By Nicola Waldren

This article featured in Hospitality Business magazine

Our hospitality industry’s skills pipeline has been one of our longest-running challenges. For years we have talked about how we bring people into the industry, develop them once they arrive and, most importantly, encourage them to stay.

Businesses across the industry are already doing a great deal to develop their people and create great places to work. But we have not yet built the strong and consistent domestic pipeline our industry needs for future growth. The skills hospitality develops in people are also highly transferable. This is one of our strengths but means we are always at risk of losing talented people to other industries. Add to that the changing expectations of the next generation and it is clear we need to look at this familiar challenge differently.

Range of Possibilities

Plenty has been written about what the next generation wants from work. Younger workers value flexibility, opportunities to learn, work that feels meaningful and a workplace where they feel they belong. Research from Randstad found 60 per cent of Gen Z respondents preferred greater control over their time to higher pay. Other research points to less linear careers. Younger people more open to moving between roles, developing different skills or having more than one source of income.

This plays to hospitality’s strengths. We offer flexibility outside the traditional nine-to-five, variety, strong social connections and skills that can take people around the world. Hospitality can provide a first job, a long-term profession or work that sits alongside study, family commitments, travel, or another role. Not many industries can offer that range of possibilities.

Admittedly, attracting these people may also require a shift in thinking from us as employers. We cannot only ask how we find young people who will fit the roles we have always offered. Just as importantly, we need to ask how we can shape roles that fit the lives and aspirations of those we want to attract.

What Businesses Need

That does not mean abandoning what businesses need. But more visible development opportunities and a clearer explanation of where an entry-level role can lead will make a considerable difference. And just as we need flexibility from our workforce, driven as hospitality is by customer demand, that needs to work both ways. Providing flexibility where we can in return will be important to younger workers.

But none of that matters if they don’t see hospitality as an option in the first place. First, young people need to have hospitality on their radar when they begin thinking about work. This is something we have not completely cracked. Hospitality is often visible as a part-time job, but not necessarily as a pathway into management or business ownership, or one of the many other careers it can provide.

Hospo KickStart & Working Alongside Schools

The Restaurant Association is working to improve our visibility at school age through Hospo KickStart. This programmes gives secondary-school students a hands-on introduction to the industry, workplace expectations and the range of careers available. It is fun and practical: students get to experience hospitality, not just hear about it.

Already running in Auckland, our upcoming KickStart roadshow will take that experience to more schools and strengthen connections between students, teachers and local businesses. Attending school careers days to talk about Hospo KickStart also gives us an opportunity to connect with parents. We know their support—and their understanding of the opportunities hospitality offers—plays a significant part in the choices young people make.

There was also very welcome news recently, with the Government confirming Hospitality as one of nine new industry-led subjects for Year 12 and 13 students. The Association advocated strongly for hospitality to be recognised as the new secondary school curriculum and qualifications are developed. With such significant change underway, it was vital that our industry was not left behind. So, this is encouraging but a school subject on its own will not build the pipeline. We will need to work alongside schools and teachers to make it engaging and connect it to genuine employment pathways.

Government has a role, the Association has a role, and employers do too. If we want the next generation to see a future in hospitality, we need to show them one—and make sure the work we offer reflects the future they are looking for.