Restaurants and Labor Scarcity
Between February and November of 2020, the U.S. saw a drop of 4.1 million people in the workforce. Half of those are between the ages of 16 and 34, the age range of the majority of restaurant staff. Joblist has also reported nearly 30% of hospitality workers are considering bolting for other sectors. While other industries are seeing a resurgence in labor, the hospitality industry remains the hardest hit. According to a Department of Labor Study on April 2021 Job Openings and Labor Turnover:
"Workers quitting their jobs increased to new highs of 4 million and 2.7%, with a record 5.6% of restaurant workers quitting their jobs in April. Job openings increased to 9.3 million and 6%, both records. Restaurants job openings increased the most by any industry, adding nearly 350,000 new job openings since March, for a total of 1.34 million job openings in April."
In order to alleviate the issues that a labor shortage entails, restaurants will need to offer better pay and incentives as well as implement technological solutions in order to pick up the slack. Some restaurants have resorted to offering cash for completing an interview, or giving away new phones when you get hired, some Applebee's even offered free appetizers to all who showed for a job interview in an effort to hire 10,000 employees (40,000 showed, according to Applebee’s).
While these are great, a bump in base pay is what is most sought after, and pay only goes so far if your staff is picking up too much slack, which is where using technology to fill the gaps comes in.
6 Ways Ziosk Can Help Restaurants Combat The Shortage
- Increase overall throughput which maximizes revenue to pay for more labor.
- Use on-screen advertising to drive additional sales and revenue.
- Offer payment directly at the table. Using a Ziosk to pay reduces your server's steps of service for payment by 73%.
- Offer ordering and reordering directly at the table, allowing your server's to focus on service rather than trips back and forth to the POS.
- Use the tablet on the table to advertise job openings.
- Use loyalty programs directly at the table to help capture more return visits.
Restaurant Labor Shortage FAQs
Why is there a shortage of restaurant workers?
- During the pandemic, many restaurants closed or were open at a limited capacity which made many of their employees need to find new jobs or file for unemployment. Now as restaurants open back up, many of their previous staff are not coming back for various reasons.
How can Ziosk help solve the shortage of restaurant workers problem?
- Ziosk can help your staff pickup the slack so they can provide the service of a fully staffed restaurant under all circumstances.
Are restaurants now paying staff more money?
- Some restaurants are offering higher pay as well as other incentives to remain competitive and bring in more applicants. Whataburger has promoted all managers to "operating partner" and raised salaries to at least $100,000. Some McDonald’s restaurants are taking the direct approach of raising hourly wages.