The hospitality and travel industries are probably the sectors that hire millions annually. This is because businesses in these sectors are highly dependent on customer service. Unfortunately, staffing shortages are a persisting challenge that most recruiters face. While working with a hospitality recruiter can help businesses make the right hires, HR Managers in this sector face the following challenges:

1. Staff Attrition

Employee attrition affects all industries and enterprises, hospitality businesses included. Attrition is disruptive, harmful, and costly to business efforts and resources. Low employee retention rates and high turnover are the hospitality sector’s main challenges. Hospitality businesses depend on employees as the face of their brands. Employees also interact with customers directly.

Unfortunately, based on these statistics about turnover rates in hospitality and leisure space, HR Managers in hospitality problems have serious challenges with impactful repercussions. Several factors contribute to employee attrition in the hospitality industry. These include odd schedules, low payment rates, low morale, and poor management.

Under these conditions, employees are bound to experience high-stress levels, which, when combined with poor managerial decision-making, leads to high turnover rates. HR managers should implement a good feedback system to monitor employee satisfaction.

2. Poor Training and Development

Insufficient training and skills development is another common challenge facing HR managers in the hospitality sector. Low employee retention rates leave hiring managers with few options. As such, they are forced to hire ill-prepared and undertrained employees to handle critical vacant positions that require skilled personnel.

While continuous on-job training can help improve employee skills and knowledge, the busy nature of hospitality businesses provides minimal time for training schedules. Lack of proper training creates a cascading effect from poor customer satisfaction, increased employee stress, and eventually exacerbates attrition.

3. Talent Acquisition

High employee turnover rates in the hospitality industry mean there should be a steady supply of qualified talent to take up vacant positions. Unfortunately, HR managers cannot consistently hire the right candidates due to a shortage of skilled individuals, ever-increasing turnover rates, and an inability to retain good employees.

As mentioned, encouraging employee feedback helps minimize attrition. A strong feedback system also contributes to successful recruiting. During the early stages of hiring, even before potential hires sign the job offer, businesses should use the feedback program to evaluate the effectiveness of their recruiting procedures. Gathering such insights helps hiring managers in the hospitality industry improve their hiring processes.

4. Work Culture and Ethics

Unhealthy business culture and lack of ethics negatively affect business brand image and workforce morale. Unfortunately, workplace harassment, lack of empathy, and other systemic issues are common in the hospitality industry. Hiring managers should handle cases of harassment and other unethical issues seriously.

HR Managers should continually track and investigate these issues to protect their customers and employees. Established businesses with a large workforce should leverage technology to monitor issues that can destroy their brand name and culture. 

Endnote

HR Managers in the hospitality industry should treat employees as long-term investments. Low employee turnover rates translate to more revenue. Businesses also avoid the high cost of hiring and onboarding new employees.

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HR Future Staff Writer