An exodus of leaders

Let me be the first to admit that there has been an absolute avalanche of think-pieces written in recent months and years on the topic of attracting and retaining staff in hospitality businesses.

These are not new challenges.

An industry that has historically had a reputation for long and unsociable hours, below-average pay, and difficult working conditions will rarely end up at the top of somebody’s dream career list. But the extent to which this has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic is truly extraordinary, especially when it comes to team members in senior leadership roles.

When I was working my way up through the ranks of a traditional restaurant kitchen it was not unusual to have some transience within the team. Apprentices would start their journey only to lose interest in the trade, team members on working visas would move on when their time was up and there was of course the usual churn of people looking for further opportunities and to hone their skills.

But your leadership team would be in place for at least a couple of years, providing the consistency that any business needs to thrive. It was commonplace for Head/Sous Chef partnerships to evolve with the business rather than become fractured as they departed for greener pastures. It was just as common for Executive Chefs to bring their own leadership teams with them to build on years, sometimes decades worth of co-working experience.

Now let me give you a personal example of how much the landscape has changed after we emerged from the COVID pandemic.

When I resigned from my last role just under a year ago I did so after a solid 2.5-year tenure and I did so because I was recalibrating my life and considering what the next steps were for my career.

One thing that jumped out was that I was less motivated by my paycheque and more by how the culture at my new workplace would impact my life outside of it. In my new role, I found a brilliantly supportive team that prioritizes health and well-being and not just KPI targets.

Since my departure, my previous role has cycled through four replacements.

Four. In less than a year.

To me, the lesson is simple: the traditional hospitality working model of built-in unpaid overtime is no longer relevant in an environment where professionals know that there are other options.

There was once an unspoken understanding in the industry that when you climbed the ranks and broke into a more comfortable salary you would work around the expectations of the business. This involved longer hours and fixed weekend shifts if the business demanded it, and it always did.

This archaic concept is not exclusive to hospitality, but in my opinion, it is the main reason that people are abandoning leadership positions in droves. It is up to businesses to adapt or face the fact that they will no longer be able to attract or retain candidates of a decent caliber.

These ideas are not new to the rest of the world, but hospitality seems to once again be behind the times.

Consider some questions:

-       If your business runs more efficiently with team members working a ten-hour split shift, have you considered a four-day workweek? Your team will be well-rested and more motivated to perform.

-       Are you under-staffing on weekends due to penalty rates and burning out the team members on shift? Consider closing on a Sunday. Crunch the numbers, is the diminishing return of what you retain from the till worth an exhausted crew that will not be able to deliver the level of service your customer expects?

-       Do your senior leaders have allocated time for administrative tasks such as roster writing, menu building, and P&L/COGS reviews? If your Venue Manager and Head Chef are expended to be 100% hands-on, you’re simply not getting the value of their knowledge and experience.

-       When was the last time your senior leaders could safely take a weekend or public holiday off? If they continuously sacrifice time with family and friends to support your business, they will eventually leave to go somewhere where this is not the baseline expectation.

This is not a complicated equation. If your business model is still built on locking people into contracts with built-in overtime and consistently unsociable hours, it is broken and needs to be reviewed.

Investing in your team is the best money you could possibly spend. Because the cost of a revolving door of staff, especially at a senior leadership level, will cause more damage.

Sometimes beyond repair.

AK