Staff shortages in hospitality and how to attract personnel of all ages
The hospitality industry is currently experiencing severe staff shortages. Many employees laid off during the pandemic have decided not to return; consequently, the industry has become staffed with people with no work experience. However, tolerance to stress, not professionalism, has become the more important issue. Resilience, customer focus, and the ability to be flexible are the qualities that recruiters look for in candidates from all generations.
Pressure on staff
Business trips are now resuming after a two-year hiatus, with statistics showing that they have decreased in duration but increased in frequency. Because of this, the workload of hotel and restaurant staff has increased significantly, making stress tolerance an issue.
Employees must keep track of huge amounts of information about guests who come and go at a greater frequency than ever before.
Employee competence is no longer a priority, but rather a bonus or a benefit. Hoteliers state that they are willing to teach, but what is more important to them is that the person stays in the industry; competence does not play a role if they cannot cope with guests or find it hard to work with people. Many well-qualified employees have switched from hospitality to something more stable and this has hurt the hospitality job market.
The recruitment and protection of a staff
There is no longer any point in having age limits. If a person is over 50 and still works as a waiter, it usually means they are very good at their job. A hotel I know has a waiter who has worked there for 25 years, and guests ask for her by name; this is a good example of a person who understands why he or she is there. You can also find this desire amongst young people, but it is more difficult to find.
Employees, especially the more mature ones, are afraid of another pandemic and the impact that it will have on them. Hoteliers should develop a scheme where staff can voluntarily contribute from their salaries for lay-off insurance. The main challenge is to make employees understand that even if something like the pandemic happens again, they do not have to leave the industry and the profession.
Staff retention is now the hospitality industry’s primary challenge, especially for seasonal businesses which traditionally downsize during the off-season. With staff shortages now endemic, it is more likely that they will hire fewer people during high season and try to get by during the off-season without making cuts.
Attracting Gen Z for work
The younger generation has demonstrated that it has different values. They are more inspired by the need for professional development than they are for earning money. Zoomers have grown up with gadgets; they are comfortable taking an order on their phone, sending it to the kitchen, and printing out a receipt without having to go to a cash register for these operations.
The new generation also has requirements on the type of equipment or system they are prepared to work with. They want it to be user-friendly and easy to understand, and the service should not be too time-consuming. Waiting at tables is hard work, so if you do not make efforts to reduce the number of trips to the table the positions will remain vacant. In the past, there was no choice, but now, young people look at the technology they will have to work with and judge it accordingly.
Choosing a technical partner
With hoteliers shortening their training courses and not all of them having good on-site software coaches, staff training has become a major challenge. At HRS, we do it through webinars and e-learning; this allows staff to watch or listen again to the training materials. Without online training or access to video instruction, getting a new employee into the workplace becomes difficult.
Ultimately, once new staff members start to feel that they know how to use the system, their productivity improves, and they are more likely to stay in the industry.
Inna Novosela
HRS Business Development Director — EMEA
