5 Mistakes That Make Hospitality Businesses Lose Good Employees

Staffing in hospitality is complex and chaotic even in the best of circumstances. Whether you hire a concierge, event planner, housekeeper, waiter or catering company. The industry has a challenge in staffing adding a high turnover rate making basic hiring harder. 

Restaurants are scuffling with increasing wearing down among the frontline and mid-level employees. Stressed by long hours, burnout, and few chances for growth, employees seek change. Restaurants should urge the government for pension plans or welfare funds. These benefits could help attract and keep staff. If we look at the stats of the last 2 years, attrition in the restaurant sector has touched 60%. 

With Foodism Connect, let’s see the most common yet significant mistakes employers make which make them lose good employees - 

1)Lack of proper communication & empathy

Higher management often keeps information to themselves, which can be intimidating. For a hotel to succeed, transparency and clear communication among all employees are crucial. Although communication is colloquially a well-known term for businesses, maintaining proper communication is challenging at times. Effective communication helps all the employees to stay updated on the happenings and prepare for them. Management is required to keep the staff updated with new regulations or protocols, if this is not done, the employees feel demotivated and disengaged. If employees cut corners, customers will suffer in their satisfaction and experience. In such cases, employees often prefer to go to a competitor. Employees want to feel appreciated. If management fails to communicate well, it can hurt morale. This lack of feedback or recognition may lead to higher turnover. 

2)Profit over People 

It is an undeniable fact that properties live and die for money and at times survival comes at a cost of the hotel staff. To yield huge profits, quarterly KPIs and targets put enormous pressure on the staff. In such cases, staff feel undervalued and think that the management is concerned for profits over them. Management also starts to focus less on employees. This can make them feel neglected, stressed, and irritated. As a result, it may lead to reduced customer loyalty. Guests feel the staff's disengagement. This leads to a bad experience, which causes negative reviews. As a result, guest retention declines. Hospitality companies losing guests are directly linked to their negligence of not valuing their real assets- their people: the employees! 

3)Micromanaging 

Micromanagement can be considered the biggest hidden reason for employee turnover. A micromanagement approach with a heavy focus on details and rigidity towards protocols results in decreased employee morale. These conditions leave employees feeling powerless and stuck, which leads to lower productivity. Micromanagement leaves no room for the employees to be creative or adapt to unique situations. Strict rules can hurt employee morale. This leads to disengagement and dissatisfaction among workers. Management often doesn't see how micromanagement hurts staff. This can cause high turnover and disrupt operations and customer service. Management thinks micro-managing enhances precision and efficiency but it increases stress and burnout among the employees. 

4)Minimal growth opportunity 

This is one of the main reasons why employees leave the hospitality industry. Young individuals start their careers in this industry but do not choose to stay for long thinking this to be a dead-end. When an individual joins a company, advancement is what they think of and the hospitality industry is no exception. Many organizations seek temporary workers during the summer rush. These jobs often feel less secure. Employees may view a job as short-term or replaceable. So, they may hesitate to invest their time and effort. During rush hours, there aren't enough staff. This puts a lot of pressure on the existing workers. They often feel burned out, and frustrated, and may even quit their jobs. Also, employees in this industry look for promotions, training programs or mentorships. If they see any such opportunities somewhere else; they will switch. In addition to this, lack of incentives and insufficient benefits like performance bonuses, health insurance and paid time off makes the employees feel undervalued. 

5)Work-life balance

Unpredictable schedules, prolonged working hours and inadequate time off can result in burnout. Employees often work late evenings, weekends, or holidays. The fast-paced hospitality industry offers little time for rest. This makes it difficult for them to maintain a balance between their work and personal commitments. Rigid shift schedules also lead to employee fatigue, burnout, and a lower quality of life. The combination of long working hours. High-stress levels and lack of flexibility negatively affect their overall well-being. Often a toxic work environment including favouritism, lack of respect and poor management drives the employees away from their work leading to a lack of motivation and job satisfaction. To help employees succeed, management must create a supportive and professional work environment. Without this, turnover rates can rise. 

To reduce employee turnover, management should create strategies that balance needs and value employees. This way, they can bring out the best in their team. However, Foodism Connect will always be at your rescue - download now to hire the best players in the industry.