September 23, 2026
Employee turnover is a persistent challenge for hospitality organizations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the leisure and hospitality industry had an average total separations rate of 5.6% in 2025, putting the annualized rate at roughly 67%.
Hotels, restaurants, resorts, and entertainment venues depend on engaged employees to deliver exceptional guest experiences. Yet many teams are caught in a continuous cycle of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and filling open positions.
It's easy to focus on the operational factors behind turnover, such as staffing shortages, scheduling challenges, and competitive labor markets. But employees' day-to-day experiences also influence whether they see a future with an organization.
By making employee engagement an ongoing priority, hospitality organizations can build a more stable workforce.
4 Ways to Improve Employee Retention in Hospitality
Every interaction with your workforce shapes how employees experience your organization. The following four strategies can help you make those interactions more intentional.
1. Make recognition part of the everyday experience
Hospitality employees solve problems in real time, whether they're calming an upset guest, covering a coworker's shift, or keeping service running during a busy weekend. Those contributions often fly under the radar, making it easy for great work to go unacknowledged.
Recognizing those moments reinforces the behaviors you want to see more often. A manager's thank-you after a hectic dinner service, a peer nomination for exceptional teamwork, or a company-wide shoutout for outstanding guest service all signal that individual efforts make a difference.
Consistent recognition helps build pride, strengthen relationships across teams, and encourage employees to keep bringing their best to work.
2. Celebrate the milestones that matter
Hospitality organizations often excel at creating memorable experiences for guests. Bringing that same intentionality to employee milestones can strengthen employees' connection to your organization.
Work anniversaries, service achievements, promotions, certifications, and other meaningful moments deserve recognition because they reinforce progress and commitment. Pairing those celebrations with symbolic awards or personalized recognition adds lasting significance and reminds employees that their contributions are valued over time.
When employees can see their growth being recognized, they're more likely to envision a long-term future with your organization.
3. Listen before employees decide to leave
Turnover data tells you who has already left. Employee listening helps you understand how your workforce is feeling before disengagement turns into resignation.
Regular surveys, pulse checks, and other listening opportunities provide valuable insight into employee sentiment. They can reveal how employees feel about leadership, workload, communication, workplace culture, and other factors that influence their day-to-day experience.
Those insights help you identify trends, address concerns earlier, and make informed decisions based on employee feedback. They also give you a way to measure the impact of your engagement efforts and continue improving them over time.
4. Connect your engagement efforts into one program
Your engagement initiatives have the greatest impact when they work as part of a unified employee engagement program. Bringing them together gives your team a stronger framework for managing, measuring, and improving engagement across the organization. It also creates greater consistency across the organization.
According to our 2026 Employee Engagement Impact Report, 70% of employees with well-connected engagement programs say those programs have significantly influenced their decision to stay, compared with 22% of employees who don't view their programs as well connected.
A unified approach also provides greater visibility into your engagement strategy. By tracking participation, employee feedback, and program outcomes in one place, you can identify trends, uncover opportunities for improvement, and make more informed decisions about where to focus your efforts.
Create a More Resilient Hospitality Workforce
Employee turnover affects service quality, team continuity, operational efficiency, and the guest experience your organization delivers every day.
Investing in retention helps you build experienced teams, strengthen day-to-day operations, and create the consistency needed for long-term growth.
Ready to take a more connected approach to employee engagement? Discover how Terryberry's Be Engaged™ program brings together recognition, awards, rewards, wellness, and listening to help you strengthen retention.
