Hospitality Doesn't Have To Be So Hardcore

There is a rise in the ‘career break’ at the moment. Chefs especially, but lots of people in hospitality taking a short break to recover from burnout. How can we prevent this & become more balanced?

The reason so many people in our industry are taking a short break is to be able to digest and overcome the last few months/years they have ‘survived’ in the industry. It’s a shame that hospitality often feels like an endurance task that only the most hardened can survive on a constant basis, without respite.

More and more are leaving for a break with no idea if/when they will return and in what guise. This is usually due to long working hours, poor communication, high team turnover and lack of support in their current role. In order to maintain a long, balanced and productive career within management in hospitality, we must provide a more balanced week. I have said it before but will keep saying it:

‘Why should our jobs be more physical than many other industries, when you also have to work weekends and evenings on top of being contracted 8 hours longer than every other industry, where is the up side?’

If we can move to a 40 hour week, give everyone sufficient rest between shifts & give people the training, support & development they need at each level, we wouldn’t lose so many through either long or short term absences. A 40 hour week might seem unrealistic, unachievable and financially unobtainable for your business, but have you taken the time to quantify the amount wasted on training those who just decide they can’t handle it anymore and leave. Or people who decide to leave service because it’s not a sustainable career option for them anymore. And then there is the cost of recruiting and training their replacement of course.

Employees in the UK have the ‘right to rest’ for 11 hours between shifts, which we know is not happening in most workplaces in our industry. But is it so hard to give everyone the number of evenings off they want, plus two days off together and 11 hours rest between shifts.

This can only be achieved by moving to a 40 hour week. Here you have an example of a 40 hour realistic rota for a restaurant closed Mon + Tues.

· 2 days off together - vital for many to be able to switch off.

· 3 evenings per week - which is a realistic and fair expectation on a manager, and is many people’s max.

· 2 closes - this is the most people seem to be happy to do.

· 11 hours between shifts – (the law) This is becoming more important to many people all the time.

I always have to caveat that there are many people thriving in their 48 hour week and love it, and there can always be the options for those who want to work more. But many don’t want to, and they shouldn’t have to. 40 hours is still plenty spent on your feet in an intense environment, but it’s giving less ‘endurance task’, more ‘nice job to pay the bills’.