How to attract bar staff during the hospitality worker shortage

Among the main repercussions for hospitality businesses is when staff shortages result in the need to cut hours, or close on certain days of the week. Earlier this year UKHospitality, the British Institute of Innkeeping and the British Beer and Pub Association teamed up to conduct a survey about the impact of the crisis. They found that nearly half of operators had cut trading hours or capacity, and that one in three businesses had closed for one or more days per week.

“We work in a vibrant, exciting, interesting sector that can offer fantastic opportunities for people,” began Gumbrell, reinforcing that it’s not the industry’s proposition that’s necessarily at fault, but that long-held negative perceptions of careers in hospitality certainly don’t help. One solution, therefore, is to engage with potential staff at an early stage, such as at school.

Only A Pavement Away, meanwhile, works with homeless charities, veteran charities and more, and helps to change the perceptions that hospitality employers might have when it comes to various groups such as these, explained Mangham. However, his charity also plays a role in suggesting hospitality as a potential career to this broader range of potential employees, he added, listing various perks that the on-trade offers compared to work in the construction industry, for example.

Having the correct ambassadors for the industry, to accurately describe the appeal of a career in hospitality, is crucial to attracting new staff who might not consider it otherwise, added Mangham. “There’s a workforce that wants to come into hospitality, and we have to think about how we’re going to get these people in,” he concluded.

Stint works with a pool of students in 32 cities, placing them in hospitality roles in a flexible way. One of the key characteristics of Stint is that it offers students the ability to work around their studies, in two to four hour shifts. As Coen pointed out, this also helps businesses to improve the experience of their core team, providing more consistency in their shifts, for example.

This is one way that hospitality businesses can find ways to improve the working experience of their employees, and in turn attract new ones too. While pay is undoubtedly an important factor when it comes to improving the working lives of staff, Gumbrell explained that “people are looking for development, and good management”. He added that “one of our weaknesses as a sector is that we haven’t been very good at actually managing people”, offering recognition and rewards, for example. “Mental health, physical health and financial wellbeing… you’ve got to close the circle.”

Mangham agreed about the importance of staff wellbeing. “If that team member behind the bar knows their management team are caring for them and being inclusive, then they will be happy at work,” he said, using the example of those employers that continued to care for the wellbeing of staff while they were on furlough during the Covid pandemic.