The hospitality industry has been struggling with a staffing shortage for several years. Very few industries were as heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only did shutdowns force many hospitality workers into temporary unemployment, but it also gave them an opportunity to reevaluate their lives. Many decided that they were burnt out from working in an industry that offered low wages, minimal (if any) benefits, unconventional (and often very late) working hours, and significant job instability. It should come as no surprise that hospitality workers were one of the primary groups leading the charge during the Great Resignation.
Unfortunately, these challenges still exist post-pandemic, and many businesses have struggled to maintain adequate staffing levels as the world returns to normal. With summer just around the corner, many hospitality businesses are coming into their busy season. The following tips will help you attract the high quality hospitality staff necessary for your business to thrive this summer.
Creating a great culture and a positive work environment is one of the most important steps you can take to attract and retain quality hospitality staff. With such tremendous competition for employees, your business must stand out as being a great place to work. Otherwise, the best candidates will most likely choose to work for one of your competitors.
Some ways you can create a great culture include:
Encourage your staff to act as brand ambassadors for you on social media. Ask them to post stories about what makes your business a great place to work and to share pictures of them and their coworkers having fun during a shift. Just keep in mind that for this tactic to be effective, the posts made on social media must be honest and authentic. If it feels forced or rings hollow, it may actually deter quality employees from joining your team.
Another way to leverage your existing staff to help in hiring is to ask them for referrals. Often, hospitality workers will have other friends in the industry. You can give your team an incentive to recruit their colleagues to your business by offering a referral bonus.
In order to ensure your staff is recommending quality workers, we recommend that you place a few criteria on the referral bonus. For example, you may require the new employee to stay at least 90 days before the referring team member receives the bonus. If the new employee stays longer than a year, you may want to offer another bonus.
One way to attract the best candidates to your business is to offer better wages and benefits than your competitors. This may be challenging in an industry that typically runs on razor thin margins, but you’ll likely find that the investment in your talent pays big dividends in the long run. Maintaining experienced quality staff will save money in hiring and training over time, and it will ensure your customers have a better experience. Happy customers will typically come back more often, so this can help you grow your business.
While offering benefits isn’t typically common in the hospitality industry, this would create an opportunity to differentiate your business from your competitors. Providing health insurance would be an easy way to make your job more appealing.
There are also many other potential perks that may entice quality employees to join your team. Keep in mind that the hospitality industry employs individuals in a wide age range, and the benefits that are most appealing will often depend on the age of the worker. Creating a range of perks that cater to the preferences of workers of all ages will help make your business more appealing to candidates.
Even if you take all the steps discussed above, it may be challenging to maintain adequate staffing levels, or to find quality employees who will elevate the service your customers receive. If you’re struggling with staffing issues, Xclusive Services can help.
We provide staffing solutions for a wide range of hospitality industry positions. We can help restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses find quality staff at all levels, from entry-level employees to management staff.
We can help you fill just about any hospitality position you may have, including:
This list is by no means exhaustive. If you don’t see the position you need to fill listed above, give us a call. We can most likely find the quality employees you need on short notice.
You’ll also benefit from our Xclusive Excellence™ commitment, which ensures we:
To learn more about how Xclusive Services can help address your hospitality staffing needs, please request a quote, or call a local office for immediate staffing needs.
