Leaders love to say 'young people don’t want to work', they say 'Gen Z is entitled', they say 'this new generation doesn’t have the same work ethic' etc, but let me be very clear, that is lazy thinking, and it's completely wrong.

The truth is not that people do not want to work. The truth is that people do not want to work for you. They do not want to sacrifice their mental health for your broken schedules. They do not want to live paycheck to paycheck while being told to “smile through the pain.” They do not want to spend their best years giving everything to companies that give nothing back.

This is not entitlement. This is evolution.

We live in a time where options exist. A 22 year old can make more money with a smartphone than they can scrubbing dishes for 12 hours. A talented chef can launch a personal brand on Instagram faster than they can climb the ranks in a hotel kitchen. A gifted salesperson can pivot to tech and double their salary in six months. The labor market has shifted. People are not trapped anymore.

Do you want to know the real voice of hospitality employees today? Let me share some of what they tell me in private.

👉🏻 “We tell employees they’re family, then make them apply for overtime approval like strangers.”
👉🏻 “One housekeeper told me she gets charged for a broken glass in a guest room, but the GM gets a bonus for cutting staff hours.”
👉🏻 “A bartender messaged me that he was told to smile more while being docked pay for taking a bathroom break.”
👉🏻 “An employee at a luxury resort told me she serves champagne she will never be able to afford to drink in her life.”

These are not isolated stories. They are the reality for far too many.

The talent gap is not about missing people. It is about missing vision. It is about an industry that refuses to adapt to how work has changed.

Here is what happens if hospitality refuses to adapt. The talent gap will not just remain, it will widen until operations collapse. Guests will notice. Service levels will fall. Reviews will tank. Revenues will follow. And the very leaders who blame “this generation” will be the ones responsible for the downfall.

But here is the opportunity. Imagine if hospitality became the industry known for developing people, not breaking them. Imagine if hotels became the launchpad for careers instead of the graveyard for dreams. Imagine if the same creativity used to wow guests was applied to how we treat staff. That is how you close the talent gap.

The companies that understand this will dominate the next decade. The ones that ignore it will fade into irrelevance, clinging to outdated excuses until there is nobody left to blame.

Hospitality is about people. That means all people, not just the ones paying for a room. Until we live that truth, the gap will keep growing. And I will keep writing about it.

Scott Eddy - Follow
Hospitality’s No-Nonsense Voice | Speaker | Brand Strategist | Building Loyalty & ROI Through Real Storytelling | #15 Hospitality Influencer | #2 Cruise Influencer