Mayor of London logo London Assembly logo
Home

Engagement and recruitment

This section will help you to recruit more diverse employees, extend opportunities to underrepresented groups, and engage them from an early stage. Our research  highlighted common misconceptions of the hospitality sector and concerns around career progression opportunities. The following recommendations and suggestions offer an opportunity for employers to embed EDI within the engagement and recruitment processes, extending opportunities to underrepresented groups, and engaging them from an early stage. 

Build a plan or strategy to attract and retain diverse talent, such as using minority-focused recruiters for senior positions

Challenges that the hospitality sector currently faces in filling roles also present an opportunity to adapt and look for talent in places you may not have considered. By intentionally positioning yourself to look for the largest talent pool possible, you will open up new channels to help you to fill workforce shortages. 

Consider posting jobs on platforms such as Diversity Dashboard, which has a section specifically for the hospitality and tourism sector. Evenbreak aims to connect candidates looking for inclusive workplaces with employers that are actively aiming to attract disabled candidates with disabilities.  Additionally, CareerScope aims to attract diverse talent into hospitality, by offering practical careers advice, free skills training and financial and well-being support.

You can also check out Caterer.com’s ‘Equality Boost’ system, mum and Harri, or consider partnering with hospitality organisations with social purposes such as Hotel School or Social Bite.

Hotel School teaches key hospitality skills to homeless and vulnerable people, matches them to sustainable employment, and supports them in their first steps into the sector. It is a joint venture between The Passage and The Goring Hotel , and is supported by London’s Five Star hotel community and over 50 local businesses.

Social Bite is a charity and social business, beginning as a small coffee shop in Edinburgh (and has now expanded into London). Their aim is for 25% of their team to have come from a background of homelessness. As part of their exemplary commitment to social causes, Social Bite introduced a “Pay it Forward” system where customers can buy some food in advance for people experiencing homelessness to collect later on.

Follow inclusive recruitment best practices

One of the key ways that your organisation can attract a broader range of talented people is to follow inclusive recruitment best practices. Debiasing your job advertisements and following the best practice tips below will also help you build your inclusive culture. The Centre for Ageing Better has also provided a helpful guide to debiasing job advertisements in relation to age.

People within your organisation will see that your hiring practices aim to find the best people with the right skills for the job.

Inclusive recruitment best practices for job adverts includes: 

  • Using inclusive language in your job advert;
  • Focusing on the skills and competencies needed for the job advertised, but avoiding an unnecessarily long ‘essentials’ or ‘must have’ list;
  • Considering whether academic achievements are actually necessary for the role before making them a requirement;
  • Avoiding jargon;
  • Including a salary, or a salary range;
  • Directing candidates to a named person if they have access requirements or need the advert in a different format;
  • Considering whether the job could be done with flexible hours, part-time or as part of a job share – if yes, then saying so in the advert;
  • Avoiding asking for several years’ experience in the same role, or asking for continuous employment - this discourages those with CV gaps, and people looking to change careers;
  • Promoting your organisation’s EDI policies and commitments;
  • Keeping roles open for the full application period, and not closing them early;
  • Ensuring all job adverts adhere to these best practice principles.

You may wish to consider using positive action in recruitment when a particular demographic is underrepresented in your organisation’s workforce, specifically within senior levels. Roles within hospitality become significantly less diverse as the roles become more senior. Positive action is about taking steps to improve equality in the workplace. For example, to increase the number of underrepresented disabled people in senior roles. This resource from the Equality and Human Rights Commission contains some useful information on positive action, including its purpose and when it can be applied, and examples of how to use it. You must know the difference between positive action, which is legal, and positive discrimination, which is not legal.

Ensure all roles are paid at least the London Living Wage (LLW)

The London Living Wage (LLW) is calculated independently from the National Living Wage (NLW) due to the higher cost of living within London. Paying below this puts workers and their families at risk of falling into poverty. Paying the LLW allows London workers to afford necessities and potentially save for the future. As a result of better wages, it is more likely that your organisation will be able to retain staff, especially when the LLW is combined with clear progression opportunities.

Hospitality as a sector is continuing to try to challenge perceptions of being a transitory or unstable career choice. Zero-hours contracts create unpredictability of income and instability, which particularly affects workers with children and workers in entry-level positions. This can deter workers from entering the sector or may cause them to leave.

Embedding EDI successfully requires trust and an inclusive working environment, which is hard to cultivate when employees are on zero-hour contracts. Providing employees with guaranteed minimum hours makes them less likely to look for other work. In turn, it reduces the risk of the employer struggling to fill vacant positions. By investing in your employees, they are in turn more likely to be reliable, more productive and focused on their work, all of which helps to build the mutual trust and respect needed to pursue EDI meaningfully.

For micro-enterprises, we recommend that the use of zero-hours contracts is reviewed and that your organisation takes steps towards replacing these with guaranteed minimum hours.

Build a diverse talent pipeline through school and university engagement

Collaborating with a broad range of external partners such as local schools, colleges and universities will increase awareness and accessibility of opportunities and develop a pipeline of diverse talent. Collaboration with schools can take various forms such as:

  • Widening participation in the sector by hosting workshops for primary and secondary schools exploring the hospitality sector and its various career paths;
  • Delivering talks or virtual learning sessions on how to get into the sector;
  • Hosting a stand at careers fairs is a great way to inspire people to consider working in an industry they may not have previously considered. It can greatly improve your organisation’s talent pipeline, benefit your organisation’s reputation and, most importantly, influence the future diversity of your company;
  • University and school career fairs are also a key way to widen access to those without industry connections, showcasing the potential for progression in the industry.

Hospitality businesses can work with schools and colleges to develop a pipeline of new talent for the sector, offering a seamless route from learning to practising. UK Hospitality has produced a helpful guide to understanding the Education Landscape, providing options for working with schools, colleges and universities, young people and older learners. There are also a lot of resources on the Careers Scope UK site, including lesson plans, industry statistics and ways to engage parents.

You can also take a look at these organisations for inspiration:

  • The University of Essex works with Edge Hotel School to deliver industry-led education.
  • Adopt a School is led by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts - the Charity provides educational programmes for children to learn more about food and working in hospitality.
  • The Choose Hospitality website contains a range of competitions aimed at young professionals interested in working in the industry.
  • Chefs in Schools are launching a School Chef qualification pilot in Lambeth and Southwark; it aims to improve child health through food education.
  • Prince’s Trust hosts a range of support, including CV workshops, funding for diplomas and a specific scheme that covers hospitality and retail.

Apprenticeship programmes can place your employees on a path to management positions, helping to create a sense of commitment and longevity in the sector. New apprenticeship standards, as well as guidance for employers, have been developed for the hospitality sector. These were developed by sector businesses including the likes of Brewdog, The Ritz London, Caffe Nero Group Ltd, Pizza Hut and Hilton.

You can also explore other workplace programmes if you are not in a position to take on an apprentice currently. For example, WellGrounded runs programmes to help unemployed individuals break into the sector through training, mentoring and qualifications. Consider partnering with organisations such as this to help build a strong pipeline of diverse talent. Several hospitality organisations, including Hilton, Compass Group and Diageo, offer free courses through Springboard, some of which offer guaranteed interviews for participants. Consider whether you are also in a position to facilitate a similar partnership.

Combining work and study, apprenticeship schemes provide full-time employment and learning for over 16s. Read more about apprenticeships in hospitality.

Take a look at the following resources:

  • Umbrella Training has shared a selection of apprenticeship schemes available in the hospitality sector.
  • Flow Learning has included restaurant training modules under their Flow Hospitality learning resource hub.
  • HIT covers a range of hospitality apprenticeships from levels two to four. Their website also provides resources such as a line managers toolkit for mentoring an apprentice, making it a suitable resource for both employees looking to upskill and employers looking to support alternative pathways for hiring. It also targets over 50s for apprenticeships to help encourage them into the industry.
  • The Springboard Charity partnered with the Skill Up, Step Up initiative to help upskill unemployed and disadvantaged young Londoners and help them get into sustainable jobs/apprenticeships.
  • National Autistic Society published a best practice guide for setting up autism-friendly apprenticeships.

Pret have developed an apprenticeship programme that offers in-depth training, as well as career progression and qualifications, taking participants from team-member through to a fully-funded BA Business Management Undergraduate degree. They have also recognised the importance of changing perceptions of the sector with parents and other family members that can influence a young persons’ career decision, providing information about the course targeted specifically at parents.