Something I talk about often, is how a good leader understands trends, data, stats, and it’s important to understand and educate yourself on what’s going on in the industry day in, day out.
And, the results are in from the UK’s Largest Hospitality Survey 2024 and as Hospitality Heroes this is something to all pay attention to…
Created by KAM in partnership with Access Group, the British Institute of Innkeeping, Hospitality Jobs UK, Montgomery Group and Otolo. Over 1,300 hospitality employees were surveyed on everything from their salary expectations and satisfaction levels, to what they consider the top employee benefits and most likely to make them stay in a hospitality role.
You can download the full report here: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/hospitality/form/resources/salary-survey/
This year’s results indicated a squeeze in the mid-level salaries, with a larger number of workers earning less than £30,000 (up from 30% in 2023 to 37%) and a rise in those earning £60,000 or more (up from 13% in 2023 to 16% in 2024). The results reveal a decrease in salary levels across most sectors of hospitality with the exception of hotels, where average salaries have risen from £42,100 to £44,800.
The average salary in fast food/cafes has dropped this year from £42,700 to £37,000, from £41,200 to £40,200 in full-service restaurants, and from £41,200 to £40,200 in pubs, clubs and bars.
The survey also found a decrease in salaries across the main job roles with the exception of general management, and a decrease for employees at mid-career level and lower, compared with an increase in average salaries for those with 13-plus years’ experience.
However, despite many squeezes in salaries, employee satisfaction amongst respondents had risen, with the number of workers reporting a healthy work/life balance up from 51% in 2023 to 59% this year.
Some 69% of workers report being happy in their current roles, up from 62%, while 62% expect to be working for the same company in 12 months’ time, up from 54%.
With an impressive 82% of employees say they would recommend a career in hospitality, compared with 74% that would have done so last year. This result made me so happy!
While receiving a fair salary remains the most important benefit cited by employees, the survey reveals employees are placing more emphasis on other benefits including holiday entitlement (cited by 92% of respondents as very or quite important), training and development sessions (88%), flexible hours (83%) and mentoring (75%). The provision of ‘softer’ benefits has also risen in importance.
Hustle culture is still prevalent with the results showing less than half of hospitality workers are paid for overtime, as focused on in this article in The Caterer: https://www.thecaterer.com/news/two-thirds-hospitality-not-paid-overtime-survey
Furthermore, 50% say they have received sufficient training to feel fully qualified for their role, although 35% saying they haven’t had as much training as they would like to in order to feel confident. And, this is where our new Hospitality Hero masterclass comes into its own.
A new era in hospitality training and leadership. Founded with people, place and perspective in mind. As part of this 8 module course, we will give participants the tools, training and tactics needed to become a future-proof savvy and smart ‘Hospitality Hero!’
Please find out more about our masterclass here: https://thehospitalityhero.com/hospitality-heros-live/