“In the restaurant industry there’s a big macho sort of persona that whatever restaurant you’re working in you have to adapt to that. You have to look happy because if you don’t, then that affects the people around you [...] so even when your life is in shambles, nobody can know that,” said Charles Ford, general manager at S.K.Y. Chicago, in the Wall Street Journal.
There is also an industry-wide gap in leadership knowledge on how to best support the well-being of these workers. All of these factors come to a head during the holiday season. Mind Share Partners and CHOW teamed up on this article to bring awareness to the ongoing mental health challenges in the food/beverage/hospitality industry, and what employers can do to help.
Challenges that hospitality workers are facing
The food/beverage/hospitality industry has a long standing history of disincentivizing self- care, glamorizing a “hustle and grind” culture, and allowing unorthodox schedules and operational hours.
“I know every job has its ups and downs, but working in a hotel is like playing a game of Jenga, except instead of blocks, the pieces are your sanity,” shared Nathan Chen, a former hotel worker, on Medium.
Always taking care of others as a core part of your job role, with little time to take care of yourself, is a recipe for burnout. So it’s no surprise that the industry experiences disproportionate rates of mental health struggles.
New research from this year points to work-life balance, high expectations or workload, and long hours as the top factors that are negatively impacting hospitality workers’ well-being. For example, in the restaurant industry 74% of chefs report they are sleep deprived to the point of exhaustion, and more than half feel pushed to the breaking point. There is also a lack of job security industry-wide, which can lead to or exacerbate existing mental health challenges.
Results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health also paint a concerning picture, reporting that employees of restaurants and hotels—the two largest branches of the hospitality industry—have the highest rates of substance abuse in the American workforce. There is also a lack of regulatory bodies across independently owned establishments, making it difficult for workers in the industry to ask for help. Roughly 6 in 10 hospitality professionals report they are too afraid to tell their employer that they’re struggling with mental health challenges.
Most hotels and restaurants are facing industry-wide staffing shortages, as workers seek more sustainable working environments, and a greater work-life balance.
What hospitality employers can do
Mind Share Partners and CHOW recommend three key actions for food/beverage/hospitality employers.
Set managers up for success
Research from Hospitality Action found that just 17% of managers have been offered mental health awareness training in their workplace. Conversations about mental health are critical to stigma reduction, learning where challenges are arising, and how to best support your team through them.
From the vast knowledge CHOW has gathered for the industry, they have found that every system and movement of change begins with a conversation. CHOW has created a Temperature Take that allows food/beverage/hospitality managers to check in with their team using “temperatures” ranging from rare (feeling juicy and full of life) to well done (flavorless, can’t handle any more heat). This approach recognizes that we often have more words for our food than we have for our feelings. Additionally, the company has created a resource for challenging conversations.
Mind Share encourages employers to train their managers to develop key skills that help them support a lasting culture of psychological safety for their team. Mind Share has created an easy-to-print checklist for managers that includes the daily, weekly, and monthly actions they can take to support their team’s well-being.
Look at the ways you work
Some circumstances are unavoidable in high-pressure industries, but there are ways that managers and leaders can be proactive around mitigating some of the top stressors that we mentioned above—like workload and long hours.
For example, it can be challenging for hospitality workers to feel a sense of agency over their work schedules. One solution might look like providing workers with agency in the form of schedule blocking and shift swapping. This solution provides some autonomy, prevents workers from being scheduled for double shifts, and ensures workers have an adequate break from work each week.
To better identify what challenges are coming up for your team members, Mind Share created a worksheet that helps teams review and reset stress-inducing work practices.
Lead by example
We encourage leaders within the food/beverage/hospitality industry to lead by example when it comes to their mental health and well-being. CHOW suggests that talking often and frankly about the ways in which leaders have reached out for help themselves can foster a culture of psychological safety. While suggesting resources to staff may be valuable, sharing a first-hand experience of what utilizing a resource may have looked and felt like, can often be the nudge folks need to explore something themselves.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that is a core part of Mind Share’s approach to creating a mentally healthy work culture. When leaders, in particular, share their personal mental health journeys with their team, it can inspire openness, authenticity and safety around the topic.
Remember that these actions are important beyond busy seasons, and should ideally become a part of an organization’s daily work practices and culture.
Authored by Mind Share Partners and CHOW
