Attracting talent in hospitality means offering your staff a chance to succeed

Hospitality is about people, including staff who need to have the right tools for a successful career in the industry, says Michael Clitheroe.

According to a recent Glassdoor survey, more than half of today’s workers claimed workplace culture was more important to them than salary.

Over the past 15 to 20 years, we’ve seen the restoration of credibility in the hospitality sector. This has been achieved through taking the time to invest in our people and their education throughout the industry. More and more work-based qualifications, such as NVQs, apprenticeships and degrees are being obtained in the workplace, which has resulted in an incredible re-evaluation of the hospitality sector, in terms of its employment and career prospects.

The sector is going full circle with a meticulous focus on its people. A voice has manifested throughout the industry; providing education on the importance of diversity, mental health, work/life balance, and generally speaking up for what we believe in. It’s the young blood, ultimately, who are fighting for their rights. As a result, there is an exceptional wave of professionalism coming into the industry, leading to fairer pay, incredible job opportunities and long-term career prospects.

Community ties

Hotels, restaurants, and other leisure businesses have clearly been forced to think outside the box with their recruitment strategy. They’ve identified that people and hospitality are synonymous with each other. It’s no wonder, then, that the UK hospitality sector is now considered one of the best in the world. Bournemouth University has ranked again in the top 10 in the world in the QS Hospitality and Leisure Management ranking – and it’s right on our doorstep at Balmer Lawn. We’re extremely fortunate to be surrounded by award-winning colleges on the south coast, such as Bournemouth and Poole College and Brockenhurst College. These institutions help the next wave of industry professionals to come forward.

Ultimately, attracting fresh new talent from education is about delivering the message of meritocracy; life-long learning and assuring young adults (and, more importantly, their parents) that anyone can join the industry from the age of 16 and within a handful of years become employed in highly qualified senior management roles. That’s exactly how I started. Today, I’m heading up a £5m organisation, overseeing more than 100 employees, and am involved with numerous community engagement projects, education ventures and a wonderful family network of industry professionals. It’s about thinking to yourself, “how can I take my career to the next level?”, and, as a business leader responsible for the long-term success of hospitality, “how can I help take their career to the next level?”

Offering education

We work with such institutions and affiliations to offer a range of skills through championing entry-level roles with a high degree of influence and authority over the customer experience and business reputation. At this year’s HOSPACE Conference at the Royal Lancaster London, it was refreshing to hear UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls talk of “the nation’s favourite first job” and all the life skills it can arm someone with in terms of confidence and prospects in as little as six months.

During the pandemic, we’ve had to adjust to new ways of working and have realised that we can afford to be a lot more flexible than we once were. The past 20 months have really sharpened the hospitality sector as a whole – now more than ever it’s about product integrity. We don’t want to exploit our staff, exhaust the product, and offend or upset our customers. By taking this approach, we’ve successfully kept complaints down, improved staff retention and increased motivation, which has, in turn, enabled us to be able to pay higher wages and continue to invest in courses and employee development.

A hand in glove approach to our situation means reiterating and reinventing hospitality so people can make the jump from college, earn good money, and work shifts that are convenient to them. These are the key ingredients to retaining a pool of talent and building a core team. Indeed, it's a different approach from what hospitality was once accustomed to, but it’s a fresh, forward-thinking one that allows the sector to stay ahead of the curve.

Michael Clitheroe is the general manager at Balmer Lawn hotel in Brockenhurst, Hampshire