As ever, Jamie Oliver is in the news: he has now taken over from Gordon Ramsay as the headline-maker of choice for the hospitality and national press.
The Daily Mail reported on 28 August that Oliver had attacked young British workers as lazy and work-shy, claiming that they can’t even cope with the EU regulation of 48 working hours a week – only about half a week’s work for him.
Immigrant workers, on the other hand, are “…much stronger, much tougher. If we didn’t have any, all of my restaurants would close tomorrow. There wouldn’t be any Brits to replace them.”
Oliver’s credentials
Jamie Oliver has built a large fortune and a restaurant empire that now employs 350 chefs – he has 30 Jamie’s Italian restaurants alone, plus Jamie Oliver’s Diner, Barbecoa and the Union Jacks chain. And then there’s all his publishing (see book illustrated above) and broadcasting activities.
So he knows a bit about hard work and employing and motivating staff…
Provoking a debate
No doubt his words were designed to provoke interest and debate – and, hopefully, get a positive reaction to their challenge from some young British workers.
The fast moving and expanding hospitality sector in the UK not only needs to attract, train and retain talent, it needs to persuade young, ambitious workers that it offers a rewarding career.
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