Employee Turnover meaning in hospitality

Employee turnover is the rate at which staff leave and are replaced by new hires. In hospitality, it’s the rate at which employees come and go from restaurants, hotels, bars and other service businesses. High turnover means many are leaving in a short space of time, while low turnover means staff tend to stay longer.

Employee turnover is key in hospitality because it impacts service quality, team morale and operational costs. When experienced staff leave, they take valuable knowledge with them and potentially affect the guest experience. Training new staff takes time and resources, which can stretch budgets and existing staff. High turnover creates a cycle of instability, making it harder to maintain the service standards guests expect.

Let’s say you’re a restaurant manager called Sarah. In the last 6 months, you’ve lost 8 of your 20 staff. That’s a 40% turnover. You know this is impacting service and team cohesion. To fix this, you might introduce training programmes, better work-life balance policies or career development opportunities to reduce turnover and create a more stable, skilled workforce.'

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