Top Tips to Keep Your Hospitality Staff Motivated this Christmas

Here at Access, we're passionate about hospitality careers, and we know that if you want to ensure your team stays and develops with you, you need the tools to support them. That’s why we offer a variety of wellbeing resources; we love to support hospitality operators in their efforts to consistently maintain staff morale throughout their business. 

With all of that in mind, we’ve put together this guide to reduce festive stress in hospitality. In this article, we’ll provide actionable measures you can take to boost morale, keep staff motivated and engaged and reduce staff turnover throughout the festive period. By the time you’ve finished reading, you should be well-equipped to keep your staff smiling throughout the festive season. 

Christmas is a key time of year for most hospitality businesses, and a successful festive season is often vital to surviving the January slump. According to research for the NIQ 2023 Christmas Report, 73% of consumers visited a licensed venue during the 2023 festive season. 

Christmas party bookings create busier kitchens and bars and often mean livelier and more demanding customers, which can be stressful for your teams. 

It helps to remember that some staff may feel they’re sacrificing time with friends and family to be at work, and they want to feel that there’s a reward for that sacrifice. This is compounded by seeing so many others out and having fun; something their friends are probably doing too. 

And don’t forget the Christmas tunes on a seemingly endless loop.

Developing and strengthening a good team Christmas spirit will go a long way towards getting the party atmosphere started right. Initiatives that encourage teams to bond will help make those stressful times a little easier. Think Secret Santa or a Christmas party (or both) to inject some fun and give your team a chance to share a few laughs and stories outside of the work environment. A team which has each other's back, where staff feel the support of their peers, and they feel happy to be at work, will make for a welcoming overall vibe.  

Why not set up a special Christmas incentive initiative as well? Recognising when staff have gone over and above and offering fun prizes or bonuses will motivate them along the way. Whether it’s based on the number of guests served or the greatest number of positive customer comments or testimonials, however you set it up, it will not only aid staff morale, it’ll be good for business. 

When it comes to finding the perfect balance of staffing levels, it can be easier said than done. But don’t worry, you don’t need a crystal ball to predict demand this year. Using data to drive decisions about your staff scheduling can be incredibly helpful. Last year’s data, along with demand forecasting can help you to make sure staff are less likely to be overloaded, whilst avoiding lost revenue through overstaffing.   

Go through last year’s written reports, or use performance data from scheduling and rota software and your hospitality booking and reservation software to easily build a picture for this year’s festive season. The more data you have, the better, and this is where a fully integrated system can make a huge difference.   

When it comes to keeping staff motivated, there’s nothing worse than having too few staff working a busy shift and feeling stressed and overwhelmed. That’s why it’s so important to be careful to have enough staff to cover what are likely to be your peak hours.   

You may also want to consider staggered working hours, to make sure there’s always someone on hand to serve customers.    

Communication is key in every relationship, and that includes your relationship with your staff. If you want them to feel well looked after, and avoid burnout, you need good two-way communication. That means you don’t just need to talk to them, you need to listen as well.  

When you’re creating rotas for the season, communication is vital. To keep things fair, talk to everyone about what they need as early as possible; you should also make sure everyone fully understands the needs of the business, and their role in that. Once you know staff availability, work around this where possible to finalise your plans. 

When you take staff plans and family commitments into consideration, and work with everyone to accommodate them as much as possible, your staff are more likely to want to work with you to find a plan that works for everyone. Showing some commitment to a fair work-life balance at this busy time goes a long way with hospitality employees.   

Once you’ve finalised your plan, the earlier you share it with your team, the better. If there are any issues, you can discuss these with those concerned and make any necessary adjustments in plenty of time.   

Investing in technology can do so much for a hospitality business at any time of the year, but it’s important to understand which solutions will offer the best value to you and your business. Efficiency and productivity are only part of the picture (albeit important parts). The right technology can boost your marketing efforts, increase sales and provide a better experience for customers. And, as we’ve already discussed, it can also make managing your people more effective, leading to happier, more motivated employees. 

It’s common for people to feel the pinch over the festive period, and the cost-of-living crisis has meant finances are likely to be tighter than ever for many members of your team. An on-demand pay system can make a huge difference to staff struggling to make ends meet. By giving them the option to take their payment as soon as they earn it, you are showing them that you understand and empathise with their situation and saving them from any potential embarrassment of having to ask for an advance.   

Additionally, if you’re asking employees to cover different sites over the busy season and you’re paying the cost of their travel, consider expenses software that saves time and admin and ensures they and the business are income tax and VAT compliant. 

Purchase to pay system 

Procure Wizard, our purchase to pay system, makes it easy to optimise stock ordering. Real-time stock alerts can make sure you stay on top of inventory and you never run out of popular menu items at peak times. It can be pretty stressful for staff to have to tell customers that the festive Brie and Cranberry starter is off the menu. 

Keep the orders flowing 

An integrated kitchen management system can be a game changer when your venue is packed and staff are feeling the pressure; by creating a seamless stream of communication in real time between the kitchen and front of house, everyone’s lives become a little easier. It will also reduce the risk of mistakes, which can be costly in terms of wasted food and negative reviews. 

In this article, we’ve looked at some of the reasons your team might be feeling less than excited about the upcoming festive period. And more importantly, we’ve examined what you can do to help. 

Try to be as understanding and flexible as you can, to show that you appreciate them and you’re invested in their wellbeing. And look into what steps you can take ahead of time to minimise stress. This will help you keep your staff for longer and keep morale high, ultimately leading to a motivated workforce that will deliver the very best in customer service. 

To help make this even easier, we’ve also created a free Festive Perks Calendar, a downloadable resource packed with fun, low-cost ideas to keep your teams energised and engaged throughout December.