Salary Series 2018- Chef Salaries

Excel Recruitment are delighted to release our 2018 Salary Survey. Our Salary Survey covers all aspects of the Hospitality Industry including Hotel, Chef and Industrial and corporate Catering salaries. In a series of blog posts, Excel’s expert team give their take on the year ahead and the factors affecting salaries in each industry. In To view our Hotel and Catering Salary Survey in full click here. To get General Manager Shane’ McLave’s take on hotel salaries and the effects of Brexit, click here.

The Irish hospitality sector’s chef crisis continued to dominate industry news and discussion last year, a nowhere near new phenomenon that looks to set to continue right through 2018. Businesses of all levels, shapes and sizes are continuing to struggle to attract, recruit and retain a quality of chefs at all levels. While there is much back on forth on about the issue and many solutions suggested, such as re-instating Cert qualifications or promoting apprenticeships, it needs to be stressed that much of the issue is centred around the industry standard pay rates for chefs.

The Average

Chef pay rates are again going up but they are still well short of the average industrial wage which is €36,000 per annum. In most establishments, chefs have to manoeuvre themselves into a management position in order to achieve that salary. The increase in minimum wage which came into effect in January will further highlight the issue as hourly rates above this will be expected to increase in line with the 30c increase to the minimum wage.

The Solution?

There are exceptions, as we are seeing savvy operators within the Hotel and Restaurant sector offering very attractive packages to attract and keep talented chefs. They can see by increasing the salaries they are seeing the benefits of a higher calibre of staff, greater retention and a lower turnover in talent. Retaining staff will be a major objective of businesses in 2018 as recruitment looks set to remain a highly competitive, candidate’s market. We’re already seeing business work hard at this through a mixture of reward and progression.

 

Salary Series 2018- Hotel Salaries

 

Excel Recruitment are delighted to release our 2018 Salary Survey. Our Salary Survey covers all aspects of the Hospitality Industry including Hotel, Chef and Industrial and Corporate Catering salaries. In a series of blog posts, Excel’s expert team give their take on the year ahead and the factors affecting salaries in each industry.First up, General Manager of Excel Shane Mclave discusses hotel salaries and the effects of Brexit. To view our Hotel and Catering Salary Survey in full click here. To get consultant Laurence Roger’s take on the much-discussed issue of Chefs salaries, click here.

It’s been an interesting year for the hospitality sector in general, and the hotel industry in particular. Brexit and all its consequences, both real and potential, were on everybody’s mind. Its first effects were definitely felt with a 54% decrease in the national average of UK visitors in the last year, according to Failte Ireland. Despite this, it was still a great year for the industry with 69% of hotels and 63% of national attractions welcomed more visitors than in 2016

The minimum wage

We can see that from a salary perspective, there is not a huge difference on 2016 except for salaries at the lower end of the scale, up to €30,000. The general consensus within the industry is that the biggest challenge in 2018 will be to manage the increase in the minimum wage. The jump to €9.55 at the beginning of January has had a knock-on effect. In previous years, employers could allow for an extra 10c or 15c above the minimum wage to create more attractive packages. However this year, with a jump of .30c, this is not possible. We are seeing employers make the decision to raise the hourly pay rate to €10 per hour for entry-level positions. This is pushing up all the lower pay scales to a higher level making it very difficult for businesses in a candidate driven market.

Retention and reward

The next big obstacle for hospitality is to retain the staff that they already have in place through progression and reward. We can see that there are more and more internal promotions, allowing Owners and Managers to keep their core staff in key positions. While this may be a way of retaining staff without any immediate financial cost for the business, if not managed properly, it could lead to inexperienced staff holding senior positions, for which they are not yet ready. They also run the risk of staff getting frustrated at increased workloads and responsibility without feeling a financial benefit. Reward is a different approach that some key players within the hospitality industry are taking and it seems to be working quite well, rewarding staff financially for achieving milestones within the company, usually loyalty and length of service.

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Hotel Salary Survey

Excel Recruitment are delighted to present our 2017 Hotel Salary Survey. 2016 was a phenomenal year for the Irish hospitality industry. Ireland’s food service industry experienced massive growth in 2016, reaching a record €7.5bn. 2016 was a record breaking year for visitors to Ireland, showing the number of international visitors increased to 8.8 million – up 10% on the previous year. 2017 is expected to see further growth of 4.5%, all of which means exciting times are ahead for the hospitality trade in Ireland. In terms of recruitment, the current market is incredibly competitive. It continues to be a candidates market with Chefs and HR Managers continuing to be in high demand. To see the results of our survey, please click below.

If you would like to discuss any of the findings or need advice on your staffing, please get in contact with us here. To view our current vacancies within Hospitality click here.

 

Hotel Salary Survey 2017 (2)

Hotel Salary Survey 2016

Shane McLave, General Manager of Excel Recruitment, shares the findings of our company’s recent survey of salary scales in the four star hotel sector.

Overseas visitors to Ireland, as reported by Fáilte Ireland, grew to 7.9 million for 2015, which represents 11% growth on 2014. Record breaking occupancy levels for Dublin and Galway were reported in 2015 and more than 60 hotel properties, with a total value of more than €700m, changed hands in Ireland during 2015. These are just some of the statistics that reflect the positive outlook for the Irish hospitality industry. It also means that demand for a pool of quality potential employees has never been higher. This is good news for recruitment agency Excel Recruitment but the findings of their recent survey of salary scales in the four star hotel sector reveals some worrying trends about the way in which staff shortages are being addressed and the relationship between salary scales and chef shortages in particular.

If you would like to discuss any of the finding you can contact us here. You can view all Hospitality jobs with Excel Recruitment here.

2016 Hotel Salary Survey