How to retain your hospitality staff with a fair contract and policy review process.

Operators need to ensure they have all the relevant policy documents to progress or promote someone within the organisation. This includes understanding which documents are legally mandated and which ones are best practices within the industry. Below we go through a number of these as well as offering helpful context in this guide to what hospitality operators can do to retain staff by auditing your paperwork, identifying what contracts and policies you have, and what is missing.

A contract of employment is needed from day one but a staff handbook is not a legal requirement. It certainly helps as a means to collate a business’ policies. Having a clear policy on probation and career development is again not necessary, but certainly beneficial to enable staff to understand how they can stay and grow in the business. Particularly in hospitality as there are often chance for promotion or lateral moves within the business.

Put yourself in your employee’s shoes, you want to apply for promotion, so what information do you need? Well a job description setting out the nature of the role, any qualification or experience requirements is going to be key. Then a process to set out the procedure the employee needs to follow to apply, for instance, do they need to complete a form, covering letter, just send their CV etc.

Also, consider whether your forms or process is complicated, what language and tone is used. Is the form overly complicated which could put off valuable resource from applying for promotion. That individual could then not feel valued in their role and leave to seek the promotion from another employer.

Culture, communication and leadership!

Employees are a resource and often untapped talent for an employer in hospitality.  All too often, there is a lack of communication between the senior leadership team and those who are directly customer facing or working hard behind the scenes.  By holding open and regular communication, hospitality businesses can create a work environment where their staff feel not only valued, but proud to be included and part of the team.  The best places to work are those where there is a sense of belonging.  Make belonging part of the business’ strategic plan which is discussed at board level.

Look at your recruitment practices and roles.  Do you really need a full time Front of House for example, or can you work with two or three excellent staff on a flexible and part time basis for them to job share the role.  This provides flexibility and opportunity for those staff who may have childcare or caring responsibilities, or those just looking for a more balanced work versus life balance.

There is an expression, you don’t know, what you don’t know so go and ask. Ask someone with lived experience for their feedback.  This could apply to customers for their customer journey within your business, as well as for staff.

Practice what you preach, don’t just have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion policy, build an environment that actually cares, rather than saying it does.  This should be embedded in the business and with it, your resource and employee talent pool will grow.  Have in place good morals, sustainability, inclusivity and diversity as these days that is just as important to an employee as their remuneration package.  Employees want to feel valued and heard.

Operators should regularly review their contracts to ensure they are up-to-date with current laws and hospitality industry standards.  An efficient policy review process therefore involves continuous monitoring and regular updates. Operators should establish a routine review schedule, involve legal experts for compliance checks, and seek feedback from employees to ensure the policies remain relevant and effective.  In the world of employment law, case law provides us with ongoing changes which are key.

A good example of this is the payment in lieu of notice clause.  Employment contracts and staff handbooks should therefore be reviewed at least annually.  Having a retained legal services provider will also ensure compliance, for instance, with our retainer clients, we issues new and updated policies as and when law changes, such as the new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

Having fair and clear contracts is essential in avoiding disputes and fostering a positive working environment as they can provide clarity on roles, responsibilities, and expectations. Given an employee’s role can be fluid, it is key to keep the contract up to date to reflect the changes and have in place a paper trail. This is going to be even more important when the Employment Rights Bill changes come in, particularly around the difficulty with variations to terms.  This in turn will avoid a dispute, where for instance, there may be a disagreement over what the individual’s role or duties include, what their salary package looks like.

This is critical for hospitality providers to maintain retention in their business. Ensuring that all team members are aware of the policies and understand their importance is key. Regular training sessions and clear communication channels can help in achieving this, making sure everyone is on the same page.  Don’t forget, training is not just for entry level staff, although this helps bring great resources into the business such as the apprenticeship scheme.

By offering training throughout an employee’s career, it aids retention. For instance for wine certification for restaurant servers, barista training etc. This can also help with lateral moves with existing staff in the business.

All too often employers focus on the negative, hence we have performance improvement plans, but employers should celebrate the wins and successes in their businesses and within their teams.  By investing in staff, it creates an environment the individuals want to work in and feel proud to be part of the team. This in turn should help to prevent fall out and disputes, which could lead to costly litigation.

“In hospitality, we should be hospitable to our staff!”

Training for managers and senior level staff should not be overlooked. Learning and development should be fundamental in any business but particularly in hospitality given the customer facing environment.