Better training 'to improve retention rates for hospitality firms'

The best way for businesses in the hospitality sector to retain staff could be to offer them better training models.

According to new research from People 1st, at present around three-quarters of companies in the industry view training as the key to a dedicated and successful workforce and half think an increase in budgets is required to prevent employee turnover rates from rising.

The Retention Index, which was carried out to measure the factors influencing the movement of staff in hospitality and tourism organisations, found respondents believe their training budgets would need to be extended by an average of 50 per cent to impact retention rates.

As a result of this, companies would need to fork out £7,800 more a year on each member of senior staff, £5,700 a year on every middle management worker and £1,800 a year on each member of frontline staff.

Sharon Glancy, director of People 1st, said employers have reported how important leadership and management skills are going to be for the sector over the coming years and that this is reflected in the figures.

"With the rate of turnover high amongst senior management, companies must make sure that their managers have the skills in place to do their jobs," she added.

Turnover among middle managers was revealed to stand at 23 per cent, while for senior managers this figure was 21 per cent and almost half (46 per cent) of firms said turnover among the latter group has increased in the last few years.

Ms Glancy pointed to People 1st's recent State of the Nation report that showed 49 per cent of businesses that had trained employees in the last year saw their financial turnover rise.

Regarding the new research, she commented: "Creating opportunities for career progression and ensuring clarity of an individual's role, were all ranked as important in retaining staff, outside the more traditional factor of salary and benefits."