Every business contains many activities that are aligned with ensuring the success of the firm. Employees become an essential need for any corporation as the services they offer help to meet the needs of the customers. However, the workers seek jobs based on the amount of income they are provided, the time spent on working, work balance and availability of the position. Over time, it has become apparent that the situations in bars and restaurant are left by many workers to seek other opportunities. Moreover, the education system reveals that students taking courses related to catering are few regardless of the availability of these jobs in most places. Therefore, there is need to examine why the trend is aligned against these individuals opting for other job opportunities. Firms that face these challenges fail to satisfy the needs of the customers as the new workers take time to be complacent with the order of operations and how to align their activities to the same. On the other hand, these workers may not be entirely ready to understand what they are taught as their mind is concentrated on finding a better job opening (Morrell, Loan‐Clarke, & Wilkinson, 2004). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the possible reasons that may force these workers to feel that jobs in restaurants and bars are not fit enough for them such that they seek other opportunities. This research will examine various literary sources to understand what has already been found and expound on some of the ideas. The research will also provide recommendations that the hospitality industry can engage with to retain their employees for long-term work. The following is a research paper that is aimed at investigating the reasons as to why many employees choose to leave the restaurant and bar jobs, and the reasons as to why these sectors are not typical career paths for many.
Literature Review
Work Stress
The study conducted by Wilson, (2018) indicates that most of the employees within the hospitality industry complain of overworking and work stress. The scholars purport that workers in the restaurants and bars have to interact with customers from different settings. For instance, Sallaz (2017) indicates that arrogant and drunk people within bars tend to become rude and violent. The customers who are violent pose risks to the life of the attendants employed, especially if the attendants are women. Moreover, the amount of work that each is expected to do in a day is considerable. Most of the employees, according to the research, complain of back pains and fatigue each day. Those working in restaurants complain of headaches as they work under high-temperature settings while traversing the whole premises dealing with the customers. In addition to this, the hospitality customers are becoming increasingly demanding as they require high-quality services, apt attention, and fair pricing. Therefore, the workers have constant stress, fatigue and strain to meet these customer demands.
Carrier Development
The study by Halvorsen, Treuren, and Kulik (2015) reinforced the findings above indicate that there is no professional growth and development within the hospitality industry. As opposed to other businesses, Halvorsen, Treuren, and Kulik (2015) argue that bars and restaurants do not provide the best platform for growth. Most of these firms employ any worker even if they do not meet the qualifications, hence having a mixture of both competent and non-competent employees. As such, it becomes the task of the well qualified attendants to educate the new individuals in the field, who may like the job. Therefore, the workers opt to find better suiting jobs that will help them in their overall development.
Considering as Job
Similarly, the study conducted by Olaniyan, and Hystad (2016) shows that most of the African and Western countries take hospitality jobs, primarily working in a bar or restaurant, as an opportunity to earn money for a short term. The scholars indicate that these jobs are taken to be unsatisfactory, with reduced pay and hence temporary. Students who are still in college take most of these posts and they work during their school most extended holidays. As such, most of these employees leave their jobs once their holidays end. On the other hand, the researchers identified that people employed in such businesses in the hospitality industry opt for the same to gain a social connection and be within a professional environment that they can identify with. For instance, the study reveals that employees in the bars take up the jobs due to the pressure of having a living for themselves even if they do not have a liking for the profession or the necessary qualifications.
Progressing Career
Based on the research outcomes, it is evident that the security of the jobs is not assured. According to Harris, Tang, and Tseng (2006), even the most excellent bars and restaurants seek to obtain skills and competency in the employees they give work to. It is evident that these jobs, owing to the recurrent trends in lack of job retention, those workers may lack jobs security when employed in bars and restaurants. These employees also face the challenge of jobs development as the qualified team interacts with the less qualified personnel, which renders them to educate these novice individuals on how to work (Wassink & Hagan, 2018). According to Harris, Tang, and Tseng (2006), the approach is a limiting factor for it deteriorates the quality of services provided by the competent employees and hence these workers do not get tips from their customers. Moreover, Harris, Tang, and Tseng (2006) argue that, with the lack of motivation for the workers and reduced time for interactions, the workers lack mentorship and training on the changing nature of the hospitality industry, hence reducing their opportunity for developing in the job.
Employee Turnover
The level of attrition of the workers has been on the rise over recent years. Most of the workers in the hospitality industry opt for the job due to the ease with which jobs are available and the minimum requirements needed. However, the option is not a long-term career choice for many, and they opt to leave these jobs once better openings are available. The challenge that comes in is that bars and restaurants have a problem of retaining talent and hence incurring expenses in hiring and training new workers. According to Halvorsen, Treuren, and Kulik (2015), talent is evidently the essential component of work in the hospitality industry, and it only comes through continuous working and training. When the competent workers leave these jobs, the firm is left with a gap to fill, which is expensive as they need to find new employees, orient them on the process of working, and train them on how to conduct themselves. The cycle then continues as these new workers leave their jobs after some time.
Work Life Conflict
As the workers have long hours of working, with some even having to take night and day shifts to meet their expenses, Ariyabuddhiphongs and Kahn (2017)indicate that there lacks time for the motivation of the employees. It is evident that the schedule of the workers is tight in most cases, which suggests that they require a right balance between their jobs and lives. Moreover, the commitment to working limits the timeline available for the motivation of the employees, which is a derailing factor that forces these employees to seek better jobs where compensation is higher, motivation is imminent, and the work balance is more manageable.
Reasons for Workers Deciding To Leave
Pay
With many different jobs rising in the globe, compensation for the services offered by the workers is becoming the base for measuring the best position. According to Holland and Martin (2015), the bar and restaurant jobs, despite having a good income, do not pay enough for people who have families and that may require constant and stable income. During the periods of celebration and social activities, these jobs have enough income to cater for people and give them enough to spend on extra items. However, as argued by Knox (2014), the jobs may not be well paying during the periods when there are limited social activities. The reason for lies in the fact that most of the income of the employees emanates from the tips they receive, rather than the salary they get from their employers (Azar, Yosef, & Bar-Eli, 2015). The analogy explains why most of the current employees in the industry may opt to obtain other jobs that may pay them well and on a long-term basis.
Work Balance
According to Guerci, Radaelli, Siletti, Cirella, and Rami Shani (2015), the workload that the employees in a bar get is hard, and it causes them to become fatigued in most of their days. Despite having off-days which these individuals are to do their household chores and other necessary activities, bar and restaurant jobs are tiring. The number of hours to work may depend on the pay per hour and with the amount an individual expects to be earning every day. Guerci et al. (2015) purport that, due to the low pay that these employees receive, they need to work even at night or for more extended hours to get enough funds. The approach limits the time they get to spend with their relatives and friends, which thus forces them to seek better jobs that can allow for work balance.
Religion and Culture
One of the most limiting factors that have been argued by many is the issue of religion and culture and how they can influence the employee lives in a bar or restaurant. Primarily, Dube, Lester, and Reich (2016) indicate that Christianity is the most restricting religion with regards to working in a bar. According to Filimonau and Mika (2017), some of the Christians may be taken to go against their religion if they work in a bar since they are prohibited to drink alcoholic beverages, which also prevents them from selling the same. As such, individuals who may have obtained such jobs before following the religion of their choice can be forced to leave the bar work and find an alternative job opportunity. Similarly, culture may influence the dress codes of people, hence limiting their ability to work in a given firm. For instance, some religions restrict the females from wearing short dresses or skirts as it is taken as an offense. In such a case, these workers may be forced to quit their jobs in a bar or restaurant that expects their workers to dress in uniform, which for the ladies, may be decent but shorter than what the culture expects (Bhattacherjee, 2015).
Competition
Most of the students who are studying have indicated the lack of interest in the hospitality industry suggesting that there is high competition in the market. Cain, Tanford, and Shulga (2018) suggest that scholars see the sector being occupied with both qualified and unqualified personnel who, upon training, gain the skills and knowledge to conduct the businesses properly. Shigihara (2015) suggests that the congestion of workers in the industry forces the students to identify with other career paths that may be more profitable and that is not competed for by many people.
Transferable Skills
Research demonstrates that when all is said in done, graduate candidates looking for their first vocation occupations do not have the individual, transferable and employability aptitudes which bosses require, and Dearing has prescribed that most understudies ought to embrace work involvement to cure this confinement. This article depicts the Working for Skills venture keep running by Leeds Metropolitan University and a few noteworthy nearby bosses. About 20 "aptitudes and qualities", recognized essentially from free research ventures, are exhibited to understudies in a work life. The work-life tends to two primary territories: experiential learning and the utilization of (mainly) work understanding to develop the recognized abilities and traits.
Recommendations
Proper Motivation
According to Gleeson,(2015), one of the most appropriate measures that the bars and restaurants can set to reduce employee turnover is to increase their level of motivation. Motivation is critical to improving the performance of the workers, which is also necessary to ensure they get better pay and more tips. Additionally, finding time for motivational talks and seminars will help in improving the competency of the employees as they will interact with other workers from different sections, hence exchanging ideas (Charlebois, Creedy, & von Massow, 2015).
Shorter Shifts
The major problem noted in work is that both employees from restaurants and bars are overworked and thus they usually fatigued (Dhar & Dhar, 2010). The best way to counter the challenge is through the development of shorter shifts that the employees may be comfortable with while making enough money to meet their needs. According to Blomme, Van Rheede, and Tromp (2010), the shorter shifts will help in ensuring the workers are not tired at most times, and will also be ideal to creating time for social interactions and motivational practices.
Using Performance for Pay Approach
In addition to the shorter shifts, Kraak, & Holmqvist (2017) suggest that these businesses should find the best mechanism of compensating the workers based on their performance and quality of services. It is evident that such an approach is beneficial since it will lead the workers to gain more as they work harder and provide the customers with better services. It will also help the employees to plan for their time and get to know when they can best deliver their services (Wilson, 2018).
Conclusion
The purpose of the research project was to conduct and analyses of why employees intend to leave bar/restaurant work. The dissertation was also to examine the reasons why the hospitality industry is not taken to be a long-term career path for many individuals. It is evident that, over time, it has become apparent that the jobs in bars and restaurant are left by many workers to seek other opportunities. These workers complain of having tight schedules and limited time for their social interactions with friends and families. Moreover, the education system reveals that students taking courses related to catering are few regardless of the availability of these jobs in most places. The various studies examined have indicated that the potential causes of lack of interest in the job offerings are inclusive of lack of proper payment, issues with work and life balance, culture and religion implications and the point of job satisfaction and development. Motivation has also been identified to be critical in the jobs, as most of the employees would opt to understand more about the work they do and how they are to conduct it. If these businesses can follow some of the recommended actions, then it is possible to improve the retention of workers and hence eliminate chances of workers leaving for better job openings.
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