Is there a need for a dedicated hospitality staffing app in South Africa? Absolutely. As technology continues to evolve, so does the level of accessibility to products, services and employment opportunities. Convenient customer experience is literally at our fingertips. As SURV gears up for the big reveal, it’s pertinent to understand why the application actually exists.
Our initial insights into the hospitality industry showed the need for a faster, more convenient and credible recruitment process. This is especially true for hospitality establishments. Employers need experienced and vetted staff to service the needs of caterers, hotel groups, franchises and restaurant chains.
Our research also highlights the challenges faced by hospitality job seekers. Transport, lack of flexibility to pursue other goals as well as the time to find suitable employment are all common challenges. For job seekers, the need for employment solutions that allow flexible working hours, multiple income streams and location based employment opportunities have become essential.
In our latest blog post, we’ll share some initial insights that motivated the development for SURV’s dedicated hospitality staffing platform.
The Employer’s need for a hospitality staffing app
Our purpose for being was based on qualitative and quantitative research conducted with a number of leading hospitality chains and service staff. Through a series of one-to-one telephonic conversations and surveys conducted with restaurant owners and managers, the need for an on-demand employment model is rising. Staff placements that are quick, credible and cost-effective without the red tape of traditional recruitment processes would aid the employment process of experienced service staff in the hospitality industry.
For employers, the main topics of discussion included: finding, placing and training service staff, challenges and general recruitment of hospitality staff. The following insights were provided:
- The top 3 channels for recruiting hospitality jobs are staff referrals, gumtree and submitted CV’s
- 99% of staff members were employed by staff referrals and walk ins
- Background checks are only conducted after the first interview
- Traditional recruitment services are time consuming and costly, mainly used for hiring management positions
- Placing staff is quick due to the employment rate in South Africa. The time investment for training and retaining is more of a lengthy process
- 5 years ago, 60% of service staff were students. This has decreased by 40% and limited to third year students
- Staff turnover varies from high to low in certain establishments
- The biggest challenge is finding service staff with experience
- For 85 – 90% of employees, it’s just a last resort job without any passion
- Transport and trading hours are a big problem and result in late comers or no shows
- Brand culture has become a major factor when considering the permanent hiring of staff
- The adoption of technology in the hiring process has become a crucial way to attract generation Z employees
The Job seekers need for a hospitality staffing app
On the flip side of the hospitality industry coin, the main topics that we explored included: finding work, securing work, experience and employer expectations. The hospitality job seeker pool that took part in our survey included waiters, waitresses, baristas, kitchen staff, scullers, bartenders and cooks.
One of the most common issues found in both job seekers and employer research was the use of traditional recruitment services. Most job seekers rarely use these services and are reluctant as they “take money from one’s salary”. Most job seekers are still finding employment through word of mouth, referrals, CV drop offs as well as social media and online platforms such as Gumtree.
Some of the biggest challenges for hospitality job seekers include:
- The inconsistent time frame to find employment (varies between 1 day to 1 year with an average of 3 – 4 months).
- The administration process that goes into the hiring process – employment requires an updated CV, background checks and references which can be costly and time consuming for the candidate.
- For most job-seekers, waitering is their full time job limited to 2 – 3 shifts per week which does not constitute enough of a steady income.
- Transportation to employment establishments and the rising cost of fuel.
How SURV can help both job seeker and employer:
SURV connects Restaurant groups, franchises, hotels, bars and delis with experienced and vetted hospitality staff. Our online hospitality platform is fast, reliable and convenient for both jobseekers and employers in the hospitality industry.
The service is free for job seekers looking for employment as a waiter, barista, bartender, cook, sculler or kitchen assistant. SURV offers flexible employment opportunities, location based work as well as a vetting process. Simply go to our website and get vetted today.
The vetting process takes up to 48 hours. Sign up to SURV so that we can position you with the most ideal employer for on-demand shifts.
For more tasty SURV’ings of our monthly blog, subscribe to our blog page.
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For employers or job seekers looking for more information about SURV and the official release. Sign up to SURV today or follow our journey on Facebook and Instagram.