Hiring Strategies
Building a Seasonal Hospitality Staffing Plan
Busy season can arrive quickly in hospitality.
Hotels may see occupancy climb. Restaurants can face larger crowds and holiday reservations. Event venues may have several major events scheduled within a few weeks.
Then add employee call-outs, vacations and turnover, and a team that normally handles the workload can suddenly be stretched thin. Having a hospitality staffing plan in place can help your business prepare for those changes before they become last-minute staffing problems.
Instead of waiting until you're short-staffed to start hiring, identify where you may need additional help, which positions are most important to your operation, and how you'll respond when demand increases.
Here’s how to build a hospitality staffing plan before your busiest days arrive.
The Hospitality Staffing Challenge During Busy Season
Hospitality employers don't always enter the busy season with a fully staffed team. Existing vacancies, employee turnover, and difficulty recruiting can leave hotels and other hospitality businesses with little room to absorb an unexpected increase in demand.
More than half of surveyed hotels reported being somewhat or severely understaffed, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association. A hotel that can manage its normal workload while slightly understaffed may have a much harder time when rooms need to be turned faster, events require additional workers, and food service operations get busier at the same time.
Learn more about the hospitality staffing shortage and the workforce trends affecting the industry.
While you can't prevent every staffing challenge, you can prepare for how your business will respond. A hospitality staffing backup plan can help you identify your most important positions, anticipate when you'll need additional workers and determine where temporary staff can support your existing team.
How to Build Your Hospitality Staffing Backup Plan
1. Look at When Demand Is Likely to Increase
Start by reviewing your previous busy seasons and asking these questions:
- When did you need the most employees last year?
- Which days or shifts were the hardest to cover?
- Are there holidays, conventions, weddings, sporting events, or other local events that could increase business this year?
Depending on your operation, demand could affect several areas at once. A hotel with higher occupancy, for example, may need additional housekeepers to turn rooms while its restaurant needs more kitchen help and an upcoming banquet requires additional event staff. Identifying those periods early gives you time to prepare instead of scrambling when schedules are already full.
2. Identify the Positions You Can't Afford to Leave Short-Staffed
Not every staffing gap affects hospitality operations in the same way. Think about the positions where being one or two people short can quickly create problems for the rest of your team or your guests. These could include:
- Housekeepers and room attendants
- Cooks and chefs
- Dishwashers
- Banquet and event staff
- Servers and food service workers
- Janitorial and clean-up crews
- Set-up and take-down workers
For example, a shortage of housekeeping staff could delay room turnover. A missing dishwasher or cook could put additional pressure on your kitchen during a busy service.
3. Plan for Call-Outs, Not Just Increase Business
A seasonal workforce plan shouldn’t only account for the employees you know you’ll need. It should also account for the employees who might not be there. Illness, transportation issues, vacations, and unexpected absences can happen at any time. During busy season, however, losing even one person from an already full schedule can create a much bigger problem.
Ask yourself: What would we do if three employees called out tomorrow?
If the answer is pulling employees from other responsibilities, asking your team to work additional hours, or having managers fill open shifts, you may need a stronger backup plan.
4. Know When Your Current Team Is Reaching Its Limit
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Increasing overtime
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Difficulty filling schedules
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Employees taking on responsibilities outside their normal roles
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More scheduling conflicts and call-outs
Waiting until your team is overwhelmed can make an existing staffing problem harder to solve.
5. Decide Where Temporary Hospitality Staff Can Help
Seasonal staffing doesn’t necessarily mean increasing your permanent headcount. Temporary workers can be used to supplement your regular workforce during periods when you need additional help. For example, a hotel may bring in additional during a high-occupancy week. A restaurant may need dishwashers or food service workers during the holiday season. An event venue may need an entire crew for set-up, service, and clean-up for a particular event.
6. Build a Relationship With a Staffing Partner Before You Need Workers
The middle of a staffing emergency isn’t the best time to figure out who to call. Establishing a relationship with a hospitality staffing agency ahead of busy season allows you to discuss your operation, operating staffing challenges, and the positions you may need to fill.
“Good communication upfront prevents a lot of problems later on. The scope of the work, the timeline, the work conditions, and the expectations. The more we know, the better we can match the right people onto the job.”
For hospitality employers, that could mean communicating expected occupancy levels, upcoming events, shift schedules, required experience, and the number of workers needed.
Your Seasonal Backup Plan Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Before your next busy season, identify your most important positions, review when demand is likely to increase, and determine where temporary workers could support your existing team.
Then make sure you know who you'll call when your schedule changes.
Labor Finders has been helping businesses solve workforce challenges since 1975. Our local teams can help you find temporary hospitality workers when you need additional support, whether that's one worker for a shift or a larger crew for seasonal demand.
Don't wait until you're short-staffed to make a plan. Start building your seasonal workforce today with Labor Finders.