Average of 6% of hospitality staff leave jobs each month, report claims

The hospitality industry is having to replace an average of 6% of the labour force each month, according to data from Fourth.

Pubs are experiencing the highest turnover rates in the sector, with 8.4% of staff leaving their jobs in April and 7.1% in June.

Hotels have the most stable turnover rate at 5% but saw the number of hours worked by staff rise by 34.4% in June compared to the same period last year due to the return of tourism and business trips.

Staffing numbers across hospitality are at a two-year high with the overall headcount up 21.7% from June 2021, but the sector is still struggling with high staff turnover, with 5.7% of the entire workforce leaving in June 2022.

It comes at a time when the sector is already facing record levels of staff shortages, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that the number of hospitality job vacancies between March and May this year had increased by 83% compared to the same period in 2019.

Amid recruitment issues, there has been a notable growth in the percentage of non-EU staff. Non-EU workers now make up 17.9% of the entire hospitality workforce, an 11% rise from January 2019 figures.

Boutique Hotel Group has hired five chefs from India to fill staffing gaps, while the owner of Mandira's Kitchen café in Guildford told The Caterer she had issues around visa sponsorship while trying to take on Non-EU workers.

Sebastien Sepierre, managing director – EMEA at Fourth, said: “With businesses finally able to enjoy a prolonged period of uninterrupted trading, we are seeing consumers return to venues in strong numbers. This in turn has led to continued growth in sales, staff headcounts, and the collective hours worked.

"However, the industry is continuing to contend with post-pandemic challenges, such as supply chain disruption, the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation, and labour shortages.”

Figures from the report were drawn from a database of more than 700 companies in the restaurant, pub, bar, and hotel industries.

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