Retention and progression
It was identified in a 2020 diversity report that BAME board representation in the sector stood at around 6.4% at the time of data collection. Engagement and recruitment strategies need to be met with appropriate retention and progression processes. Working to eradicate barriers for those from underrepresented backgrounds can increase job satisfaction, morale and overall performance across your organisation. This section of the toolkit offers solutions to the challenges presented throughout, highlighting successful approaches to minimising staff turnover.
Organise regular check-ins with employees relating to wellbeing and personal development, ask if they have any ‘reasonable adjustment’ requirements
A fast-moving sector such as hospitality can take a toll on the mental health of its workforce. This is particularly exacerbated where staff regularly engage in long shifts, where all-day customer engagement is required, or where unsociable hours are frequently worked. It is important to check in with your employees on a regular basis to understand their experiences and support their wellbeing.
These discussions are also useful to explore career development opportunities. An individual development plan (IDP) is a tool to help employees progress in their employment. Its primary purpose is to help employees reach short and long-term career goals, and improve current job performance. Developing an IDP can help empower employees to carve out a bespoke career path for themselves. This helpful resource contains an IDP template which you can adapt for your organisation. Including EDI-focused metrics in your line managers’ IDPs is also a way of creating accountability for EDI at different levels in the organisation.
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 but employees do not always feel confident raising this themselves. By asking if your employees require anything, such as reasonable adjustments to allow them to perform their best work for you, employers can signal that they are pro-actively supporting their employees and looking to build a more open and inclusive workplace culture.
- Pilot Light is a campaign committed to raising awareness of mental health issues and support in the hospitality sector.
- The Burnt Chef Project
- Marston Pubs have partnered with The Burnt Chef Project.
- Healthy Hospo is a not-for-profit organisation providing training, workshops and strategic support in order to drive a happier hospitality sector.
- Me, Myself in Mind provide therapy, workshops and group facilitation for those working in the sector, seeking to promote an understanding of stress-reduction techniques and self-awareness.
- Hospitality Action has created a bespoke Employee Assistance Programme care package.
- Kelly’s Cause has Mental Health First Aid training and mental health support for hospitality workers.
- Hotel Chocolat invested in training 30 Mental Health First Aiders across the business to support staff with their mental health.
- Marriott’s TakeCare Programme was set up in 2010 to support employees with their wellbeing.
Publish your organisation’s pay scales internally and externally
Publishing pay scales internally and externally has a number of advantages. Where pay scales are transparent they can be an excellent motivator for current employees as they provide clarity on the benefits of career progression. Jobs in hospitality are often regarded as a temporary stop-gap - one powerful way to combat that is to show what career paths are available (including their respective earning potential) and that your organisation is invested in supporting people who want to progress.
In varying sectors, pay transparency has been shown to have positive impacts on employees’ perceptions of trust and fairness, as well productivity and job satisfaction. Publishing this information externally has the potential to attract new recruits (if your pay scales are above competitors), demonstrates compliance with equal pay legislation, and if enough companies publish pay scales it could start to shift negative perceptions of the sector. For micro-enterprises, salary ranges should be provided on job advertisements and shared internally where possible.
Raise awareness amongst groups underrepresented in senior positions of the various career paths available in hospitality, and any relevant support
Our research identified a need for greater awareness of the breadth of roles available in the sector to attract a broader range of candidates, especially from the Priority Groups. The perception of anti-social hours and unstable work can be off-putting for many, especially those with caring responsibilities. For example, working in hospitality settings may often be seen as an unsuitable career choice for women from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds (although this is not true in every instance). These findings emphasise the need for the sector to broaden the understanding of roles available, including office-based and senior-level positions.
People 1st International has created a career mapping tool, which you can use to generate a bespoke visualisation of what career progression looks like in your organisation.
UKHospitality has published a hospitality guide for recruiting individuals over the age of 50, with practical advice on how organisations can integrate and retain the 50+ workforce.
At the other end of the age-spectrum, Hospitality Rising is a collaborative movement with support from over 300 brands that has developed the #risefastworkyoung campaign - an innovative marketing campaign to attract new talent to the hospitality sector and shine a light on employers focused on employee experience. Within 6 months of the campaign the site had received over 10,000 job applications and reached over 5.5m of the UK’s 16 to 30-year-olds, equal to half this demographic