UK restaurants’ strength of overseas workers exceeds fifty per cent

The data from the software company Fourth has revealed that the percentage of overseas workers in restaurants in the UK is 57 per cent and this highlights the dependence of hospitality sector in Britain on the overseas workers. Hospitality sector has 43 percent overseas workers that include hotels, restaurants, pubs and quick-service restaurants. The percentage of the overseas workers is more for restaurants in particular with more than 51% of the front house workers being overseas immigrant workers. The percentage is even more of the back of house roles with 71% workers being overseas immigrants, as quoted by The Caterer. These figures were obtained from the firm Fourth Analytics and were based on a survey held for 25,000 workers in the hospitality sector. This was also divided across hotel, restaurant, pub sectors and QSR. The standard tenure of workers in the hospitality sector for their job is one year. The work hours for back of house staff was 34 hours per week and this was 12 hours more than the work hours for the front house staff. The percentage of workers who were below 21 years was 9% while compared to the front house staff that had 20%. The statistics of the Fourth Analytics have been revealed at a crucial juncture for the hospitality industry. Ufi Ibrahim, the Chief Executive of the British Hospitality Association has said that restrictions on immigration as a part of the Brexit policy would be very detrimental to the hospitality sector. The Fourth Analytics’ Analytics and Insight solutions Director Mike Shipley has added that the figures that have been revealed for the hospitality sector points out to the increased dependence on overseas workers, particularly for the back of house staff. The firms are as it is battling out for talent and are putting forth best efforts to retain, attract and engage staff. The issue of retention of workers is aggravated more in the kitchens of restaurants which have pushed the pay levels beyond the legal upper limits such as the minimum wage of the nation. The Brexit policy has spelled much ambiguity for the hospitality sector and it is better if the government can bring out clarity and give assurance, added Shipley.