Balancing changing employment laws with maintaining employee morale means running a business in the hospitality industry is complex. When these needs aren’t met, the needs of your consumer aren’t either.
Outsourced hospitality HR could be the solution your business needs. It means specialists deal with HR challenges, enabling employers to focus on their company’s performance and success. Discover how we can deliver that for you with our hospitality HR support.
Our guide explores the key challenges within the sector and how hospitality HR consultants can help your organisation.
What are the main HR challenges in the hospitality industry?
Between 3.5 million and 3.6 million people are employed by businesses in the hospitality industry—making it the third largest employers in the United Kingdom. That’s around 7% of all UK jobs and last year attributed to 176,685 companies.
Given the scale of the sector, it’s no surprise that there are several HR challenges in the hospitality industry.
High employee turnover
Hospitality businesses dealing with a high staff turnover may find themselves repeating recruitment and training processes.
Not only does this disrupt the service an organisation can deliver, but the financial burden of finding new employees can be difficult to recoup.
In fact, a report conducted by Oxford Economics, ‘The Cost of Brain Drain,’ revealed the loss of output and recruitment logistics combine to cost business owners £30, 614 per employee.
HR in hospitality is necessary to assist with managing employee retention, which for many reasons, is a problem that the sector has long struggled with, for example:
Unfavourable working conditions
Anti-social, irregular hours
Seasonal employment
Seasonal staffing needs
Businesses that have peak periods may need hospitality HR support to meet fluctuating demands. Coastal resorts often see spikes during summer months, whilst cities like Manchester require extra staff during events like the Christmas markets.
Several challenges come with seasonality, including:
Efficient recruitment via various channels
Ensuring legal compliance, particularly with right-to-work checks
Delivering effective training in a short timeframe
Recruitment
Whether it’s a hotel, restaurant or a bar, people and the service they provide to the public is central to an establishment’s reputation.
That’s why it’s essential to find staff who have the relevant skills and experience needed to thrive in the hospitality industry; but finding the right personnel isn’t always easy, and different recruitment methods may need to be deployed.
This may become especially difficult for employers who don’t have the time to undertake thorough talent acquisition.
Though with outsourced hospitality support, business owners rely on the experts to headhunt quality candidates whilst they concentrate on their operations.
Training and development
Irrespective of the industry, employees value progression opportunities, and with the right hospitality HR help, businesses can offer comprehensive staff development programmes.
According to a study by Culture Amp, a lack of career growth is a leading cause for people seeking a new role, with 41% of respondents citing it as a reason for leaving an organisation.
Customer experience is core to the HR industry, but employees need to know how to offer exceptional service, and this requires specific training.
Employers could be without the time to offer their workforce this depth of training, and depending on the establishment, legally required courses may be needed.
When it comes to offering training, there’s a lot for the industry’s leaders to consider. Hospitality HR consultants can lighten the load with different types of training:
Employee skills
Communication is fundamental for good service. Hospitality HR help can include training centred around customer interactions.
Leadership mentoring
They can show team leaders how to manage stressful situations, motivate their colleagues, and to provide support.
Ensuring compliance
Following the Employment Rights Act 2025, laws have changed significantly. In October, laws on tips and zero hour contracts will change. Training reflecting this will be crucial.
Work-life balance
As mentioned earlier, irregular shift patterns contribute to poor retention rates, so it is imperative businesses do what they can to give their staff a strong work-life balance.
This has been a longstanding issue that may require outsourced hospitality HR support. The simplest (and fairest) way employers can improve their employees’ work-life balance is by offering a degree of predictability with working shifts.
Late changes to rotas make it difficult for staff to plan social events and is a common source of job dissatisfaction; ultimately, low employee morale often equates to low customer service standards.
Also, as aforementioned, October’s Employment Rights Act 2025 will give those on zero hour contracts greater protection against late shift changes.
Final say: Should you outsource hospitality HR services to support your business?
If you’re an employer in the hospitality industry who wants to get ahead of imminent Employment Rights Act 2025 legislation that’ll reshape the sector, then you should consider outsourcing your HR services to qualified specialists.
Third party experts leading your HR in hospitality is a single approach that resolves the challenges outlined in this guide. It spares you time, money, and effort. It’s a long-term investment.
Speak to Peninsula for hospitality HR advice
Peninsula has over 40 years’ experience of delivering HR support hospitality businesses. With a commitment to helping businesses, they have achieved a Google rating of 4.9 with over 3000 reviews.
Do you want to join the 44,000 clients who get access to:
Learn more about our HR services and contact us today.
