Adapting to the new talent demands in the Hospitality Sector

Webinar on 17 May 2022 in association with Bird & Bird, HVS and AlixPartners.

0 - 10% of Senior Executives are under the age of 40 and 60% of L&D budgets remain unchanged or have been reduced. We recently wrote about the need to rethink models, that if the model being used is no longer working or fit for purpose, then more would be acheived by creating a new model rather than trying to fix the old one. This sentiment really resonated during the 16th in the series of webinars which EP Business in Hospitality hosted earlier this week with our friends from HVS, Bird & Bird and AlixPartners.

Talent, their changing requirements, the need for businesses to properly respond and support, for hospitality education and the education model to be reimagined, the need for businesses to invest properly in talent and for the industry to create a new and improved narrative to attract talent were some of the many topics covered during an insightful webinar.

Interestingly over 60% of businesses attending confirmed during a poll that their L&D budgets would be remaining the same or would be reduced in comparison to what they were in 2019, this being somewhat concerning as it is widely accepted that L&D budgets have more than halved over the past decade. At a time when investment and talent development is greatly needed and new models and thinking essential, few seem to be doing so.

Perhaps the most telling when one considers the development of talent was that 40% of attendees confirmed that none of their board or senior executives are under the age of 40, with 20% admitting that the number was less than 10%.

There is a long road which lies ahead of the Hospitality industry, especially when it comes to talent and development but this road is made even more difficult without a change in thinking, education, modelling, narrative or investment.