HR Support for Hospitality Businesses
From managing high staff turnover and tips compliance to seasonal hiring and shift patterns, we provide HR support designed for pubs, restaurants, hotels, and leisure businesses.
Book a Free ConsultationHR Challenges in Hospitality
Every sector has its unique HR pressures. Here are the challenges we help hospitality businesses overcome.
High Staff Turnover
Hospitality consistently has one of the highest turnover rates of any UK sector, with some businesses seeing annual staff churn exceeding 70%. Every time someone leaves, you face the cost of advertising, interviewing, onboarding, and training a replacement, plus the disruption to your team and service quality while the new hire gets up to speed. The causes are well documented: unsociable hours, low pay relative to workload, limited progression, and a perception that hospitality jobs are temporary rather than careers. We help you tackle turnover at its root by reviewing your pay and benefits, improving onboarding so new starters feel settled from day one, building progression pathways, and creating a workplace culture that makes people want to stay.
Seasonal Hiring and Flexible Contracts
Hospitality demand fluctuates with the seasons, school holidays, events, and the unpredictability of the British weather. You need the flexibility to scale your workforce up for busy periods and reduce it when trade drops, but this must be done within the law. Zero-hours contracts, casual agreements, and fixed-term arrangements all carry specific legal obligations around continuity of service, holiday accrual, and the right to request guaranteed hours. Employees on fixed-term contracts gain unfair dismissal protection after two years, and repeated renewals can create permanent employment status. We help you draft contracts that give you genuine flexibility while keeping you compliant, and manage the end of seasonal arrangements properly.
Tips and Tronc Compliance
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 introduced significant new obligations for hospitality employers. You must now pass on all tips, gratuities, and service charges to workers fairly, maintain a written policy on how tips are allocated, keep records for three years, and give workers the right to request information about tip distribution. Getting this wrong can result in tribunal claims, with workers able to recover unpaid tips plus compensation. If you use a tronc scheme, the tronc operator must be independent of management to maintain the National Insurance exemption. We help you set up compliant tipping policies, review existing tronc arrangements, and ensure your approach is fair, transparent, and legally watertight.
Working Time and Shift Compliance
Hospitality relies on shift work, split shifts, late nights, and early starts, often with the same person covering different patterns week to week. The Working Time Regulations 1998 set clear limits: a maximum average of 48 hours per week (though employees can opt out), a minimum 11-hour daily rest period, a 24-hour uninterrupted rest period each week (or 48 hours per fortnight), and a 20-minute break after 6 hours of work. Night workers face additional restrictions and are entitled to free health assessments. In practice, hospitality rotas frequently push against these limits, especially during busy periods. We help you design shift patterns that comply with the regulations, train managers to spot potential breaches, and put systems in place to monitor working time across your team.
Right-to-Work Checks
Hospitality is one of the sectors most closely scrutinised by immigration enforcement, and the civil penalty for employing an illegal worker is up to £60,000 per worker. Every employer must carry out a right-to-work check before employment begins, and repeat checks are required for employees with time-limited permission to work in the UK. The check must follow the Home Office prescribed process exactly: you need to see original documents, check they are genuine, take copies, and record the date the check was carried out. A statutory excuse against a civil penalty only applies if the check was done correctly. We help you set up robust right-to-work processes, train your managers on what to check and when, and ensure your documentation is in order.
Training, Development and Young Workers
Hospitality employs a high proportion of young workers, many in their first job. Under the Working Time Regulations, workers aged 16 and 17 have additional protections including a 30-minute break after 4.5 hours, a maximum 8-hour working day, and restrictions on night work. Beyond compliance, investing in training and development is one of the most effective ways to reduce turnover in hospitality. We help you build structured induction programmes, apprenticeship frameworks, and clear progression pathways that turn entry-level hires into long-term team members.
How We Help Hospitality Businesses
We work with pubs, restaurants, hotels, and leisure businesses to build HR frameworks that reduce turnover, keep you compliant, and help you create great workplaces in a demanding sector.
- Set up compliant tips and tronc policies under the new legislation
- Draft flexible contracts for zero-hours, part-time, and seasonal staff
- Implement HR software for rota management and holiday tracking
- Create onboarding processes that improve retention from day one
- Train managers on handling disciplinaries, grievances, and absence
- Manage right-to-work checking processes and documentation
Key Regulations We Help You Navigate
Staying compliant in the hospitality sector means understanding industry-specific legislation. We keep you up to date and protected.
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023
Requires employers to pass on all tips, gratuities, and service charges to workers fairly, with a written policy and record-keeping obligations.
Working Time Regulations 1998
Rules on maximum weekly hours, rest breaks, paid annual leave, and special provisions for night workers common in hospitality settings.
National Minimum Wage (Accommodation Offset)
Specific rules on how live-in accommodation affects minimum wage calculations, with an annual offset rate set by the government.
Immigration Act (Right-to-Work)
Employer obligations to verify immigration status before employment, with civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker for non-compliance.
How It Works
Initial Consultation
We learn about your venue, team size, and the specific HR challenges you face in a free no-obligation call.
Tailored Plan
We design an HR support package around hospitality operations, covering contracts, compliance, and staff management.
Ongoing Support
Your dedicated consultant understands the pace of hospitality and is available for urgent queries, even during service.
“I cannot emphasise enough how fortunate I feel to have such an incredible HR team supporting us every step of the way. Knowing they are just on the end of the phone has given us complete peace of mind.”
Relevant Services for Hospitality
Retained HR Support
Ongoing expert HR support for hospitality businesses, covering everything from contracts to compliance.
Learn more →Ad-Hoc HR Services
Pay-as-you-go HR support for seasonal businesses that need flexibility without a retainer commitment.
Learn more →HR Software Solutions
Breathe HR cloud platform for managing rotas, holidays, and employee records in your hospitality business.
Learn more →Ready to Reduce Turnover and Stay Compliant?
Book a free consultation and discover how we can help your hospitality business build a stronger, more stable team.
Book Your Free ConsultationOr call: 01327 640070