Younger generation’s new expectations may impact hospitality industry: report

Employment shortfall may be due to a lack of new blood in the industry.

The younger generation would more likely work in hospitality but after the COVID-19 pandemic disruption, the workforce has started to lean more towards a flexible working environment, a report by Peter Backman said.

In a 2019 report by the ONS, it was identified that 21.4% of 17 to 21-year-old workers tend to work in accommodation and food services. This is greater than the overall figure of 5.2% of all ages who worked in the hospitality industry. 

“Fast forward to 2022 and consider what’s happened to the nearly 300,000 people who were in the 17-21 age cohort in 2019. They are now 20 to 23 years old – and almost all of this cohort has been replaced by a new one of people who were aged 14-17 in 2019,” Backman said.

Backman said that these new younger workers may have had their perception changed due to COVID-19 disruptions.

“Covid disrupted their schooling and their social lives. Maybe it changed their expectations to the extent that they may no longer be as aligned, as were former cohorts, with how the hospitality sector operates. For example, members of the new cohort seem keen to work to a flexible timetable, doing what they want when they want to, in spaces where socialising is important but not something to be carried out beyond one’s immediate circle. This way of working is difficult to reconcile with the business of hospitality,” Backman explained.