Surviving the Season: How Top Hospitality Businesses can Win Talent and Navigate the Festive Rush!

As the festive season approaches, hospitality businesses face a unique challenge, navigating an intriguing tightrope of staff recruitment. With the end of the year fast approaching, the prospect of working during the Christmas period, Boxing Day, and New Year sparks widespread discussion.

Individuals who are looking to change jobs now have to strike a delicate balance between their personal lives and professional commitments—an undeniable compromise.

Yet, for many, the festive period also presents an opportunity for amplified income owing to extended working hours and the characteristic generosity of festive customers.

This dichotomy poses a fundamental question:

How can hospitality businesses keep their doors open without jeopardizing the well-being of their staff?

We found ourselves discussing this issue internally, exploring a multitude of perspectives.

We asked ourselves, how can businesses balance their financial needs while also ensuring the happiness of their employees?

In a post-pandemic world where work-life balance has been radically reevaluated, could businesses not increase pay to reflect the (potential) surge in sales?

Or better yet, what incentives can hospitality businesses offer to those employees sacrificing their own family time?

It’s important to remember that hospitality is not just a business—it's a community lifeline.

Pubs, restaurants, and cafes are spaces in which people come together to celebrate. They are essential to the societal fabric of the U.K., facilitating a sense of community and camaraderie.

And the people running these establishments often feel a duty to their communities, a responsibility to keep their doors open—even during the festive period.

The pressing question remains though — what is the solution?

With over 140,000 vacant jobs in the industry, it is fair to say that we’re in a candidate’s market. Prospective employees have the power to choose a role that aligns with their needs and values. The endless influx of new talent ready to step into hospitality is a thing of the past.

To attract and retain staff, hospitality businesses need to redefine their value proposition.

Mere words such as "you'll need to work Christmas" are no longer adequate. Instead, businesses must ignite a spark in potential employees about the project and its aspirations, making them feel integral to the process.

It’s about selling them on the company values, integrating them into a team of passionate colleagues, and instilling in them a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves.

Passion for a venue and one’s work can transform the dialogue on sacrificing personal time. However, the expectation of employees to forgo family time in a talent-starved industry, just for the sake of employment, is a recipe for high turnover.

Hospitality businesses must bring value beyond just a paycheck.

At Organic Recruitment, we are proud to partner with clients who understand this. Leaders who are at the top of their game, who genuinely care for their people—just like we do. It’s also why we offer workshops around topics such as retention, employee well-being and value propositions to improve the candidate’s experience.

After all, the hospitality industry is all about people—it's the people who make us great. In this new landscape, the true value lies not in compromise, but in people.

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