COMP News – As the Great Resignation hits the restaurant industry, owners are searching for new ways to retain and attract employees. Oftentimes the incentives offered by restaurants are not limited to higher pay but may include added benefits for employees, as well.
While there has always been high turnover in the industry, restaurants in particular have been ravaged by some of the largest numbers of employees quitting in the Great Resignation sweeping the labor force in recent months.
Restaurant owners are offering shorter workweeks, life insurance, mental health services, college tuition and more paths to career advancement. They are giving out free Spotify subscriptions, adding nursing stations for lactating employees, and promising signing bonuses and free food to anyone off the street who fills out an application.
As opportunities in other industries with more predictable hours and pay open up, workers who desire more consistency may quit the restaurant industry altogether. Furthermore, it seems that fewer people are searching for jobs in the restaurant industry since the start of the pandemic for various reasons.
In 2021, restaurant jobs advertised on ZipRecruiter only received about 18 applicants on average, down from 61 back in 2019, said ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak. Now, restaurant manager and cook job ads get around 40 percent fewer applications than the industry-wide average, she said. With restaurant employers competing for far fewer applicants, new enticements have become common, she added.
In response, 84 percent of restaurants reported raising wages, according to the National Restaurant Association, with hospitality industry workers now earning an average of $19.57 per hour, a 13 percent increase from a year ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Still, restaurant workers are restive, switching jobs, leaving the industry, and demanding compensation and perks that would have been inconceivable two years ago.
To read more about restaurant workers quitting in drove, click here.
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