Working with Scotland’s vibrant hospitality and tourism industry is exciting and inspiring, whilst posing some unique challenges. Following the Coronavirus outbreak, the industry is now being pushed to its limit, facing a whole new world of challenges in the coming weeks and months and it is imperative that businesses and employees receive the support that is required to sustain them through this unprecedented time.
A walk around Glasgow this weekend was a grim experience for anyone with a passion for the industry and a concern for its workers. Countless bars and restaurants across the city were boarded up, sending a stark message that there’s not going to be “business as usual” for some time.
Employing some 220,000 workers and accounting for 8.6 per cent of all jobs, hospitality is a major section of the Scottish economy. But with an employee turnover rate of 30% – double that of the UK average – and approximately 60% of the workforce paid below the real Living Wage, the industry has long faced challenges when it comes to recruiting and retaining a strong and motivated work force.
We have been working with employers in the industry to find out more about the difficulties and to celebrate leadership when it comes to addressing low pay. Within our growing network of accredited Living Wage employers, we have the pleasure of working with and learning from some of the most forward thinking and innovative business owners who not only want to do right by their staff, but want to demonstrate to the wider industry that the real Living Wage is a worthwhile and necessary investment.
Last year, we established a Hospitality Steering Group, formed of accredited employers from a range of businesses including hotels, bars, cafes and entertainment venues. They, along with others in the network, speak of how implementing the real Living Wage has improved their employee turnover rates, increased the number and quality of applicants when recruiting, ensured savings when it comes to staff training and even found that their customer satisfaction rates have improved as a result of having a strong, valued and productive workforce. Together, they have shown that it is possible to balance staff well-being and business success and in fact, they have proved the two to be mutually beneficial.
The industry has been moving through a period of positive change over the last few years, with more employers looking for new and exciting ways to operate their businesses more sustainably. There is a widening recognition from the industry that staff must be considered an asset to the business and of the importance of both mental and physical health. Wages have seen an increase (the number of workers in the industry being paid less than a real Living Wage dropped by 14,000 between 2017 and 2019) and a stark light is beginning to shine on the use of exploitative zero hours contracts. That said, the work is far from over.
We are currently facing a new, global challenge – Covid-19, and at the moment it’s difficult to picture exactly how life will look once some form of normality resumes.
This virus poses a particular challenge to the employment heavy, low paying parts of our economy, of which hospitality is at the forefront. Here in Scotland, Covid-19 has caused what is likely to be irreparable damage with thousands of businesses across the country having no choice but to cease trading amidst Government social distancing instructions.
Over the coming weeks it is more important than ever before that we stand together, not only to fight the spread of this virus, but to support our industries and workers. Organisations within our network and the wider industry are calling on the Government to widen and clarify the support on offer to hospitality businesses and employees during this period of lockdown. It is clear that there are some industry specific challenges which must be addressed in order to ensure that businesses can recover.
Importantly, employers are asking for flexibility when it comes to furlough. One of the main difficulties being that, in order to ensure basic venue maintenance and to meet insurance requirements, many businesses still require some level of staffing. For this reason, there are calls for a ‘part-time Furlough’ option and The Scottish Tourism Alliance have suggested permitting a 75% in furlough hours with the other 25% maintained by company, allowing the employee to work. It has also been suggested that the current rule of not being able to take up paid work when on furlough is revised as it restricts options to fill some essential key temporary roles for example in retail and farming.
With regards to eligibility to furlough, businesses who operate in Scotland’s rural areas and have, as of 1stMarch, taken on this year’s seasonal workers, are currently excluded from the current furlough guidelines. Those business are keen to extend furlough eligibility to any employee engaged by contract prior to the Chancellor’s announcement on 20th March.
There are also calls to remove the threshold for Statutory Sick Pay which is currently £118/week as many employers in the predominantly low-paying industry fall short of this. What’s more, a large proportion of hospitality workers are students who rely on their earnings to pay their bills and buy food. However, if they are made unemployed, they are, at present, unable to claim benefits due to their student status.
Sadly, there have been a number of reports in the news about some companies in Scotland having made what’s being termed ‘opportunistic redundancies’ in light of Covid-19. Living Wage Scotland are urging businesses to seek the support on offer whilst voicing the ongoing challenges and the needs that are yet to be met. A united approach is fundamental to overcoming these challenges.
If businesses are provided with flexible and extensive support from the Government and show value to their most important assets; their people, they will emerge more resilient that ever before and Scotland’s hospitality industry will thrive once more. Once the boards come down and the doors are open I hope that we all think about the industry differently, value it and the workers that make it what it is and question its dependence on low pay and insecure contracts.