By Denis Sheehan MIH
The perceived culture of our industry is uplifted when employers instil policies that treat people well, not only do they enhance their own reputation, but the industry’s also. Likewise, when the opposite plays out, the outcome is also reversed.
Since the end of the pandemic, hospitality has endured ongoing people and skills shortages that limit trading. As we head into the height of the summer season with demand increasing supply is showing no signs of matching pace. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics shows circa 130,000 current vacancies.
The Good
We reported recently that the Living Wage Foundation had awarded Compass Group UK & Ireland as their Living Wage Champion.
As well as paying the real Living Wage to thousands of colleagues it directly employs and being one of the first businesses to introduce the new living wage uplift in November 2022, Compass has also done a huge amount of work as an advocate of the real Living Wage.
This has seen it working with over 300 clients to move to Living Wage contracts, resulting in an extra 20,000 colleagues being paid the real Living Wage or above since October 2021. Additionally, its sports and leisure business, Levy UK, became a 100% Living Wage Sector in January 2023, paying all its workforce the real Living Wage.
Being heralded as a champion of the Living Wage Foundation will clearly do the company and the wider industry both a great deal of good in terms of perception by potential employees.
The Bad
Over the weekend The Guardian ran the headline, Ivy staff anger after restaurant chain cuts their share of service charge.
In a rather messy state of affairs, some employees of The Ivy Collection are claiming that their share of the 13.5% service charge has reduced since last April, the same time as the legal minimum wage (not the real Living Wage) was applied.
The Unite Union’s leader of Hospitality Bryan Simpson, said: “We believe our members are not getting their full share of the service charge which the diners assume goes entirely to them.”
A spokesperson for Troia (UK) Restaurants Ltd, owners of The Ivy Collection issued a statement saying: “Every single member of our staff is guaranteed to be paid above the national minimum wage and all cash or credit card tips are kept directly by the member or members of the team who received the tip.” Obviously skirting around the service charge issue. The issues are a tad complex, so reading the article in full here may help.
Reading the article does the hospitality industry no good whatsoever. The prospects of anyone outside our industry reading it wanting a job with The Ivy Collection is minimal and helps maintain many of the negative perceptions much of the industry is trying to combat through positive management of their people and reputations.
The Minister’s spectacular road to Damascus on Brexit
Also, over the weekend George Eustice gave an exclusive interview to The Guardian lambasting the Home Office over its failed immigration policies, and calling for the government to reopen the UK’s borders to tens of thousands of young workers from EU nations in order to tackle acute post-Brexit labour shortages that he says are driving up inflation.
When you look at Eustice’s political career, those views are a spectacular U-turn.
In the 1999 European Parliament elections, Eustice stood unsuccessfully as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate in South West England. When that failed he joined The Conservative Party.
George Eustice was an ardent Brexiteer who held office as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2020 and 2022 as part of Boris Johnson’s government.
He is now planning to leave parliament at the next election, and it seems before he does so he is hell bent on blaming everyone else for creating the rules he now wants reversed, at least temporarily until the economy is in rude health.
As hospitality and catering moves into its busiest summer period suffering from acute shortages of people, Eustice’s call to relax freedom of movement is an admission it was wrong to do so when he campaigned so fervently for it to be implemented. He has clearly experienced a road to Damascus moment, let’s hope some of his current colleagues do likewise.