Long shifts are hospitality workers’ biggest bugbear

The survey of 200 employees from operations experts OpsBase also found 22% of workers said they were dissatisfied with their employer’s tipping policies and 16% were concerned about working in high temperature environments, such as hot kitchens or during the summer months.

A further 14% cited their biggest annoyance was the perception of others that working in the trade wasn’t a ‘real job’ and a fifth (22%) openly expressed their dislike for zero-hours contracts.

Working hours

OpsBase chief commercial officer Michael Douglas said: “Our survey highlights pub and bar workers are most ‘peeved’ by issues related to their working hours.

“However, it is important to understand it is not only about unreliable shift patterns and zero-hours contracts.

“The biggest pet peeves in the pub and bar industry are long shifts and unsociable hours, suggesting many workers also want more flexible shift options.

“Historically, that has been quite difficult to provide so it is important managers use all the technology and software solutions available to them to help create efficiencies in their operations that will save time, reduce stress and potentially result in more reasonable shift patterns.”

Other issues

However, the trade is least upset about the lack of job security with just 7% citing this while 8% said they were unhappy about an intimidating work atmosphere.

Almost half (47%) said the best thing about working in hospitality was customer satisfaction and more than three quarters (84%) of pub and bar workers said they would ‘somewhat’ or ‘highly’ recommend a career in the industry.

Almost a third (30%) said they most liked the industry for the opportunity to meet new people but just 5% said the best thing was the long-term career prospects or the opportunity to be creative.