a challenging and stimulating work environment.
Small businesses, in particular, can benefit from a targeted approach to recruitment. Encouraging your current employees to refer friends, family or acquaintances for roles in the business is an excellent way to create a more diverse pool of applicants.
It can also help to offer more flexible working arrangements to team members, depending on their preferences and circumstances. This could include job sharing, flexible work hours, or term-time contracts, as this can help staff find a healthy work-life balance. Offering flexibility can have a significant impact on employee satisfaction, improving your chances of retaining skilled and committed staff in the long run.
Creating a supportive and stimulating culture for staff can make all the difference in attracting and retaining top-tier talent. By positioning hospitality as an exciting and dynamic industry and offering perks like flexible contracts, referral bonuses, and opportunities for personal and professional development, your business can stand out to prospective applicants, leading them to build a long and rewarding career with you.
Retaining a strong team
Retaining the best people is equally important as recruiting them.
Hospitality Rising’s Rise Fast Work Young campaign is redefining what it means to have a career in the hospitality industry. And there’s a lot to learn from their messaging: The hospitality industry can provide opportunities for employee growth and development with a career that is fun and rewarding.
Businesses in the hospitality sector should acknowledge the fact that providing competitive pay is not the only driving factor and solution for employee recruitment and retention of hospitality staff. One way to secure a committed workforce is to ensure your team is paid correctly and on time. S4labour is here to help. Their payroll solution is tailored to businesses of any size, providing a hassle-free experience, guaranteeing that your team is paid accurately and on time.
To maximise team productivity and performance, research has shown that clear expectations combined with a motivated staff can be hugely effective. Financial reward isn’t the only way to bring out an employee’s best – there are numerous other methods to explore for achieving this goal!
Efficiently managing HR, employment law, and health and safety services is essential, but it can also be time-consuming and risky. Fortunately, Croner offers a solution to ease the burden by providing comprehensive services that eliminate tedious administrative tasks, reduce legal exposure, and allow you to focus on driving your business forward.
Another way to incentivise employees is by providing well-being initiatives, such as health and wellness programs, employee assistance programs and flexible working schedules.
360 Wellbeing is shaking up the employee benefits game and offering access to quality healthcare and wellbeing packages – something once only available to larger businesses. With these affordable solutions, your employees can reap all the rewards of a comprehensive benefits package.
Finally, offering a clear and transparent career path for employees within your business and the industry provides individuals with realistic and achievable goals in their personal and professional development.
As a business, communicate these paths clearly and regularly, and be willing to invest time and resources in employee training and development. This way, you’ll increase employee engagement, build loyalty, improve productivity and foster a team committed to achieving excellence.
Sustainability is key for customers and employees
In response to the growing emphasis on environmentally-friendly practices, it’s paramount to implement sustainability measures that help reduce waste, minimise energy usage and move towards responsible sourcing of food products. With more employment choices than ever before, many would-be team members will look for your business’s credentials around sustainability as they make career choices.
One of LSG Purchasing’s suppliers, SKOOT, offers patrons at pubs and restaurants a chance to offset the carbon footprint of every meal enjoyed. Guests can help the environment simply by providing a voluntary contribution that helps offset their carbon footprint.
Smaller, independent businesses are positioned to be the most progressive employers, offering the most engaging workplace and added-value benefits to retain their best talent. By thinking outside the box and committing to being the best pub, restaurant or bar to work at in your area, businesses can recruit and retain the talented individuals that are essential to its success.