{"id":4744,"date":"2022-06-24T16:20:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T16:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4744"},"modified":"2022-06-24T16:20:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T16:20:54","slug":"how-hospitality-can-cope-with-strikes-and-staff-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/how-hospitality-can-cope-with-strikes-and-staff-shortages\/","title":{"rendered":"How hospitality can cope with strikes and staff shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The leisure and hospitality industry\u2019s recovery post-pandemic is still being blighted by a shortage of staff.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this month, the sector has 83 per cent more vacancies than in the same period of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The recovery has been further compromised by the ongoing rail strike. A spokesperson for the trade body UK Hospitality said the strikes couldn\u2019t come at a worse time and might deliver a fatal financial blow to those businesses already struggling to survive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Practical measures to cope with problems<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Together, three days of strikes will cost the sector \u00a3540 million across the week, based on a 20 per cent drop in sales, where a typical June week sees takings in the UK of \u00a32.75 billion, said the spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear how long the strikes will go on, but the industry could mitigate some of the effects by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Providing transport for staff with taxis or minibuses.<\/li>\n<li>Car sharing between employees. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) says if your employee carries another employee in their own car or van on a business journey, you can pay them passenger payments of up to 5p per mile tax-free. You will not have to report this to HMRC.<\/li>\n<li>Offering accommodation, if a room is available, while the strikes are on.<\/li>\n<li>Making better use of ordering apps for table service to help with staff shortages.<\/li>\n<li>Use the latest software to streamline workflow, like stock control, staff lists and staff rotas.<\/li>\n<li>Upskilling the team to multitask and take on different roles. Cash incentives will help.<\/li>\n<li>Offering longer hours to cover shortfalls and boost wages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These would be short-term but could be adapted as a longer-term solution to chronic shortages.<\/p>\n<p>The ONS survey shows the sector has created nearly 300,000 new jobs over the last 12 months, equal to one in three of all new jobs.<\/p>\n<p>According to the new figures, hospitality presently has 174,000 vacancies, a record high, in a climate where those out of work and want a job have fallen by about 130,000 over the same period.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For advice on related matters, contact our team today. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The leisure and hospitality industry\u2019s recovery post-pandemic is still being blighted by a shortage of staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4745,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4744\/revisions\/4745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}