Will job cuts put an end to the skills shortage?
A year ago, the idea of mass redundancies in the hospitality business seemed a very distant fear. Now it is not only believable, but some of the country's biggest hotel companies have already started to shed jobs. So is this the end of the skills shortage? Nic Paton investigates.
In the wake of the terror attacks in the USA, occupancies at Hilton Group hotels have fallen by 20%. As a result, the company has cut 600 jobs. It's the first small sign of a long-overdue change in the labour market in the catering and hotel trade.
Amid forecasts that 570,000 UK jobs will be lost in travel and tourism alone, the skills shortage that has so bedevilled the hotel and restaurant trade could be about to ease. With more people on the jobs market, it should become easier to fill vacancies and retain staff.
Already there are signs of a change. The Mayday recruitment agency has reported an increase in approaches from temporary staff working in hotels and restaurants looking for work in contract catering.
And Richard Broyd, chairman of Historic House Hotels, predicted the downturn seen after 11 September would have "obvious" consequences for the jobs market.
"The pressure is less intense for those categories of jobs for which there is greatest competition, particularly in the larger cities," he said.
But the day when proprietors will find skilled chefs, waiters and waitresses or front of house staff beating a path to their door is, apparently, still some way off.
Miles Quest of the British Hospitality Association argued that most of the jobs being cut at the moment were unskilled housekeeping employees rather than skilled chefs or waiting staff. Until and unless restaurants began to close in large numbers, there will still be a skills shortage.
"The need for skilled staff, and skilled kitchen staff, will be there unless the industry goes AWOL, which I think is very unlikely," he said. "The industry would have to be decimated before the skills shortage disappeared."
Before 11 September, there were some 30,000 chef vacancies around the country, according to Anne Walker, managing director of recruitment organisation Springboard UK. "We are not going to see a situation where people will be choosing from three or four skilled chefs," she said. "But those who invest in retaining their skilled staff will be the ones that do well when things pick up."
That message was echoed last week by Guy Hands, chief executive of Nomura Principal Finance Group, owner of the Le M‚ridien and Principal hotel chains, speaking at the launch of Springboard UK's careers' festival.
If the hospitality industry wanted to bounce back strongly from the current crisis, it needed to think beyond simply cutting costs, he said.
And Ian McKerracher, chief executive of the Restaurant Association, said the restaurant sector was holding up "surprisingly well" considering the circumstances. "It is certainly not boom, but it is not bust either," he said.
Another sign of the changing labour market was greater internal stability, with people more inclined to stay put, argued Nick Hoad, human resources director at Groupe Chez Gérard.
The chain had seen the number of vacancies being circulated around managers of its 27 restaurants drop since 11 September, particularly for front of house staff. Vacancies could now be "counted on one hand", Hoad said.
"Since 11 September there has definitely been a more cautious approach," he added. "People have battened down the hatches and are thinking twice about taking on a person. Conversely, we are being bombarded by agencies offering to help with vacancies."
Ultimately, according to Sara Orsbourn, client liaison manager at Mayday, the skills shortage might ease, but it will be a long time before "people are kicking their heels and not getting jobs".
She added: "A lot of people will have to go before the elastic snaps. It will ease, but good, skilled people with good experience will still find they are in demand."
