Restaurants often deal with a restive employee base, but the pandemic and ensuing labor shortage have left an impact, according to a survey of restaurants workers in December.
More than one in four (27%) of workers said they will have left the industry a year from now, according to a December survey by KURU Footwear, which polled 800 U.S. workers, 18 and older, in the food/restaurant service industry.
Surveyed workers said pay (as chosen by 46% of those surveyed) was the most important contributor to job satisfaction, follow by flexibility at 20%, the KURU report found.
Data from Alignable, released in December, indicated that 11% of small restaurant owners were reducing their staff size amid a growing number of layoffs and hiring freezes. That marked a 5% jump in restaurant staff reductions from November. And among restaurant owners still hiring, about 44% reported difficulties finding the right workers, the Alignable report found.
The KURU survey found more than half, or 58%, of workers reported feeling happy or extremely happy about their jobs. But about 56% said they felt burned out by their jobs, and 16% were unhappy or extremely unhappy.
Of those surveyed, most had several years of experience in the foodservice industry: 62% had been in the industry for more than three years and 8% had been in the field for less than a year.
“When it comes to compensation, 57% say they are satisfied with their current wage,” the report found.
Staff shortages continued to be noticed by workers: 68% felt there was a staff shortage and 13% thought there would be a shortage in the future.
About 90% of the surveyed workers had worked overtime, double shifts or extra shifts in 2022. Of those, 75% of them said they did so because of a staff shortage, the report found.
The KURU survey also found 54% of workers reported feeling stress on from their jobs and 39% reported feeling fatigued. One in five said they had experienced insomnia, the survey found.
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