Almost two-thirds of hospitality businesses expect to see no improvement in recruiting kitchen staff this year, with employers calling on staff to work longer hours over the recent festive period, new research has shown.
Data from workforce management specialist Bizimply revealed that more than half of businesses report that Christmas and New Year trading was as strong as they had hoped, as consumers went out to eat and drink with family and friends, with the data confirming that many operators asked employees to put in longer shifts.
The survey of hospitality employers found that 66% did not have enough staff available in December, prompting them to ask existing employees to work longer hours.
About 30% of employers did not expect front-of-house recruitment problems to improve this year, while 60% did not expect kitchen recruitment problems to improve over the next 12 months.
Bizimply chief executive, Conor Shaw, said: “The recruitment challenge continues to be a key concern for hospitality employers.
“The real-time data from employees checking in and out of work shows that the hours worked by employees increased significantly across Christmas and the New Year.
“However, employers are also very aware that in the longer term, especially as the economy start to recover, they will need to recruit new employees to expand their existing teams.”
Bizimply analysed customer data from hundreds of its hospitality customers in the UK and Ireland, equating to thousands of outlets and tens of thousands of employees across all sectors of the hospitality industry, including pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, cafés and fast food outlets.