Unfortunately, there is a maddening lack of meaningful sub-analysis of employment data for the hospitality sector, but there’s little doubt that the hotel industry has more than its fair share of the many problems with staffing across the economy as a whole and a significant part of the 100,000+ unfilled hospitality vacancies.

Indeed, the issues have become sufficiently serious to prompt the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospitality and Tourism to launch an official enquiry earlier this year into staff shortages. Quite how this might be impacted by the wholesale culling of generations of MPs in the recent general election remains to be seen.

Ever alert to staff issues, the trade body, HospitalityUK set up its own Hospitality Workforce Strategy initiative in May 2022, since when vacancies across the sector have fallen by 33%.

As our recent report revealed, solving the endemic staffing situation is core to reversing the industry’s declining financial health.

What’s behind the staffing shortages?

There are many factors at play for hotel staff, but among the principal issues are:

• Low pay
• Lack of career development opportunities
• Long and unsocial hours
• Inflexible working arrangements
• Inaccessible locations
• Poor initial onboarding of new employees, especially during peak seasons
• Weak staff engagement
• High staff turnover, leading to low morale

How serious is staff turnover?

Research by hospitality industry HR specialists, elementsuite, showed that the annual staff turnover rate for hotels in 2023 was an astonishing and deeply worrying 105%. The costs and disruption this causes can only be imagined, but the impact affects not just the profits of hotel businesses but also their core viability because of the potential negative effect on guest experience.

A particular problem is retention during initial employment periods. 30% of staff leave within 90 days of starting, almost exclusively because the job does not match up in practice to their original expectations.

What can hoteliers do to buck the staff shortage trend?

Offer competitive pay and benefits

Staff are a major element of the cost base of a hotel business, but the temptation to trim this outlay, especially when profits are being squeezed, must be resisted. It’s essential to offer competitive pay rates and attractive benefits to combat staff churn. These could include health insurance, paid time off work or retirement benefits, but the options are many.

The argument that this sort of package is unaffordable rings hollow when set in the context of the high cost of recruitment and training to replace lost skills, as well as the management disruption caused by constantly having to replace departing employees.

Improve onboarding and retention

Achieving better retention starts with improving the onboarding process so that new staff fully understand their roles and responsibilities, take in the ethos of the business, appreciate the do’s and don’ts of hotel guest interaction and, most important of all, feel properly welcomed, rather than just thrown in the deep end. Of course, this is easier said than done under the maximum pressure of peak season, but even then, it is still important to find the time and resources to do this well.

Focus on training peak season temporary staff

In the heat of peak season battles, it’s all too easy to treat temporary staff as expendable by not taking their onboarding or subsequent staff welfare as seriously as with permanent employees. In fact, the screening of seasonal staff during the hiring process is as vital as the onboarding of those selected.

It’s essential to remember that these staff have exactly the same capacity to disappoint or alienate guests.  They must have the benefit of thorough training programmes and the advantage of having experienced mentors assigned to them via a ‘buddy’ system.

Don’t skimp on training and development

Fitting in training sessions in an operating environment with busy schedules and long working hours is tough, but keeping staff up to date with industry trends, relevant new technologies and service best practice will lead to guests enjoying an improved experience from a more highly-skilled workforce. Hotel businesses can take advantage of e-learning options and on-the-job training opportunities.

Focus on employee engagement

The hotel industry is one of the most heavily people-focused business environments. In this scenario, employee engagement is vital. Fully engaged staff are motivated, happy in their roles and committed to providing the best service possible.

Disengaged employees are a potential disaster, with reduced motivation and likely to give poor service.  They contribute to the retention problem, leaving to find more satisfying jobs elsewhere, while their unhappiness can spread to other staff.

Hotel businesses need to encourage engagement by creating a positive work environment, by recognising and rewarding hard work and extra effort and provide opportunities wherever possible for staff to grow in their careers and develop their skills.

Deploy technology wisely

Modernisation in the hotel industry can be a double-edged sword. Management’s efficiency gains and reduced costs from automating areas like check-in and in-room facilities can so easily turn into a traditional guest’s off-putting technology nightmare.

Where technology can genuinely assist is in staff scheduling and task allocation. It can streamline scheduling processes, improve their accuracy, eliminate much routine administration and provide management and staff with real-time updates on a remote basis via mobile devices.  It can also make the difficult job of re-organisation to cover unexpected staff absences or illness more efficient and far less stressful.

Could outside expertise help?

Beyond the obvious issues with workload and finding the bandwidth to cope with extra initiatives, management of hotels can easily end up too close to their businesses, unable to see the HR wood from the staff shortage trees. Calling in independent advisors should never be rejected on cost (or philosophical) grounds.  Properly briefed and given full co-operation, the cost should be far outweighed by the benefits flowing from their work.

If you are seeking professional advice for your business, Opus is here to help. You can speak to one of our Partners who can discuss options with you. We have offices nationwide and by contacting us on 020 3326 6454, you will be able to get immediate assistance from our Partner-led team.