American workers are quitting their jobs at unprecedented rates, and restaurant workers continue to be a main contributor to what is often being dubbed the “Great Resignation,” according to a new report by Joblist.
The survey received feedback from more than 25,000 job seekers across the country over the past three months.
One-third of hospitality workers reported being “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with their jobs. Meanwhile 15 percent were unsatisfied prior to the pandemic. To date, only 42 percent report being satisfied with their jobs compared to 64 percent pre-pandemic. Even more stark, 58 percent said they are planning to quit before the end of 2021.
The pandemic appears to have brought greater unhappiness at work for restaurant employees. Forty-five percent of hospitality employees who remained in the industry reported lower job satisfaction, and only 9 percent reported higher satisfaction. Those who are dissatisfied are twice as likely to say they are planning to quit than those who are satisfied at 80 and 39 percent, respectively.
Of the former hospitality workers surveyed, 25 percent reported they would not want to work in the industry again. The reasons included low pay (56 percent), desire for a new career path (50 percent), lack of benefits (39 percent), difficult customers (38 percent), scheduling inflexibility and long hours (34 percent), COVID-19 risk (23 percent), and the physical demands of work (23 percent).
The report shows not all former restaurant employees left because they were drawn to other opportunities; 16 percent were unemployed. For the group that moved to a new industry, 17 percent switched to an in-person office job while another 17 percent found a work-from-home job. Former employees also found work in industrial settings (13 percent), healthcare (11 percent) and as drivers (6 percent).
Education may be a strong appeal to move employees away from restaurant work. Over one-quarter of former and current hospitality workers say they’re considering going back to school or enrolling in a training program to find a new occupation, and 11 percent are already doing that.
Hospitality workers weren’t the only ones who reported dissatisfaction with their jobs. In fact, 73 percent of employed workers are actively thinking about quitting their jobs. And one-quarter of Joblist job seekers said they would feel comfortable quitting their job without a new one lined up.
The employees who already quit cited poor treatment by their employer during the pandemic (19 percent), low pay or lack of benefits (17 percent) and lack of work-life balance (13 percent) as key reasons. Bucking the remote work bandwagon, fewer than 3 percent of all workers who quit claimed it was because they didn’t want to return to in-person work.
When it comes to the hospitality sector specifically, workers quit primarily due to low pay and lack of benefits, which have continued to be an issue throughout the industry. But there’s data that suggests employees will stay if some of their grievances are addressed; around one-third of Joblist job seekers said they would change their mind if this was the case. Fourteen percent of job seekers thinking about quitting would stay in their jobs if everything changed, and one-quarter would not stay under any circumstances.
Article written by Suzanne Blake