The hospitality sector has been struggling with a poor image and a significant staff shortage for years due to the continuous outflow of skilled workers. On behalf of FNV hospitality, independent research agency Kien asked nearly 3,000 Updates and former hospitality employees what is needed to make the hospitality sector more attractive and future-proof.
Edwin Vlek, union representative FNV hospitality: “The voice of hospitality staff is essential and indispensable for us in the discussion about the future of the sector. In the research, hospitality employees give their opinion on working in the sector and how we could achieve a sustainable hospitality industry with enough motivated and trained staff.”
Research results
Important aspects to continue working in hospitality
For hospitality employees, several aspects regarding salary play an important role in staying in or returning to the sector: a higher basic salary, a good income after retirement, and allowances for working irregular hours and public holidays. A permanent contract with a fixed number of hours also plays an important role, as does the ability to better combine work and private life. Additionally, the employer's attention to the employee is an important element in the choice to remain active within the sector.
Reasons to leave the sector
For both former employees and those planning to leave the sector shortly, the main reasons for leaving are: higher salaries in other sectors, the combination of working in hospitality with private life, and the physical inability to sustain the work. For those in their thirties, salary and work-life balance are even more frequent reasons. For young people under 30, the opportunity for further Your career is also a reason to leave the sector. One-fifth of hospitality employees expect to leave the sector within the next two years. These are mainly employees under 40. Of those who have already left the sector, only a small portion expects to return.
Seven out of ten employees are also concerned about the quality of hospitality, and more than six out of ten would not recommend others to work in hospitality.
Conclusion of the research
The higher salary that can be earned in other sectors is particularly a significant driver for young people under 40 to leave hospitality and work elsewhere. This group also sees few opportunities for Your career within the sector. Although salary is an important point, the certainty of a permanent contract and fixed hours seems even more important for employees. The right work-life balance is also very important to remain in the sector, especially for those in their thirties and forties. However, the Updates staff shortage is causing high work pressure, which is expected to lead to even more outflow from the sector.
FNV hospitality's response to the research results
Edwin Vlek: “The hospitality sector needs a drastic overhaul. We already knew this, but it is further emphasised by these research results. The sector needs to grow up and rid itself of the part-time job culture. A culture that has caused the sector to be saddled with a huge staff shortage for years. A culture that often only looks at what something costs and not what it yields. And a culture in which quality and the Your career and maintenance of a sustainable staff policy are of secondary importance. While employees are precisely the capital and ambassadors of a company. Because the better trained, the higher the turnover.”
According to FNV hospitality, the sector must adapt to the needs of employees and provide them with certainties to finance a home. Or to combine work and family well, for example, through a four-day workweek. Employees indicate in the research that they are willing to work longer days if it means they have to work fewer days.
Vlek: “Hospitality employees cannot pay their bills with just love and passion. If we do not offer them certainty, then particularly those in their thirties - who are vital for the sector because they mainly train the workers of the future - will leave for other sectors that do provide this. All this calls for a significant revision of the employment conditions.”
The claim that corona is the cause of the problems in hospitality is incorrect, according to the research. Vlek: “Corona has only magnified problems, uncertainties, and fears that have been present in hospitality for years. Almost half of the outflow respondents indicated that they – apart from the corona crisis – already did not want to work in hospitality anymore.”
Next steps
FNV hospitality uses the research findings as a guideline in discussions with employers on how to jointly come up with sustainable and concrete proposals to make the sector future-proof.
Read here the entire research report from research agency Kien.