IN ASSOCIATION WITH
The panel’s to-do list
●● To get hospitality companies and bodies to unite in an industry-wide campaign under Springboard in the new year.
●● A dedicated social media site. ●● To improve staff retention – as there is no point getting people in if you are going to lose them.
●● To train managers in soft management skills – simple initiatives, such as having an open-door policy, coffee-catch-ups and two-week rotas, will mean you can grow your own staff and cut recruitment costs.
●● Involve parents in the hospitality ‘story’ by inviting them in to colleges and workplaces. For instance, every business offering apprenticeships should invite parents in for the accreditation.
●● Grow-your-own needs to benefit the industry, not just your business.
rience, Inspire. The point is to get the commu- nication out into the industry. For instance, there are a million hospitality businesses and 5,500 secondary schools in this country. We just need 5,500 businesses to adopt a school each. That would make a big impact.
SW: You can do tactical things very quickly. For instance, Springboard Ambassadors could do their talks to parents, too.
www.thecaterer.com
The elephant in the room is Brexit – might it aggravate the staff shortage or will it create an opportunity? PA: Brexit is the unknown, so it is scary. We only have one British person on our manage- ment team at Babylon.
SS: It is a massive challenge, but it is happen- ing, so we have to see it as an opportunity. We have to respond to it and construct a way to engage our own people as well as be prepared for however the migrant pattern works out.
AP: We need to get behind trade associations to lobby government on our behalf when it is negotiating the terms of leaving the EU. And maybe we could unite with other industries that employ staff from the EU.
SW: Brexit might galvanise us to grow our own talent and keep our own people. This might be our call to action.
MK: London is particularly scary as 64% of work- force is migrant labour. We need some migra- tion and we need to articulate that in a way that is sensible to government. The other issue is the falling pound, as workers are thinking it is less economically enticing to work here.
SS: I go back to the link between productivity and front-line staff. If we focus on building a world-class industry in terms of employment practices, we will become more competitive in
a global labour market. We have to ensure that when the brightest and best are looking where to work in the industry, that they are looking in this country.
So out of this discussion, what one idea could be done immediately? MT: We could make a “how to” YouTube series. It could be five minutes focusing on members of staff in different roles. For instance, “I work front of house, how do I start my day?” to show how the working day goes. I think that is an easy and effective way of portraying the industry.
DA: I would support that. It would only take a small amount of money.
AP: And it is about using the faces of the day – a few headliners, but also young hotshots.
Ruston Toms (RT): I agree. We have a young chef who is a star on our website. Using messages from ordinary people at work rather than superstars is sometimes more powerful.
DA: What about all of us getting our own people together in one place to put it on a platform?
RT: We could create an F&B social media platform and get it out to careers advisers and schools. There could be social media ambas- sadors for different sectors.
DA: We should just do it. The Caterer | 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29