Even before the world was turned on its head back in March 2020, the hospitality industry was already facing a number of challenges.
Most significantly, the skills and staffing crisis were being exacerbated by the looming onset of Brexit.
It’s estimated that as many as 900,000 jobs are at risk, and a further 30,000 young people who normally enter the hospitality industry each year are likely to struggle.
Our vibrant, evolving sector has once more got to find a way to survive a difficult hurdle, and ensure it has a skilled and motivated workforce ready for the sector’s recovery.
As well as focusing on a longer-term strategy to safeguard jobs and protect the survival of the sector as we know it, short term steps over the next couple of years will surely prove crucial for building resilience and preparing for what is to come.
The hospitality industry has shown great resilience in coming together to support one another and it’s been inspiring to see some great examples of this. One such example of this is CareerScope – the industry support hub designed to support hospitality workers whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic.
Developed in partnership with UKHospitality, Hospitality Action, Institute of Hospitality, Savoy Educational Trust and Springboard, it aims to support people back into work and ensure they stay fit, healthy and ready as jobs become available.
The platform is packed full of free, useful resources, including redundancy advice, training, financial support, health & wellbeing advice, careers guidance and, most importantly, thousands of live jobs. Being a cheerleader for the industry and sharing the many resources available could make a huge difference to someone’s life right now.
Mentors can offer strong support right now, whether that be professional or emotional. At a time that has been cited as the period that poses the ‘greatest threat to mental health since the second world war’, our personal connections have understandably become more important than ever to us.
The beauty of mentoring is that it so often benefits the mentor as much as the mentee.
Like many in the industry, at Springboard we are looking ahead. In particular, we are striving to arm the next generation of workers as best we can with the skills and adaptability to succeed in what will be the ‘new normal’.
We’re looking to keep people, particularly the young, engaged during the 12-18 months it takes hospitality to fully recover from the pandemic. Through ‘Springboard to 2022’ we are supporting 10,000 young people into work in hospitality through training, mentoring and help finding inspiring jobs.
We are looking to work with hospitality, leisure and tourism employers who are willing to provide quality work placements for candidates on our Springboard to 2022 programme and to invest in the programme, in return for getting direct access to fully trained and engaged members of staff at the right time.
Please get in touch with Springboard if you would be interested in finding out how you can gain access to a trained pipeline of upskilled team members.
By taking a commitment to provide solid, tangible support for your employees and their development, you can futureproof your talent pipeline, just as we are doing at Springboard.
Although the recovery won’t happen overnight, these steps will help prepare for the future and ensure you are in the best position possible to get your business back to speed when the time comes.
Chris Gamm is the Chief Executive at Springboard, a not-for-profit that has been helping unemployed people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to improve their career potential in hospitality and tourism for over 30 years.
The charity especially supports people who experience barriers to employment and young people in education. For more information on the Springboard to 2022 programme, please visit springboard.uk.net.
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