When was the last time you mapped your employee experience with the same level of scrutiny as guest experience?
It was a question we explored at KAM’s recent Informers event, The EX Factor, where we brought together hospitality People Directors to discuss why employee experience is rapidly becoming one of hospitality’s biggest commercial opportunities.
The reality, at least at an industry level, shows we’ve got a fair bit of work to do. KAM’s recent research, in partnership with Licensed Trade Charity, found that;
- 59% of hospitality employees believe customer service and operational efficiency are given greater priority than employee wellbeing in their company
- Two-thirds regularly or occasionally feel stressed or overwhelmed at work
- One in two have considered leaving a job because of frustrating systems or processes.
There wasn’t a magic bullet discovered on the day, in fact, quite the opposite. Whether we were talking about recruitment, retention, wellbeing or culture, the answer was rarely another programme or platform. It was the small things. Listening. Communicating. Recognising people. Giving managers the confidence to lead well. That employee experience isn’t transformed by one big initiative, it’s shaped by hundreds of small moments, each day.
Sarah Gale’s session (People Director, Côte) was particularly honest. There was no pretending every initiative had been a success. One menu launch simply hadn’t landed. Rather than digging their heels in, the team listened, adapted and rebuilt it with input from restaurant teams. The result? Better engagement because people felt they’d helped shape the outcome.
The panel with Amanda Smyth (ETM Group) and Will Chew (Anglian Country Inns) reinforced another important point: employee experience is largely created by line managers, not HR policies. Investment in leadership, coaching and better conversations came up time and time again. As Amanda put it; “It’s not HR that creates employee experience. It’s the managers on the ground.”
(On a related note, our Pub Roadmap report, in partnership with the BII, is packed with practical ideas to help pubs improve their employee experience)
There was also a timely reminder from Tiffany Black (Scrumptious Marketing) that candidates don’t want polished recruitment campaigns or a list of benefits; they want to know what it genuinely feels like to work for your business. Authentic stories from your own people will always carry more weight than carefully scripted messaging.
The biggest takeaway? Employee experience isn’t another initiative to squeeze onto an already busy agenda. It’s one of hospitality’s biggest commercial opportunities. When people feel listened to, trusted and supported, they create better experiences for guests.
The hospitality industry is getting much better at listening to their guests, but maybe it’s time we became just as curious about our own people and their experience in our venues.
Interested in understanding your category, consumers, customers or employees a little better? Take a look at other work we’ve done and get in touch to see how we can help you.
