The competition and struggle to secure staffing in the hotel and hospitality industry is a “battle for bodies,” according to Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, the United Kingdom’s principal industry membership body.
Speaking on a panel at Westminster Kingsway College in London, Nicholls said to hire the people it needs, the U.K. hospitality industry must be “relentlessly positive and optimistic” about the benefits, flexibility, upward progression and good pay it can and does provide.
According to Nicholls, in the U.K. approximately 20% of revenue, more than 20 billion pounds sterling ($25.2 billion), is being lost due to a lack of staffing.
Panelists said employment success stories need to be told, young people are the ones to relay to other young people the benefits of a career in hospitality and one, united voice is needed across the industry to get the message out.
In the U.K., the combination of Brexit and COVID-19 have accentuated staffing issues, which has resulted in UKHospitality collaborating with partners on a new “Hospitality Workforce Strategy.”
“Staffing is an international crisis, but of the 32 countries I work in, the U.K. has the worst situation,” said Sophie Kilic, whose role as senior vice president of human resources for Northern Europe and Corporate U.K. at Accor is based in London.
Nicholls said despite the likelihood of increasing staffing challenges over the next 12 to 18 months, there is a sense of optimism and a change in thinking in government circles. She also asked the government for a total overhaul of the apprenticeship levy scheme, which was rolled out in 2017.
“It is worrying the apprenticeship scheme is moving from low-level entry to higher skills,” she said.
She said the industry’s ability to recover and to grow revenue is being hampered by restrictions to talent.
“Remember back to summer 2019, and everyone was struggling to recruit, and we were facing a people crisis. Vacancy levels are now double what they were then. I don’t think anyone would have believed you if you’d have said recruiting would be twice as bad,” she added.
Sarah Hammond, head of human resources in the U.K. at restaurant chain Yo! Sushi, said the fight to attract labor begins with good management and leadership.
“We have to make companies accountable for their behavior,” she said, referring to how staff are treated.
She added mental health is a major agenda item with those newly arriving in the labor pool.
Vince Kelly, lecturer in culinary arts at Westminster Kingsway College, said staffing in his native Ireland is at critical levels, too.
He said chefs and hotel staff must be seen as the professionals they are.
Kilic said the public and employees increasingly regard hotel industry staff as highly trained, but more flexibility is needed, especially in the U.K., in terms of companies being able to transfer employees to other countries to work.
She said hiring teams at Accor now have to engage with at least two colleges.
“That used to be a nice thing to do. Now is it a must,” she said.
Panelists said the industry is reaching out to other groups, such as those with disabilities and those aged 50 and over.
Industrywide Strategy
A localized approach is needed for recruitment in the U.K., even if the overall message must have a national scope, Nicholls said.
“The strategy itself takes a very broad approach. And necessarily so," she said. "We need to fix the short-term crisis, but we need to prevent it happening again. So, the industry needs to look at the longer-term approach.”
Nicholls listed five key areas of improvement:
- Recruitment: The industry needs to increase the flow of people into the sector. This includes looking at recruitment practices, how the industry works with external bodies, how it broadens its appeal to different parts of the population and how the immigration system can be improved.
- Skills and training: Nicholls said more needs to be done in pre-entry training, apprenticeships, skills development and promoting social mobility.
- Work/life balance: Work to make employees feel more fulfilled must cover remuneration, employer expectations, compassion, diversity and inclusion.
- Perception: The “undeniable” perception problem the industry has needs to be addressed.
- Infrastructure: There needs to be a wide-reaching conversation about aspects such as transport, housing, welfare and support benefits and where employment is required.
One very contentious issue in the “infrastructure” part of the conversation, Nicholls said, is around second-home ownership.
“If second homes in tourism destinations mean that nobody can afford to work in the area, [that] becomes self-defeating,” she said.
Nicholls added currently 1 in 10 jobs in the industry is not being filled, a number that has stayed the same since August 2021.
Hammond she her firm is collaborating with primary schools — for those aged between 7 and 11 — to show and explain what the industry can bring to the country and employees.
She called for hospitality to be part of the school curriculum.
“We have to start with the attraction piece, what the journey might look like, but we also have to manage expectations,” she said.
Nicholls said employment is also a struggle in general for restaurant managers.
Kelly said the effects of two years of pandemic lockdowns have been a “nightmare” for his students, who are aged between 16 and 19 years.
“We have to talk up the value of hospitality,” he said.