12th May, 2022
Restaurant Labour Trends
Labour and workforce challenges are spread far and wide amongst many industries right now. The food industry would have to be one of those that we feel the effects of the most.
Employment in hospitality has taken a complete turn and we are now seeing it as an ’employees’ market. There are many reasons for this and whichever way you look at it, employers are going to need to completely reassess the way they handle their employment attraction and retention strategy.
Trends we will see in 2022 as far as workforce goes will be underpinned by the need to mitigate employee turnover, provide an inspirational and supportive work environment with a strategy to attract Gen Z demographic as they enter the workforce.
We need to create and influence a career path that attracts people of all ages and demographic across the entire foodservice industry. Operators will need to get used to working efficiently with less people.
Check out what we have found about labour trends in hospitality for 2022:
Investing in Workplace Culture
There is no doubt that employers need to rise to the occasion, this is certainly the case for them to attract and also retain the quality talent that already exists in their teams. In the coming months and years we expect many restaurant owners to make a shift towards really investing in their work culture and putting more importance on providing a healthy environment that supports a work/life balance. Care and attention from management, seamless and positive communication, and encouraging cohesive team habits will all contribute to an aspirational company culture.
Improved Remuneration and Incentives
We have all seen the ‘staff wanted’ and ‘position vacant’ signs in the window of venues across the nation. Extra waiting times and stressed out workers are showing the signs of an industry that has been hit hard by the current labour shortage. For venue owners and employees to attract quality candidates and maintain a full roster in 2022, they will need to offer competitive wages, superior working conditions and become creative with incentives. Healthcare, training and skills packages, paid leave, and sign-on bonuses will become the expected as a minimum as time goes on.
Efficient Recruitment Processes
Matching jobs with skilled candidates takes time that owner/operators and HR Managers can ill afford right now. We are already seeing the introduction of automated recruitment process in varying degrees. This is definitely the way forward to avoid the frustration of no shows and under qualified candidates. New and evolving technology will benefit employees in many ways, and most importantly, improve the process to showcase the workplace and the role requirements clearly and succinctly.
Efficiencies through Automation and Robotics
It is really not that long ago that the topic of robotics in foodservice seems to have been a thing to expect for the future. We have been talking about it for so long now and in 2022 the tech trend is fast transforming from a blue-sky prediction into reality. The labour shortage is making for innovative equipment and automated robotics to be introduced and take the pressure of operations. We already see this in automation apps such as order at the table and booking systems. This is just the tip of the iceberg and we think this will take a huge turn sooner rather than later as operators look to optimise their process with less human resources available.
Stay tuned for our next article in the series: Top Restaurant Trends we will see in 2022
For more information about the FSAA visit www.fsaa.org.au.