This past semester, two students (Matthew Acevedo and Lindsay Barron) undertook a project to evaluate hospitality student perceptions of their industry as employer. They surveyed students from across Canada. Their report is linked.
Detailed question by question responses for the entire survey are also available.
While overall hospitality students retain a passion for the industry and want to make a career, there are some red flags in the report. The longer they have been in the industry the more concerned they are with hours of work and rate of pay. This may become more of an issue going forward as the economy improves and competition for staff increase.
The results also beg the question whether top tier hospitality employers may be well served to identify potential long term employees and leaders early and develop a seasonal program that develops them rather than treating them like any other seasonal transient employee.
The report is worth a read. We’d love to hear your perspectives.
Our work is supported by earls Kitchen and Bar and we acknowledge and appreciate their support in generating work such as this.
