What About Leaving?

We talk endlessly about recruitment.

The advert.

The interview.

The introductions.

The trial shift.

The reference checks.

The offer.

The onboarding.

The sigh of relief they join.

The uniform.

The first day.

The first week.

The first 90 days.

And then, apparently, the employment journey ends with a resignation letter and someone saying:

“Right, when can you get your keys back?”

We are very good at welcoming people into hospitality businesses.

But what happens when someone leaves?

Not just any employee. What happens when an impactful team member resigns?

The Head Chef who has been there for four years.

The GM who built the team.

The Sous Chef that grafts and everyone trusts.

The person who knows where everything is, who the suppliers are, which fridge doesn't work properly and why table 14 always asks for the same ridiculous modification.

When that person leaves, the impact isn't simply one empty space on the rota.

It can affect confidence, culture, workload, performance and the people they leave behind.

So perhaps we need to talk about the other end of the employee journey.

Leaving is part of the employee experience too

We spend huge amounts of time measuring how good our recruitment process is.

But how often do we measure how good our leaving process is?

Do you conduct an exit interview?

And I don't mean:

“Why are you leaving?”

“Better money.”

“Okay, cheers.”

Door.

Done.

An exit interview should give you information.

What worked?

What didn't?

Did they feel supported?

Did they understand their progression opportunities?

Was their manager effective?

Did they feel listened to?

Would they recommend the business to someone else?

Would they come back?

Would they recommend the business as a place to work?

And perhaps most importantly:

What could we have done differently?

Because if someone tells you the truth on their way out, that information is probably more valuable than the answer you got from the engagement survey six months earlier - IF you did that too of course.

What about the team they leave behind?

This is the bit that often gets forgotten.

Someone resigns.

The business immediately starts recruiting.

The job goes online.

The agency gets called.

The remaining team get asked to “hang in there”.

And suddenly the people who are left are doing more with less.

Extra shifts.

Extra responsibility.

Extra pressure.

Extra hours.

And potentially wondering:

“Am I next?”

When an impactful person leaves, review the team around them.

Speak to their direct reports.

Speak to their peers.

Speak to the person who worked beside them every day.

What does the team need?

What are they worried about?

Who needs additional support?

Who could step up?

Who might be ready for development?

And, perhaps most importantly, who is quietly looking at job adverts while everyone else is dealing with the resignation?

Because the risk isn't always the person who has just resigned.

Sometimes it's the three people they leave behind.

Do you actually know what your team thinks?

Engagement surveys are useful.

But only if you actually do something with them, really listen to them, and action it.

If your team scores you poorly for communication, development, leadership or work-life balance, don't file the results in a folder called “HR” and forget about them.

You have been given the recipe.

Do something with it.

And if you don't have an engagement survey?

Start one.

It doesn't need to be complicated.

Ask:

Would you recommend working here?

Do you feel supported by your manager?

Do you see a future here?

Do you feel your contribution is recognised?

What is one thing we could improve?

Then actually listen to the answers.

Well you CAN find these all out another way - HOW? From indeed, glassdoor and trustpilot, do you really need to see Steve hates the place because management do no listen for the third staff leaver in a row on there, who IS the actual issue here? Be better....

Because your culture leaves the building too

Here's where it gets interesting.

What happens after someone leaves?

Glassdoor.

Indeed.

LinkedIn.

Google.

Industry WhatsApp groups.

Word of mouth.

Friends in other kitchens.

The chef who has just left might tell ten people about your business.

They might tell them what was brilliant.

They might tell them what was terrible.

Or, more likely, they'll tell them both.

And here's the uncomfortable question:

Does your internal culture match your external reputation?

You might have five-star TripAdvisor reviews.

You might have brilliant Trustpilot feedback.

You might have customers talking about how amazing the food, service and experience are.

But what happens when someone looks you up as an employer?

Do they see the same business?

Because if your customers say:

“Fantastic team, brilliant service, couldn't fault it.”

But your former employees say:

“Great food. Terrible place to work.”

You have a culture problem.

The plate looks good.

The kitchen might not.

The hospitality turnover problem

And this isn't happening in a low-turnover industry.

CIPD research puts hospitality employee turnover at 52%, the highest of the UK industries measured in its 2022–23 benchmarking data. It also found that more than a third of hospitality employees had been with their employer for less than a year.

More recent hospitality data from Sona and Pineapple found turnover had improved from 75% to 67% over the previous 12 months, based on data from more than 35,000 hospitality employees.

So yes, people leaving hospitality businesses is normal.

But normal doesn't mean you should accept it as unavoidable.

Hospitality workers stay with an employer for around three years on average, according to recent retention research.

Three years is a long time in hospitality.

A lot can happen in three years.

A person can become a CDP.

A Sous Chef.

A Head Chef.

A GM.

A mentor.

A trainer.

A culture carrier.

And then one day they hand you a resignation letter.

What happens next says a lot about you as an employer.

We KNOW the next generation are staying less, (perhaps) and retaining is more challenging,

IS it a turnover problem, or a tolerance problem?

Its not all about resilience to being screamed at, its tolerance to being respected, appreciated, listened to, and being sold something that remains genuine, not just a glossy poster to join today and lied to tomorrow, its being the business you say you are, from top to bottom.

Don't just replace the person. Understand the gap.

VITAL - Facts, but;

Recruitment is important.

But recruitment should not be your automatic answer to every resignation.

Sometimes the answer is development.

Sometimes it's restructuring.

Sometimes it's workload.

Sometimes it's management.

Sometimes it's pay.

Sometimes it's simply that someone has reached the end of their journey with you.

That's okay too.

People leave.

Careers move on.

Businesses change.

But every resignation gives you information.

The question is whether you use it.

So when the next person resigns, don't just ask:

“How quickly can we replace them?”

Ask:

“Why are they leaving?”

“What does the team need now?”

“What can we learn from this?”

“What does this tell us about our culture?”

And finally:

“If someone looked at our business tomorrow as a potential employer, would we be proud of what they found?”

Because recruitment might get someone through the door.

Onboarding might get them started.

But how you treat people when they leave might be the clearest review of your culture you ever receive.

And unlike a TripAdvisor review, you don't get to respond with:

“Thanks for your feedback, Tony. We're sorry you didn't enjoy your experience.”

You actually have to fix the kitchen.

Don't just manage the arrival. Manage the departure.

Because a good employee experience shouldn't end when someone hands in their notice.

It should end with them thinking:

“That was a good place to work.”

Even if they're walking through someone else's door.

And in 30 years of employment, I only ever saw this done well once - ask, and I'll tell you.

For context, (through redundancy) over a phone call I was asked to send back work material at my own expense via courier as to not arrive at the venue - Some places are just like that, and the blogs are here to help navigate which is which.

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