The 2022 Hospitality Workforce Report

The hospitality industry has continued to battle its way through a myriad of issues since we released our last Hospitality Workforce Report in August, with spiralling energy costs, high inflation and market instability heavily impacting trading.

Updated figures from our new report, pulled from a network of more than 700 companies across the restaurant, pub, bar, and hotel sectors, show that despite these ongoing challenges there are encouraging signs of growth within the workforce, with overall headcount growing 8.8% in the last year. However, with the staff turnover rate across the sector currently at its highest since March 2020, it is critical businesses continue to boost retention and recruitment as we head into the Christmas trading period.

Key Insights

• 3% of the workforce left the sector between August and September 2022, which is the highest percentage of leavers since March 2020
• Overall staff headcount across hospitality has grown 8.8% in the 12 months to September 2022
• Numbers between August and September, however, fell by 2%, though it is too soon to tell if this is a significant trend
• Pub staffing numbers have reduced by 4.4% compared to last year, while restaurant headcount is up 7.2% from a year ago
• The percentage of EU workers has fallen from more than a third of the workforce (9%) in July 2021 to under a quarter (24.3%) in September 2022
• More than a quarter (7%) of people starting jobs in hospitality are from a non-EU background

Alongside the high staff turnover that operators are facing, our data also reveals that the total number of hours worked across the sector has increased, which indicates that businesses are having to get more working hours out of the staff they do have.

Sebastien Sepierre, Managing Director of EMEA at Fourth, comments: “Businesses must be careful not to burn out talent and inadvertently encourage them to seek work in other sectors, particularly as we head towards the final critical few trading months of the year, with a winter World Cup and Christmas on the horizon.”

“The continuing professionalisation of the industry is therefore essential in developing the reputation of hospitality as a rewarding and long-term career path. And the implementation and utilisation of technology is a key component on this journey. It can streamline the recruitment and onboarding process and improve staff communications while enabling efficient scheduling and management of stock.”

You can read the full report here to access more of our insights on the UK hospitality workforce, as well as details on how Fourth’s solutions can support your business.