What One Full-Time Hospitality Employee Really Costs (UK)

Published 16.02.2026 

We talk about labour in hospitality like it is just £11.44 an hour and a rota to fill, but that is fantasy. The wage is only the starting point. Once you add NI, pension, recruitment costs, training time, management hours, cover while you are short, and the inevitable early mistakes, that so called minimum wage team member quickly becomes a £30,000 decision. And if they leave within six months, it is not just annoying, it is expensive. Before we blame margins or the market, we need to be honest about what one hire actually represents to the business. And in most cases, when they walk out the door, it is not because they failed us, it is because we failed them.

 

Let’s take a full-time, entry-level role at National Living Wage.

 

Base pay

  • NLW (2025): ~£11.44/hour

  • 40 hours per week

  • £23,795 per year (gross)

Already more than many people think.

 

On-costs (the invisible bit)

  • Employer NI: ~£2,000–£2,400

  • Pension (3%): ~£700

  • Holiday pay accrual: already baked in, but operationally painful

** Now we’re at roughly: £26,500–£27,000 per year. And we haven’t hired them yet.

 

Recruitment Cost (conservative)

  • Job ads / platform subscriptions (averaged): £300–£600

  • Management time interviewing (real cost): £300–£500

  • Potential agency cover while short: £500–£1,000

** Call it: £1,000–£2,000 just to get them through the door.

 

Training & Onboarding

  • Paid training shifts (2–3 weeks ramp-up): £800–£1,200

  • Trainer or manager time: £300–£500

  • Errors, waste, slower service (never logged): real

** Let’s be honest: £1,200–£2,000 minimum.

Year-one cost per person

All in, conservatively: £29,000–£31,000, For one minimum-wage team member. If they leave inside six months? You don’t halve the cost. You double parts of it.

 

SO HERE'S YOUR CHALLENGE:

  1. Spend five extra minutes in every interview actually getting to know the person.

  2. Invest properly in their first few weeks.

  3. Be present. Train them well. Check in early.

  4. Treat them the way you would want to be treated on £11.44 an hour.

It will still cost you. But it might stop you paying twice for the same role every six months.

 

BACK