Vacancies Drop but Wage Bills Climb as Hospitality Tackles Labour Issues

The sur vey shows one in 11 roles (9%) are currently vacant and open for application It marks a drop of two percentage points since the last sur vey of leaders in October 2022 The rate of churn – the propor tion of staff leaving a business in the last three months – has meanwhile dipped by three percentage points to 16%

Despite improvements since the turmoil of Brexit and COVID-19, vacancy and churn levels continue to cause concern Only a third of leaders (33%) say they feel confident about their ability to recruit Attracting and keeping staff has also come at a significant cost, with hospitality businesses raising their pay by 12% and 11% for new and existing staff respectively in the last 12 months – just ahead of the rate of inflation

The Business Leaders’ Sur vey from CGA and Four th flags hospitality’s effor ts to improve conditions for their teams Well over half (57%) of business leaders say cultivating the right working culture has been effective in improving retention, while a high level of communication with staff (41%), a focus on staff wellbeing and mental health (33%) and creating learning and development oppor tunities (33%) have been impactful Industr y collaboration – including via the Hospitality Rising campaign – has also helped to improve the reputation of pubs, bars and restaurants as places to build a career for younger workers

Sebastien Sepierre , managing director

EMEA, Four th, said: “While the pressures related to labour shor tages might be star ting to ease , it is apparent that workforce related challenges are ver y much continuing to keep operators awake at night The fact that only a third of business leaders feel confident about recruitment right now, indicates the impor tance of retaining existing members of staff and keeping them motivated Technolog y plays a pivotal suppor ting role here helping businesses to forecast demand as accurately as possible enabling them to optimise their workforce planning so they are best placed to combat the issues present during this challenging period This, in turn, makes it easier for businesses to hire , onboard, engage and retain team members, helping them to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible ”

Karl Chessell, CGA s director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA, said: It is encouraging to see that hospitality’s hard work on recruitment and retention is star ting to pay dividends However, with thousands of jobs still vacant wages rising sharply and the cost of living crisis hitting consumer spending there is no room for complacency Hospitality is one of the UK’s most dynamic industries for job creation and it can kickstar t the economic recover y, but first it needs targeted government suppor t on labour shor tages and cost challenges ”