Your Handbook to Happiness has landed

In hospitality, we’re in the business of happiness. It’s our not-so-secret ingredient. After all, it’s our job to make people happy. Whether it’s through unforgettable service, an unbeatable atmosphere or an unbelievable plate of food, we go to work each day with one goal in mind. To serve up happiness.

But we can be so single-mindedly focused on delivering delight for our guests we can overlook our most important people; our own teams.

Our industry has been struggling with staff shortages for a while now. In The Shift Towards Retention, we surveyed 2,000 shift working professionals to find out what was happening. What, exactly, was causing people to leave the sector? More importantly, we wanted to know how we could convince them to change their minds.

Throughout all the reasons people gave us as to why they were considering quitting the industry altogether, be it career progression or the lack of forward planning, we spotted an interesting throughline. Happiness.

For lots of hospitality teams, happiness seems to have escaped their day to day. Because, let’s face it, the long, high-pressure hours our teams work, coupled with constant customer interaction can be enough to test anyone. And feeling happy can be what convinces a team member to stay with us through the tougher times. A happy team is more likely to stay together, and with you for the long run.

So, from a business perspective, working on making your team happier is a no brainer. And the good news is making your team happier is easy. All you need is a helping handbook…