This article is part of Off to Work's 'The Future of Hospitality' series, with the data compiled via a survey in July/August 2020.

Few are in doubt that hospitality will be back, but the length of time before a return to 'normal' and huge question marks over what 'normal' is even going to look like, continue to cause sleepless nights among industry leaders.

Whilst government interventions surrounding initiatives such as 'Eat Out to Help Out' and the Job Retention Scheme have showed a level of support above what was expected by the industry, large job losses are expected and leaders are calling for more action.

As part of our survey of leaders of the sector, we asked a series of questions and the below are the responses.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing your sector of hospitality in the next six months?

Revenue loss and consumer confidence remain stubbornly ahead in regards to perceived challenges for the next six months with 60.7% choosing either of these options, However the success of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the re-opening of the British schools may will be seen by many of a sign that the worst is behind us. 

What are your expectations of growth within your company in the next six months?

Pessimism is clearly high with leaders in the industry, with 81% of respondants expecting a their business to shrink in the next six months. Nearly half of those people, are expecting a high decline in their business.

How likely are you to increase your use of technology due to the impact of Covid-19?

With the deep freeze of many events across the industry, and head offices generally under-populated, it is no surprise to see that 73.5% of management are likely to increase the amount of technology within their businesses. The level of innovations across the sector, has been one of the bright moments of 2020 so far.

Commercially, how confident are you that opening is the correct thing to do?

After businesses have been closed for so long, it's no surprise to see 59.4% of those questioned saying they are pretty confident in opening being commercially correct. With high running costs for a number of hospitality ventures, the trepidation from just over one in five leaders about re-opening does show that, for many, opening the doors again is a step into the unknown.

How confident do you feel your staff are in returning to/continuing with work?

The ability to understand how your staff are feeling is perhaps the key skill all successful leaders have. For those who have been out of work, 57.1% of staff are feeling relatively confident about resuming their roles, with 59% of management agreeing.

What is interesting is how leadership tend to underestimate those staff at the extremes of their confidence, with big discrepancies between staff who feel extremely confident or those who have zero confidence, and their senior colleagues.

To read the survey in full, including sections 'The Economic Impact of Covid-19', 'Health & Safety', 'Recruitment & Retention' and all the responses from our hospitality workforce click here.