Hospitality ‘not viewed as attractive career choice’

With ongoing staff shortages within the industry being an important issue, new research has found that only one in five UK adults consider hospitality to be an appealing industry to work in. The new study by Kam aims to measure the perception of hospitality as a potential career choice for UK adults.

It found that 23% still view hospitality as a ‘short-term stop gap’ and only 10% see it as a well-respected career choice. Generation z and younger millennials saw a career in hospitality as being more attractive than over 55-year-olds, with 28% saying it was an appealing industry compared with 11% of the older age group.

Kam says a key issue the research identifies is that younger adults at the beginning of their career are unlikely to be encouraged by older family members into the sector. Only 11% of UK adults said they’d be ‘very pleased’ if a younger family member chose hospitality as a career (26% would be ‘quite pleased’.) Just 12% would actively recommend it as a career.

Katy Moses, MD of Kam, said: “We need to elevate the entire view of the industry to make it a more viable career prospect to avoid ongoing continuation of this current crisis. Hospitality is fast-paced, exciting and the rewards can be immense – but we need to attract the right people into it.”

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