Staff Shortages in Hospitality: Five Smart Moves to Fix Retention and Build a Thriving Team
Struggling to fill shifts or keep your best people? You’re not alone. Staff shortages in hospitality have become one of the most pressing challenges facing the UK industry in 2025. With over 107,000 vacancies and 130,000 open roles across the sector according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), hospitality businesses are grappling with reduced operating hours, declining service quality, and mounting operational costs. With record-high vacancies and rising costs, recruitment alone won’t fix the problem. The real opportunity lies in how you engage, support, and retain the teams you already have.
Strategic culture and communication improvements can keep your best people, even in a tight labour market. The businesses thriving today aren't necessarily those with unlimited recruitment budgets. They're the ones leveraging smart digital tools, creating genuine engagement, and automating the tasks that drain manager energy and sap team morale, thus overcoming the staffing crisis with improved internal communication and task automation.
Dr. Nirmalarajah Asokan 
Key Takeaways
Effective management of staff shortages in hospitality begins with early detection of team stress and morale issues. Using tools like pulse surveys and a centralised digital communication platform enables leaders to spot warning signs before key staff leave, reducing turnover. Replacing traditional noticeboards and fragmented messaging with mobile-first, real-time communication hubs ensures frontline employees stay informed and engaged, which is critical in a demanding hospitality environment.
Creating a culture of daily recognition and visible appreciation significantly boosts employee satisfaction and loyalty, which helps mitigate staff shortages. Hospitality workers are more likely to stay when their contributions are publicly celebrated. In addition, providing accessible, mobile-friendly training and clear career progression opportunities addresses one of the top exit reasons, lack of growth. These strategies empower teams and reduce the costly cycle of hiring and retraining.
Automating routine administrative tasks frees managers from time-consuming paperwork and allows them to focus on coaching and guest experience. Streamlined operations not only enhance employee morale but also contribute to smoother shifts and stronger financial performance. By reducing burnout and operational friction, automation is a practical, tech-driven solution to ongoing staff shortages in hospitality.
The Reality of Staff Shortages in Hospitality
Imagine this: Your restaurant is short-staffed again. Customers are waiting too long. Your star employee just quit. The rest look exhausted. Your hotel manager drowns in rotas, holiday requests, and team briefings, while service slips and turnover costs mount.
Sound familiar? You’re experiencing what thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK are facing right now. With over 130,000 open roles and 62 venue closures every month, the sector has contracted by over 14% since 2020. Add rising business rates, wage inflation, and energy costs, and it’s clear: the old way of working no longer works.
But there’s hope. Here’s your 5-step action plan to overcome staff shortages in hospitality, cut turnover, and strengthen retention in 2025, without breaking the bank.
How to keep your best people when budgets are tight
The hospitality industry is under intense pressure from rising costs and ongoing staff shortages. Learn in this free guide how to:
Improve employee retention and engagement.
Close communication gaps.
Build skills and career paths.
Implement a "digital fix".
1. Spot the Gaps Before They Grow
Retention starts with visibility. Most teams sense burnout only after key staff have already left. Regular pulse surveys and quick feedback loops can highlight stress and communication breakdowns early on.
Flip’s employee engagement app helps hospitality businesses track morale and act fast on real-time insights, turning early warning signs into retention victories.
Action tip: Take 10 minutes weekly to review team feedback and engagement data.
2. Simplify Communication — Ditch the Noticeboard
Disjointed communication is one of the biggest hidden causes of staff shortages in hospitality. Teams still relying on WhatsApp groups, paper rotas, or outdated intranets deal with missed updates, shift mix-ups, and low morale. Companies with poor communication experience up to 43% higher turnover.
Centralise all updates — from shift changes to recognition — in one mobile-first hub accessible to everyone. A unified employee app keeps frontline workers connected, informed, and engaged.
Action tip: Replace your communication patchwork with one real-time, all-in-one tool.
Romy Wilson
Shift Leader, Ben and Jerry's, Australia and New Zealand
3. Make Recognition a Daily Habit
Recognition isn’t just nice to have — it’s essential. Research shows that recognition-driven cultures dramatically reduce turnover and boost motivation. Virgin Media O2 saw 13,000+ peer-to-peer nominations through Flip’s Shout feature, helping create an energised workplace culture.
Action tip: Celebrate wins and individual milestones every day through your employee app. Recognition takes seconds but pays off with loyalty and motivation.
Explore more ideas in this on-demand webinar.
4. Build Skills on the Go
Lack of training is one of the top reasons employees leave hospitality jobs — with up to 30% of staff saying they’d quit if they don’t see career growth. Mobile learning tools change that. Short, accessible modules let staff upskill anywhere, reducing onboarding time and boosting confidence.
Leading brands like McDonald’s Germany use Flip’s training tools to deliver consistent, fast learning outcomes across thousands of employees.
Action tip: Implement bite-sized, mobile-friendly learning that fits naturally into daily routines.
5. Automate the Boring Stuff
Repetitive admin drains energy from both managers and staff. Flip automates up to 40% of routine processes, freeing hospitality leaders to focus on coaching, service quality, and guest satisfaction.
Action tip: Automate shift swaps, payslip distribution, and compliance checklists with an integrated tool built for hospitality. Learn more how to empower operations leaders and ditch clipboards once and for all.
The Payoff: Engaged Teams, Smoother Shifts, Stronger Margins
The causes of staff shortages in hospitality won’t disappear overnight — but the right digital transformation can make them manageable. Operators who engage, inform, and empower their teams cut turnover by up to 72%, reduce absences by 41%, and drive consistent profit growth through better service.
When your people feel connected and valued, they don’t just stick around — they thrive.
Ready to Fix Staff Shortages in Your Hospitality Business?
Don’t let staff shortages stop your business from growing. Download our free guide, “Hospitality Under Pressure: How to Keep Your Best People When Budgets Are Tight,” and discover proven strategies to build resilient teams, reduce turnover, and thrive through 2025. Download the e-book on how to deal with a hospitality industry under pressure now!
How to keep your best people when budgets are tight
The hospitality industry is under intense pressure from rising costs and ongoing staff shortages. Learn in this free guide how to:
Improve employee retention and engagement.
Close communication gaps.
Build skills and career paths.
Implement a "digital fix".
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