The hospitality industry is still suffering from the highest rate of employee turnover in the UK, despite a significant improvement in the past year, according to a new report.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey, showed a clear improvement year-on-year in the labour turnover rate in hospitality.

While in 2005’s report it was a staggering 64.7%, the figure fell to less than half (43%) this year.

The main reasons cited by workers for leaving their employers were change of career (46%), promotion outside the organisation (45%) and level of pay (34%).

The CIPD also found more employers were now actively looking to recruit older workers, with 70% of recruiters seeking to employ those aged between 55 and retirement age.

Despite this, speakers at last week’s Springboard Age Awareness campaign highlighted the significant work left to be done to broaden the industry’s recruitment base: a third of the current workforce is under 30.

James Gallagher

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