The data, published by hospitality people data specialist, Pineapple, and AI-native workforce management software provider, Sona, shows that team turnover in the UK hospitality sector dropped from 75% to 67% over the past year.
This is based on the analysis of raw data from more than 35,000 hospitality employees.
The findings suggest a strategic shift for operators grappling with retention challenges, revealing a statistically significant link between promoting managers from within and achieving lower staff churn.
“The data tells a clear and compelling story: stability starts at the top,” says Philip Eeles, co-founder of Pineapple and part of the team behind Honest Burgers.
The rate of internal promotions for key on-site leadership roles has risen, according to the data, with head chef promotions seeing the largest jump from 44% to 51%.
This is the ‘most effective safeguard against staff turnover’, the report notes, particularly when promoting sous chefs and assistant general managers.
Persistent gaps in management teams are a ‘primary driver’ of overall team turnover with ‘a strong correlation’ between vacancies for head chef, general manager and sous chef positions and higher churn rates across all departments.
“For years, the industry has battled high turnover as an accepted cost of doing business,” Eeles continues.
“Our groundbreaking analysis proves a powerful link between nurturing your own talent into management roles and building teams that stay.
“The message for leaders is that your next great manager is likely already in your building. Investing in their development is not just a ‘nice to have’, it’s a direct route to better retention, reduced costs, and stronger operational performance.”
While staff retention is improving, labour costs have climbed to 35% of revenue. This financial pressure coincides with a drop in the overall employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) from 53.77 to 50.12.
However, the report states that the picture is ‘nuanced’, with sectors like QSR (-14.17) and competitive socialising (-21.45) seeing sharp declines in morale, while the restaurant sector saw an increase (+2.03).
To download the full report, click here.