Elliott Goldstein – Managing Partner, The MBS Group

The MBS Group is delighted to once again partner with WiHTL and PwC to create this unique report, a first-of-its-kind publication looking at the impact of Covid-19 on diversity and inclusion in the hospitality, travel and leisure sector.

The last six months have been the most turbulent and destructive period for the hospitality, travel and leisure sector since the second world war. Few could have predicted that businesses across our sector would have no customers, zero revenue and governmentimposed restrictions on every aspect of their business. Faced with this unprecedented disruption, organisations in our sector have acted with pace and determination to ensure survival. Overall, our sector can be immensely proud of the creativity, agility and strength we have demonstrated since the outset of Covid-19.

Against this most difficult of backdrops, it is sad – but understandable – that diversity and inclusion has slipped down the list of corporate priorities. At the start of 2020, as a sector we were all celebrating the real strides being made to create and maintain diverse leadership across most companies in our sector.

Now, sadly, Covid-19 has eroded many of these gains – and, across the sector, the full impact of Covid-19 on diversity and inclusion is only just emerging. Strong female or ethnic minority role models have exited, budgets to achieve D&I goals have been slashed, D&I has become less of a priority for the board, and businesses are not collecting the vital data needed to measure the impact of Covid-19 on their business’ diversity.

Ultimately, our view at The MBS Group is simple: businesses that fail to prioritise D&I – especially now – will suffer as they find themselves outrun by their more forward-thinking competitors, whose leadership is fully representative of their consumer base. The case for diversity has never been stronger than now: as we move into the next phases of Covid-19, organisations will need creativity and varied insight as they rebuild their business models and re-orientate themselves to rapidly changing customer needs. However, the current crisis possibly presents an opportunity to move the dial positively on D&I. Inevitable restructures could enable new and diverse talent to emerge. Flexible working, and a heightened understanding of employees’ lives, could remove barriers to progression women have traditionally faced. The BLM movement could have acted as a catalyst to drive real change on how our sector thinks about race and ethnicity. As a sector, we do have the opportunity to turn Covid-19 into a watershed moment.

The readiness with which organisations participated in this research – despite the turmoil of the industry – demonstrates the sector’s willingness to understand how Covid-19 has impacted this vital area. My personal thanks to all the leaders who took the time out of their extremely busy schedules to be interviewed for this research – I am inspired by your individual and collective achievements over the past period.

At The MBS Group, we are proud to have championed diversity in the HTL sector for over thirty years. I hope this report gives some insight into the long-term effects of this extraordinary period, and provides guidance for leaders looking to increase their focus on diversity and inclusion.

Elliott Goldstein Managing Partner The MBS Group