High employee turnover
Staff retention is considered one of the most significant challenges facing the hospitality industry. Demanding work conditions, seasonal employment and irregular hours all contribute to a high rate of employee turnover.
Turnover of staff means you have to go through the disruption of recruiting and training over and over again, which disrupts team dynamics, affects operations, and comes at a substantial cost both financially and in staff morale. So, how do you combat this?
Recruitment
Be transparent and upfront about what the role entails and what you’re looking for; when you recruit the right people, you’ve got a better chance of them staying with you for the long term.
Onboarding
Onboarding new team members properly is critical. Set up a comprehensive training program, and make sure they feel supported and welcome. Good onboarding can take months, but getting it right can massively improve staff retention.
Rewards and recognition
Create a culture where hard work and loyalty are recognised and valued, and you’ll have a workplace where your employees feel appreciated and want to stay.
Invest in their future
By offering comprehensive training and development programs which provide clear pathways for career progression, you’ll show your employees that there’s a future with you.
There are many more strategies you can employ to improve staff retention, but if you focus on the 4 steps above, you’ll have a much better chance of keeping great staff in your business.
Recruitment and talent acquisition
We can’t flick a switch and expect employee turnover figures to flatten out overnight, so having robust recruitment and talent acquisition processes in place is crucial (especially when you consider that this step will lead to lower turnover down the line).
When you consider how expensive it can be to replace an employee, it becomes clear that you need to make sure you are choosing the right people in the first place. But given that hospitality vacancies still remain higher than pre-pandemic levels, it’s not simply about making the right choice out of an abundance of candidates; you’re going to need to work extra hard to make the right people choose you. So, how do you do that?
You might need to review your pay and benefits package, but that’s not the be all and end all for a lot of employees in the hospitality industry any more. Many are more motivated by a better work life balance, and a great company culture. Employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor can help you to demonstrate your commitment to looking after your employees. And social media is an excellent way to show off your company culture to prospective employees.
Another effective way to attract top talent is by demonstrating you have a strong training and development program running in your business. Prospective employees are more likely to choose a company that invests in their growth and provides opportunities for skill development. By keeping these opportunities for advancement front and centre during the recruitment process, you will appeal to candidates who are eager to advance their careers.
Training and development
If it’s going to attract great talent, your learning and development programme will need to offer real opportunities, and candidates will want to see that you’ve put time and effort into creating a programme that will work for them.
We work in an industry built on customer experience, so we need to ensure the highest standards of customer service at all times, making continuous training and development essential. But it can present its own challenges; delivery, staff engagement, and tracking compliance are just a few of the issues that HR managers are likely to face when it comes to delivering training across the workforce.
Whether it’s a legally required training course, a business critical one, or development for career progression, making sure you’ve made the right training accessible to everyone is vital. Providing staff with easily accessible and flexible training is key to delivering consistent learning across venues, and maintaining control over training and development.
We understand that in hospitality, working hours can be unpredictable, making it difficult to fit training into busy schedules. That’s why it’s crucial to invest in a platform that offers flexibility. With Access CPL Learning, your team can access training anytime, anywhere, on any device. This allows them to learn at their own pace, without disrupting their workflow, ensuring consistent training and compliance across all your venues.
On-the-job training remains important, as it allows employees to immediately apply new skills in their everyday work and helps to make training more relevant, but there are times when it may become important to embrace innovative training methods.
Online Learning
Online or E-Learning platforms, such as Access CPL Learning, are changing how training is delivered. They give employers and employees the flexibility to engage in training at their own pace. This makes online learning ideal for fitting training around unpredictable schedules. Whether it's learning about new regulations, customer service techniques, or exploring advanced management skills, online learning ensures that employees can stay current without disrupting operations.
Peer to Peer Learning/Mentoring
Pairing new members of staff with longer-term staff members helps create a culture of continuous improvement, inclusion and team building. It provides new employees with support to help them settle into their new role, while also giving experienced staff the opportunity to refine their skills and learn new ones around leadership.
Cross Training
Having your employees trained to perform multiple roles within the business is beneficial to you and the individual as it broadens their skills but also enhances the overall operation of the business. If you have an unexpected rush or face staff illness or shortages, people can “jump on” to other areas. Having this flexibility, where your staff can easily jump between roles, gives your employees flexibility and a feeling of being part of a team.
It can be an absolute game changer for your business as service levels won’t drop during higher demand periods.
Assessments and feedback
Providing your team with regular assessments and feedback forms a critical part of the development process. By incorporating assessments into your training programs, you’ll be able to see the effectiveness of any training and quickly identify areas where change may be needed.
Constructive feedback helps everyone understand how they are progressing, which encourages continuous learning.
Despite the potential logistical HR headaches that come with it, training and development is not something you can afford to let slip in your hospitality business. By employing a mix of traditional and emerging training techniques, you can build a flexible and resilient training model that delivers real value by creating a highly skilled workforce who are more than capable of meeting any challenges they might face.
Work-life balance
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is critical, yet it remains a significant challenge in the hospitality industry. Long hours, weekend shifts, and the uncertainty of where and when staff will be needed can create stress and lead to higher turnover. This is where smart scheduling tools, like Rotaready, can make a real difference.
Rotaready enables fair and flexible scheduling, offering options like shift swaps and set rotas. This empowers employees with greater control over their time, allowing them to better manage their personal commitments and reduce burnout. With clear, easy-to-access schedules, staff are better equipped to plan ahead, reducing the stress that comes with unpredictable work hours.
In addition to effective rota management, providing staff with training in areas like stress and time management can further boost their wellbeing and productivity. Most importantly, tools like Rotaready foster a supportive work environment where employees feel valued, heard, and better equipped to manage their work-life balance.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are vital in the hospitality industry, where employees from various backgrounds often work together. Managing a diverse workforce often has its own challenges.
Cultural differences, language barriers, and potential biases need to be carefully navigated and training can be a crucial tool in promoting diversity and inclusion in the modern workplace. Bias is part of the human condition. We’re all influenced by our own upbringing and cultural backgrounds. Recognising, acknowledging and rectifying our biases leads to a more inclusive workplace. Offering diversity training programs helps employees understand and respect cultural differences.
Simply creating an environment where everyone feels respected, connected and valued enhances employee satisfaction and can lead to a reduction in employee turnover.
Employee Well-Being and Mental Health
Burnout, stress, and job insecurity are common in hospitality, and all have serious negative effects on employees' mental health.
Supporting employee well-being is a top priority for businesses who want to build a happy and effective workforce. Make sure you’ve created a culture of open communication, so that everyone feels supported and able to talk about problems when they arise.
Training on mental health awareness can help create a workplace culture that supports mental well-being and avoids much of the stigma surrounding mental health related issues.
Providing access to mental health services and wellness programs can also be a great way to create a healthy work environment where employees feel safe and supported.
Are you ready to revolutionise HR in your business with Access people solutions?
In this article, we’ve explored some of the major challenges faced by HR professionals in the hospitality industry today, including recruitment, diversity and inclusion and employee well-being. We've also highlighted how effective training can significantly reduce employee turnover by equipping staff with the right skills and support.
To help tackle these challenges, Access People Solutions offers a comprehensive selection of tools, specifically designed to meet the needs of hospitality businesses. Here’s a breakdown of how these solutions can help manage HR more efficiently:
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Workforce Management Software
Managing a hospitality workforce can be a complex and time-consuming task, which is why our fully integrated HR and workforce management solution at Access will give you the ability to manage your employee experience and day-to-day people management tasks with ease.
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Access CPL Learning
This is our tailored training and development platform that offers industry-specific courses in a flexible manner. It helps to make sure your staff are equipped with the right knowledge and skills to succeed, which will improve overall employee engagement and retention.
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Rotaready
A smart scheduling tool that enables flexible, fair, and clear rotas. It allows staff to manage their shifts easily, leading to better work-life balance and reducing the risk of burnout, which can help to prevent HR issues before they start to arise.
By adopting these solutions into daily operations, you can address key HR challenges while creating a supportive, productive environment for your staff. Get in touch to learn how Access People Solutions can help your business succeed.
