17 October 2016 by Monica Or on behalf of Star Quality Hospitality Consultancy | (Edit this entry.)

We are Heading for a Recruitment

Crisis

Monica Or, columnist and Hospitality Consultant at Star Quality Hospitality

Consultancy discusses how talent management has to be focused on..

Recruiting in the hospitality industry has never been an easy task with a constant skills shortage

particularly in the area of Chefs and Managers. This is not new to us and there have been many

initiatives set up to help combat this.

Although unfortunately we have to face up to the fact that with the uncertainty that Brexit has

caused our recruitment efforts are going to have be doubled in order for us to continue to run

our businesses with the consistent standards of service our guests have come to expect. In total,

a quarter of the hospitality workforce is made up of migrant workers, London being the biggest

recruiter, with a total of 69% of hospitality jobs being filled by migrants.

Many people are adverse to change and operating in an uncertain market, although now is the

time to step up our game and look at more innovative ways of handling the situation we are

being faced with.

Below are some tips on what you should be doing to prepare for what may lay ahead:

– Look at your current workforce and see how you can nurture and develop your current team

– You already have a good team, you want to make them better

– Now is the time to invest in them and show that you have their best interests at heart

– You need to keep team morale up, and you want loyal and committed staff

– Build relationships with your local schools and colleges, they are developing your future talent

– In the meantime you also need to work around a worst case scenario before it hits you

– You need to be prepared that you may lose certain team members and this could be out of

your control

– Look at your manpower planning and see how this affects your staffing levels

– There will be a period of time when you may have to operate with less staff then you currently

have

– You may need to look at adjusting your structure or job roles to work around this

– Start planning now for what may or may not happen in the next 6 months

– Get assistance from an external consultant that can help you through this period of uncertainty

No one knows how Brexit will affect the hospitality industry, as clear cut decisions have not been

made yet, although change is inevitable. In a changing market you need to be able to adapt and

be flexible to ride through the storm.

About Monica Or: As the founder of Star Quality Hospitality Consultancy, Monica specialises in working operationally with

the owner/managers of independent hotels and restaurants focusing on their business structure and service delivery. She is

the Amazon Best Selling author of ‘Star Quality Hospitality – The Key to a Successful Hospitality Business’ and ‘Star

Quality Experience – The Hotelier’s Guide to Creating Memorable Guest Journeys’.