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Building an inclusive culture

This section of the toolkit offers strategies that create, support and nourish inclusive working environments in the hospitality sector. Building an inclusive culture mitigates against high turnover, low performance and low morale. When people feel they belong at work, they experience greater meaning, satisfaction, and stability; and as a result, their performance is positively impacted.

Review your employee policies annually to ensure they reflect EDI best practice

As a minimum, employers should review discrimination, parental, recruitment and other employee-related policies annually to ensure that they remain relevant. 

Here are some practical steps you can take to ensure that your policies are inclusive:

  1. To maintain accountability, state who is responsible for policy reviews at the top of each policy document, and how frequently the policy is to be reviewed and updated. 
  2. Have a system of ongoing policy tracking. To analyse if any group is being disproportionately affected by a policy or process, collect anonymous demographic data. This is crucial in evaluating trends in the use and application of policies.
  3. Create a robust Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) process - an approach designed to assess the impact of policies on different demographics. Conducting EqIAs will help to ensure all new policies and procedures are designed with inclusion at the core, and that any potential adverse effects can be noted and mitigated against. Find out more guidance.
  4. Each policy should exist in an accessible format, including making sure they are accessible to screen readers. It is important that all parties can access the information. 
  5. Use resources, like those published by Acas and CIPD, to follow EDI best practice.
  6. Create a clear discrimination and harassment policy that is included in onboarding and systematically reviewed.
  7. Consider how your organisation supports expectant and working parents, and those returning from parental leave.

Reasonable adjustments ensure your organisation is inclusive, by meeting employees’ specific needs. This may involve adapting processes, procedures or the physical work environment to mitigate against any potential disadvantage. Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement when it comes to disability. Beyond this, though, reasonable adjustments can have a positive impact on your staff, helping to make your organisation a more inclusive workplace. 

A flexible work schedule (which is a common ‘reasonable adjustment’) is a great way to make your organisation more attractive to potential candidates, particularly if they have caring responsibilities. People are more likely to stay at companies that are willing to accommodate other commitments or personal circumstances.  A flexible approach is crucial for supporting parents and carers in the sector, and can also help to retain neurodiverse and disabled employees. Read more about flexible working in the hotel industry, and more general advice around flexible working in hospitality.

To understand how you can best meet the needs of your staff who are parents, talk to them to find out if they feel supported at work, and what interventions might help them feel better supported. You can engage in such conversations using focus groups, surveys or creating a community space for working parents to add their thoughts.

UKHospitality promotes good EDI practice in hospitality, such as providing links and guidance to managing pregnancy and maternity whilst in the hospitality sector.

Hilton has been recognised as one of the best places to work for women from 2019 - 2023.

Travelodge launched a returner programme in 2019 to help parents return to the sector after having time off. The organisation has also been leading the way in best practice, including:

  • Targeting unemployed parents and advertising flexible jobs.
  • Drafting a five-step plan of how parents can get back into work.
  • Publishing career advice for parents on their website.

Have clear policies and processes for handling inappropriate customers and clients

While incidents of inappropriate behaviour from customers and clients may not be an everyday occurrence, nonetheless, it is important for your employees that they understand your organisation will take a zero-tolerance approach when it does happen.  A 2022 report from Be Inclusive Hospitality found that 39% of Mixed ethnicity, 37% of Black and 28% of Asian people among 1,000 hospitality workers surveyed have experienced or witnessed racism in the workplace.  Your employees will feel safer at work, and more empowered to handle difficult situations if they have received training on your organisation’s process for handling inappropriate behaviour.

Ensure your employees have access to (internal or external) HR

With customer service being such an integral part of the industry, it is crucial that staff feel able to be their best selves, in order to provide a consistently high-level of service. It is important that there is a person or procedure they can rely on in the event they face discrimination from customers. A trusted and independent HR function, clearly identified to employees, gives staff confidence that issues they raise will be handled fairly and confidentially. 

If you do not currently have the budget to hire an internal HR Lead, consider outsourcing your HR function to an external consultant, who will act as an extension of your team and a key point of contact for your staff. Most micro-enterprises and small organisations do not have a HR team. Outsourcing this role protects your business and your employees. More details on the pros and cons of outsourcing HR are available. 
 

Discuss EDI and provide training to HR and line managers on EDI best practice

Collaborate with external EDI consultants or agencies to upskill your employees on how to engage in inclusive recruitment, inclusive leadership, dealing with micro-aggressions, conscious inclusion strategies, and other EDI training.  Further, EDI should form part of recruitment managers’ performance reviews to ensure accountability against your organisation’s inclusion goals.  Consider connecting with Be Inclusive Hospitality, to understand what best practice looks like in your sector and how you can achieve it.

Cultural Awareness training can help senior leaders and managers to understand and be sensitive to people’s personal values and beliefs. You can read more about the benefits of Cultural Awareness Training.

Neurodiversity in the workplace in essence means creating a work culture that accommodates the different ways people think and perform. Hospitality can be a difficult environment for anyone who is neurodiverse, due to masking in overwhelming social settings and long shifts (12+ hours) with short breaks or no break at all. Whilst these shifts are lengthy - it’s important to note that workers are eligible for at least 11 hours off work between shifts. 

The industry is a notoriously changeable environment, with last minute adjustments to plans consistently occurring. Extremely bright lights, sudden loud noises and constant interruptions can also have a negative impact on neurodiverse staff and customers.
By developing an understanding of neurodiversity and its different forms, your business will be in a more informed position to manage these implications, but also fully embrace the benefits that neurodiversity can bring to the workplace..

  • Well Grounded runs a series of Specialty Coffee Training Academies for adults facing barriers to employment. The support is wide-ranging, covering upskilling, training, mentorship and qualifications. Support is provided to unemployed beneficiaries who also have a range of complex needs (including neurodiversity, mental health issues, refugee status).
  • As part of their social responsibility programme, HB Cares, HelmsBriscoe have partnered with the National Autistic Society to support autistic jobseekers into paid employment in the hospitality industry.
  • Hosco has produced a neurodiversity guide for hospitality employers.
  • The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) provide support and information for jobseekers with disabilities.
  • EmployAbility helps organisations build inclusive workplaces and empowers talented neurodivergent and disabled graduates to enter and progress in the workplace.
  • Exceptional Individuals are a neurodiverse recruitment agency, providing a range of services including recruitment process audits and consultancy.

Ensure your team and social events are inclusive

Always organise events with accessibility and inclusion in mind, so that team social events are welcoming for everyone. Unlimited has produced a useful and comprehensive guide on running accessible events that can be adapted to social and team events. For instance, religious reasons may mean that some of your staff do not drink alcohol; the timing of your social events may mean that working parents with dependent children cannot attend due to caring responsibilities; or, your chosen social events may not be inclusive to those with disabilities. Having a conversation with your staff when planning team events should help you to make choices that are inclusive to all.

Here are some ways to get started and support religious holidays and promote interfaith inclusion in your workplace:

  • Identify an EDI calendar which incorporates religious holidays or identity-based observances (e.g. Black History Month) throughout the year. Send out a survey to better understand how employees want to be supported or  want to celebrate different holidays and/or identity-based observances (e.g. offer flexible working during Ramadan);
  • To raise awareness and promote inclusion, identify internal and external speakers to talk about the meaning of different religious holidays and identity-based observances;
  • Recognise the practical elements of religious holidays. For example, does your office have a quiet and private space for prayer and meditation in the office? Are staff supported during periods of fasting? Can you accommodate prayer times in the break-rota?). Read more here.

Support your employees to set up an Employee Resource Group (ERG) and report findings/suggestions to senior leaders and managers

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are a great way to foster a sense of belonging and community amongst employees. They are often a useful channel of communication, acting as an early-warning system to the organisation of any particular concerns or challenges impacting specific groups of employees. They are often mutually beneficial, helping to shape strategy and acting as the employee voice on one hand, and disseminating ideas and information from the senior team (such as communicating new EDI initiatives or targets) through the workforce on the other.

In 2022, ERG EMbrace, led IHG’s partnership with UK Black Pride, making it the first hospitality sponsor.