- Caterer.com states that 69% of hotel companies have difficulty recruiting staff
- Almost two-thirds of hotel companies have difficulty filling chef positions
- Some respond by offering flexible shifts, bonuses and subsidized housing
Most hospitality firms say Brexit is still affecting their ability to hire staff, research has found, with companies now looking to attract workers from other parts of the UK with lucrative relocation packages.
In a new report, hospitality employment website Caterer said 69 per cent of hospitality businesses were struggling to recruit staff due to Brexit.
Chef positions are the most difficult to fill, he said, with nearly two-thirds of companies struggling, followed by general management and front-of-house positions.
Hiring problems: In a new report, Caterer.com said that 69% of hospitality companies are having difficulty recruiting staff due to Brexit.
According to Caterer, 70 per cent of hospitality businesses believe that actively trying to recruit UK workers from outside their immediate area will help solve the shortage.
Some entice staff with flexible shift patterns or relocation packages that include bonuses, moving costs or subsidized accommodation.
Calvern James, head of hotel management at Caterer, said companies had “swapped the EU for Edinburgh and Essex as they became increasingly creative in finding talent”.
He added: “This could be a hotel in Devon advertising to workers in Scotland or a Yorkshire cafe targeting people thinking about leaving London.”
Other hospitality groups are recruiting among traditionally overlooked demographics, such as refugees, students, homeless people and ex-offenders.
Britain’s departure from the European Union four years ago created red tape and extra costs for groups wanting to employ people from continental Europe.
Many EU citizens have also returned to their home countries, a trend accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and temporary restrictions on non-essential venues such as pubs, bars and restaurants.
Caterer said “the coming months are a crucial time for the (hospitality) sector”, which estimates it will hire almost a million Britons to support this summer’s calendar of events.
He pointed to the Paris Olympics, the European Football Championship in Germany and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, whose 15 UK dates are predicted to boost consumer spending by almost £1bn.
The website’s report also said hospitality businesses would need extra workers to cater for the three-quarters of UK families planning ‘staycations’.
Eighty percent of hotel companies intend to expand their workforce in the coming months to cope with the possible increase in trade.
Between January and March 2024, vacancies for roles at Caterer increased by almost a quarter, with roles in Scotland seeing a 68 per cent increase, the largest increase of any region.
The Caterer survey involved polling organization Opinium surveying 100 businesses and 2,000 UK adults in April.