Hospitality and tourism sector still struggling to recruit staff, research shows

Close to 90 per cent of businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector are still finding it hard to recruit staff – but new research shows that the number of operators who believe the skills shortage will force them to close has dropped from 30 per cent late last year to 16 per cent now.

The latest study by Fáilte Ireland, published on Friday, shows that more than 71 per cent of hospitality businesses who are recruiting have increased pay in a bid to attract staff, while 69 per cent have responded to the skills shortage by offering more flexible working patterns and nearly two-thirds are guaranteeing staff “predictability” about their working hours.

Earlier this year Fáilte Ireland estimated there were 40,000 vacancies across the sector and last month it launched a €700,000 marketing drive to address staff shortages, with the main focus on attracting retirees and parents who want flexible working arrangements.

[ Staff shortages in hospitality sector: ‘Chefs are like hen’s teeth’ ]

More than 730 businesses including, hotels, pubs, cafes and restaurants, event organisers and coach operators were surveyed for the latest “Tourism Barometer”, which found that 87 per cent were still finding it difficult to recruit staff.

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But Sarah Dolly, acting head of tourism careers with Fáilte Ireland, said while the skills shortage was having an impact on businesses’ ability to fully open and leverage the strong recovery in the tourism industry, operators had responded to the challenges.

“The tourism industry is making a really strong recovery following the impact of the pandemic,” she said. “The recovery is coming quickly but one of the key barriers for businesses at the moment is recruiting and upskilling new staff to meet this demand.” She said this was an issue across many sectors in the Irish economy at the moment, “and the labour market has never been so competitive both here and indeed around the world”.

The latest survey shows most (72 per cent) hospitality businesses have recruited or intend to recruit this year, with 95 per cent of hotels taking on new staff and 92 per cent of restaurants.

The difficulty in recruiting was consistent across all sectors and regions, but most challenging for restaurants, cafes and coach operators trying to fill vacancies. Almost all (98 per cent) hotels with staffing needs were struggling to fill posts.

The biggest challenge is in the food and drink services area, the research shows, with 86 per cent of restaurants and 84 per cent of hotels who have vacancies in need of chefs.

Waiters and waitresses are also in high demand. More than 80 per cent of restaurants and cafes who are short-staffed are struggling to recruit new wait staff.

Consequences

Asked what the consequences would be if they failed to find additional staff, 83 per cent of respondents said it would cause added stress; 74 per cent said it would have a negative impact on customer experience; 72 per cent said they would have to reduce capacity or trading hours; and 64 per cent said it would result in extra hours for existing staff. Almost 60 per cent said they would be training new staff who had limited experience or skills, and 16 per cent said their business faced closure, down from 30 per cent at the end of 2021.

An inevitable result of the major recruitment drive under way as the tourism season gets into full swing is that there will be many inexperienced staff working for the first time in the sector. The Fáilte Ireland barometer shows that about a third of those working in hospitality this summer will be new to the sector. The proportion will be as high as 50 per cent in Dublin.

The last Fáilte Ireland report published early this year showed that having to work unsocial hours “with little choice in the matter” was a major turn-off for potential employees.

The new research suggests employers have taken this on board with a range of measures such as a four-day working week in some cases, and a reduction in trading hours or more flexibility for employees.