Staffing and keeping a restaurant staffed is possibly the most difficult task managers and owners constantly face. Turnover is nearly what the hospitality industry is known for. Regardless whether hiring back- or front-of-the-house positions, it may be harder than ever to staff restaurants.
Here’s three reasons why some hospitality industry experts believe it’s harder than ever to staff:
- More people are looking for jobs because of the status of the economy, but means there’s less people with experience to hire. The ex-sales manager, teacher, lawyer, etc. are looking for any position, even if a complete career changes. Less experience doesn’t always count as a disadvantage, but sure can lead to longer trainings and more direct management needed until they have significant industry experience. Weigh out the pros and cons of hiring and applicant with no hospitality industry experience.
- Chefs are always looking for good cooks, but with more applicants who have completed culinary school, their demand for higher pay is greater than ever. With a demand for higher pay, their skills should match, but that’s not always fact. Regardless of schooling, experience is the best style of learning. Finding a balance to pay what’s appropriate for keeping each employee happy with what’s possible financially can be a great challenge.
- Employees formerly accepted one job and kept it for years, even decades – a sense of pride developed over time about the company they worked for and how they advanced. Today, more than ever employees are exercising their rights and embracing their inner adventure spirit and moving from job to job. The average time a candidate spends at one job in the hospitality industry is six months or less.
Perhaps that bottom line is, most people don’t want to work. In today’s world less is more – and work ethic seems to follow that directly. Employees can be extremely unreliable and have no sense of drive to accomplish and carry your business forward.
Hiring is a beast for most. Finding dedicated job applicants that have experience and work ethic as parallels is no easy task. What do you think, is it harder than ever to hire?
