4
CLH Digital
Issue 61
Upskilling In The Hospitality Industry After Lockdown By Sarah-Jane McQueen, General Manager of CoursesOnline (www.coursesonline.co.uk) By this point it would be more than redundant to speak at length regarding the woes of the hospitality industry over the last year and a bit. Covid and the subsequent restrictions have gutted businesses budgets with cutbacks being a necessity to make up for a lack of revenue. Therefore it comes as no surprise that being non-essential for every day trading, the total level of investment into training for those employed in hospitality has really come down since the start of 2020. Training organisations have been scaling back the learning courses that they offer due to a lack
of demand and those that have been running in the meantime have done so often as part of a broader package of learning. However with customers beginning to flock back and eager to make up for many months spent trapped indoors, the businesses who have survived will have more money to reinvest in their operations. With an increase in customer demand, existing employees being recalled from furlough and so on, getting staff trained up and their knowledge refreshed is fast becoming more of a necessary expense. That’s not to mention the number of industry workers who have left the industry for good who primarily came from abroad, returning home due to a combination of Covid and Brexit related concerns. Indeed, there’s already stories coming out of hospitality businesses having issues with finding the needed quantity and quality of staff. In Manchester, “a perfect storm” of issues has made recruitment very difficult which means that business owners will have to do more with the talent that they already possess. This is difficult in theory given the high level of staff turnover within hospitality but going the extra mile and investing in the skills of employees can be a great way to build goodwill and therefore retainment rates. Recent research reinforces this point, that 43% of hospitality workers believe they face a lack of career growth opportunities and 32% believe that there are limited workforce training chances to hand. It can be diffi-
cult to find the time for such training to be scheduled given the working hours typical within the sector, which is why a number of course providers have now digitised their training courses. Having all of the requisite knowledge accessible online gives learners the option to learn as and when is convenient for them and also at a pace which they are comfortable with. Whilst some courses will always have to include a practical component, the more theoretical side of things doesn’t need to be done in person. Covid forcing in person training to be halted has greatly sped up this process of moving to online learning and such convenience means it won’t be stopping anytime soon. Throughout the peak of the pandemic, data showed that the majority of those spending on training courses were individuals looking to upskill rather than companies looking to upskill their teams, by a margin of about 75%-25%. This however isn’t much of a surprise when we look at the wider demographics of the training industry, which saw a swing towards individual learners who had been made redundant and who were looking to enhance their CV’s before applying for roles elsewhere. We’re still waiting as well to see what will happen once restrictions on international travel are relaxed which hopefully will give businesses more money to invest in their staff. This period of recovery could very well be an exciting one for those in hospitality and those who do the best out of it will be those who seize upon new ways of doing things in earnest.
Charity Launches First National Pub Pride Initiative A St Albans-based charity tackling discrimination in the LGBTQ+ community and encouraging venues to become safer and more inclusive spaces has launched its first ever nationwide Pub Pride event. Ask For Clive is asking pubs and bars to host pride events on Friday 23 July. Pub Pride is a nationwide campaign that is activated locally, aimed at giving landlords total freedom to set the scale and content of the night in a manner that is tailored to their community. “We are proud to be uniting the UK’s LGBTQ+ community on one big night in July,” says Danny Clare, co-founder of Ask For Clive. “We have already seen an overwhelming response from venues across the country reaching out to learn more about the night, it is shaping up to be a national event reaching pubs in all corners of the UK. We cannot wait to paint the country with a rainbow and show the world that the UK is one of the most inclusively diverse and
accepting countries. “The night will play an important role, especially for those who have come-out during the pandemic and have not been able to experience the love and support within their local LGBTQ+ community due to restrictions.” Pub owners and managers looking to take part can register their venue by visiting PubPride.com and purchasing one of two event kits from the charity. The first kit includes rainbow flags and bunting, along with promotional assets, this will cost just £50. The second kit will include, in addition to the above, six Pub Pride 2021 t-shirts for staff and will cost £100. All profits made from these kits will be split between Ask For Clive and the venue’s local UK Pride organisation. To register visit https://pubprideshop.co.uk/
