Why onboarding is so important in hospitality 

Effective onboarding is beneficial to every business with employees. But when it comes to hospitality, it’s crucial. 

The specific needs and challenges faced by businesses in the hospitality industry mean that it’s vital to devise an onboarding process that delivers consistent and standardised training across the whole business. 

Staff retention 

Staff turnover is costly. Recruitment, training, lost productivity during the induction stage, lower levels of customer service due to inexperience… It’s clear that staff retention is a key strategy for any business that wants to increase revenue and improve efficiency.  

In hospitality, this has always been a challenge, and with a 46% increase in hospitality job ads in 2023, finding good staff is becoming increasingly difficult. That’s why it’s so important to keep the people you’ve got. 

In 2023, the proportion of hospitality staff leaving their roles in the first 90 days was 42%. That means that the first three months are critical, and the employee’s early experience of your business will have a huge impact on their long-term plans. Additionally, many of the key issues cited by hospitality staff as reasons for leaving a job can be addressed at the onboarding stage if it’s done well. Indeed, previous reports have shown that employees are 69% more likely to stay with an employer for three years or more if they have had a good onboarding experience. 

Customer service 

It’s likely that many of your staff will be customer-facing from day one. Without proper onboarding, they probably won’t have a strong enough understanding of your brand’s values and culture to be able to deliver the level of customer service you need.  

Do they: 

• know how to deliver the experience that your customers are expecting? 
• understand the processes they need to follow? 
• know how to use any equipment they may have to use? 
• know how to answer questions about your menu and offering? 

When you consider that 82% of guests say they would not return to a restaurant after a bad experience, it’s clear that poor onboarding could cost you a lot more than just your relationship with the staff member. 

Efficiency 

When inductions and onboarding are left up to a busy GM or other member of staff, steps can be missed, and training can take much longer than it should. In these cases, the employee often becomes disengaged and does not feel as though the business is investing in them. 

You also run into the problem of inconsistent practices across sites, meaning that you can’t be confident that your brand is delivering a consistent experience to your customers. 

By implementing an effective onboarding strategy, and using LMS onboarding to deliver employee training, you can avoid issues like this and make the whole process more efficient. 

Legal compliance 

When it comes to health and safety, and food hygiene, you can’t afford to take any risks; it’s important to ensure that new staff members complete any mandatory training courses in a timely manner during their onboarding. 

Common onboarding mistakes in hospitality 

If you want to deliver the best possible first impression for new employees, you will want to avoid some key mistakes in your onboarding process.  

One size does not fit all 

Yes, it’s important to have a standardised process across the business, but different roles will need specific training, and everyone learns differently. So, if you want to engage them from the outset, you’re going to need a way to deliver a personalised experience for each new starter. 

Overwhelming new staff 

When you are new to the hospitality business, there is a huge amount to learn, and it isn’t something that can be covered in a single session. And yet, so many hospitality businesses will present new starters with all of the material they need at once and expect them to work their way through it all. This can be incredibly daunting and off putting for employees and can quickly result in them becoming overwhelmed. Instead, you should look into ways to break the delivery down into manageable chunks. A good LMS will allow your employees to unlock new courses as they work their way through their training. 

Poor communication 

Communication is an important part of any relationship, and when it comes to onboarding, you need to make sure that communication is a top priority. 

New hospitality staff will need to know who they can talk to if they need help. They want to know they can go to their line manager with queries or concerns. They also want to feel heard, so you need to have a way for them to give their feedback, and make sure you listen and act on it. 

It’s crucial at this early stage to ensure that expectations are properly communicated, so that everyone understands what they need to do. 

Underestimating the importance of recognition 

One of the reasons often given by hospitality staff for leaving a job is lack of recognition. It’s understandable that in a busy, fast-paced business, sometimes achievements are overlooked, and people aren’t given the recognition they deserve. However, when it’s impacting your business, it’s important to find a way to recognise those who are doing a great job. This is especially true in the onboarding phase, as employees are more likely to feel engaged and motivated when their efforts are rewarded.  

Not setting goals 

Without goals and/ or KPIs, your staff doesn’t have a clear way to measure their progress. As well as helping them to understand what you expect of them, setting clear goals helps to keep them motivated. 

‘Sink or swim’ training 

Throwing a new member of staff in at the deep end and expecting them to keep up with trained employees is a direct route to an early resignation. We know that sometimes it feels like there’s no choice when you’re shorthanded and under pressure. But the sink-or-swim approach often leads to mistakes, poor customer experience, and resentment among the team. Instead of taking this approach, look for ways to make your onboarding as efficient as possible, so that you can ensure your staff members are ready as quickly as possible. 

Top tips for successful onboarding 

 

1. Create a plan, and make sure it is followed 

Prioritise key training and ensure that the employee understands the plan too. Use software that allows you to customise the learning experience to fit your employee’s needs. 

2. Make sure the training is engaging 

Proper onboarding in hospitality takes months, and one of the biggest challenges you will face is making sure the employee stays engaged with their learning plan. Many learning management systems will offer ways to include gamification in the learning journey, such as awarding levels, medals, or badges as learners progress. Quizzes can create a lighthearted competitive element that makes it more likely learners will retain information – and you could reward your quiz winners with prizes as an incentive. Learner-led content is also becoming more popular – this is where learners actively seek out training that interests them and is great for encouraging personal development.  

3. Remember that most staff don’t work at a desk 

Your staff spends most of their work time active and mobile, which means that computer-based training can present a challenge for them. Make sure you choose an LMS for onboarding that can be easily accessed via mobile; ideally one with a user-friendly app. 

4. Create a culture of open communication 

When staff are spread out across multiple sites, it can be difficult to ensure that effective communication is possible. However, clear communication is vital to keep staff engaged and happy. For a cohesive team that is working toward a common purpose, the people in that team need to be able to communicate properly.  

That’s why it’s important to have a robust system in place to enable good communication. This includes feedback, recognition, updates, and check-ins to ensure every team member has their say. 

5. Ensure that your company’s values are part of the training 

Culture, skills, and compliance are all vital aspects of a good onboarding experience. If you want your new employees to fit into the existing culture, you need to make sure they understand it. Likewise, if you want them to be effective brand ambassadors, they need to know what your brand stands for.  

6. Make sure there is a clear progression plan for those who want it 

A commonly cited reason behind staff turnover in hospitality is the perceived lack of progression available. Hospitality businesses that can communicate the opportunities for progression within their organisation are more likely to keep their star employees. Take the time to understand your employee’s aspirations and help them to understand the progression that is available to them. Better yet, work with them to create a personalised plan for personal and professional development.  

7. Go digital 

When you have high levels of turnover across a large business, it can be hard to keep track of compliance training. By digitising your compliance and training certification, you’ll be able to keep everything in one easy to access library. 

How can Access CPL Learning help you with employee onboarding in hospitality? 

There are a few things you should look out for when choosing a learning and development LMS that will help you with building your onboarding programme. Access CPL Learning is a leading provider of high-quality hospitality training content delivered through an engaging and accessible digital platform that helps thousands of new starters, team members, and managers in hospitality gain the knowledge and experience they need to excel in their roles. How? Take a look at these system benefits that could help you deliver effective training and onboarding for your teams:  

• User-friendly - Access CPL Learning is known for its accessible and easy-to-use interface which is fully mobile responsive as well as delivered through a customisable mobile app so learners can access training on the go.  

The [Access CPL Learning] system is fully responsive as well as available via a fully configurable mobile application, which has enabled us to bring learning and development directly into the palms of our team members. – Marstons PLC 

• Fully customisable – The Access CPL learning platform and digital app are fully customisable to fit your brand and identity. A top tip from us – learners often engage more with a named community platform so have some fun creating your branded ‘academy’ or ‘knowledge base’ platform.  
• Engaging content – We have been developing hospitality-specialised learning content across a range of topics including health and safety and personal development for many years, often collaborating with external sector and topic specialists. In addition, our Discover channel enables learners to self-direct their learning journey with a Netflix-style list of suggested learning resources.  

On a yearly basis we’re seeing over 40,000 views/downloads of our digital library content… – Punch Pubs  

• Analytics – Our comprehensive analytic and reporting tools offer enhanced visibility across all your training enabling you to track progress and rates of completion across all your programmes of content.  

In just one week we have seen a 212% increase in new learners accessing the platform with a 117% increase in modules completed and a 268% increase in viewing resources. – Punch Pubs 

Ready to supercharge your onboarding process? 

In this article, we’ve discussed why it’s business-critical for hospitality brands to make sure they have a robust onboarding plan for new staff. We’ve covered some of the most common mistakes businesses tend to make when it comes to onboarding, and we’ve shared our 7 top tips for successful onboarding in hospitality. Now, it’s time for you to implement those tips. 

If it seems like a lot of work, don’t worry. All of this and more can be easily introduced using our Hospitality LMS.  

Watch a personalised demo or contact the team to discuss your needs.