Skills shortage boosts salaries

Hospitality companies are at last raising salaries in response to skill shortages, an annual salary survey conducted during March has found.

The study, by Mayday Staff Services managing director Jane Sunley, shows management salaries in London are up by an average of 17% on last year.

More than 70 contract and in-house caterers in London were contacted by Ms Sunley. Twenty-five grades of personnel were included.

The results show that while contract caterers have increased management salaries by an average of 5%, in-house operators have pushed up wages sharply in some cases by 25%.

Ms Sunley said this finding appeared to reflect not only current skills shortages but also the effects of "de-layering", where management levels have been thinned out, particularly within in-house operations. This has resulted in more responsibility and accountability for those left at the helm.

Although managers are enjoying some of the biggest pay rises, skilled workers such as chefs are also seeing increases above the level of inflation. The wages of semi-skilled workers appear to be lagging behind with average rises of about 5%.

Taking all salary levels surveyed into account, there is an overall average increase of about 7%. This indicates that there are shortages of all grades of staff, Ms Sunley said.

The results are a stark contrast to last year's survey, which saw a decrease in salary levels of 9% for chefs, 8% for management, 5% for semi-skilled and 7% for service staff.