Perceptions of future industry needs

Looking to the future, it was widely agreed that hospitality needs to improve its reputation and leave behind what many saw as legacy issues that were inconsistent with fair work. There was also very strong consensus on the need to promote the industry as an attractive career, primarily to respond to tighter labour markets and the distinct demands of a younger workforce, who were perceived by some as unable to accept more traditional ways of working. Both issues were felt to require better understanding of the characteristics, benefits and challenges of fair work, which was not considered to be the case currently in the industry. But in principle, many stakeholders believed there was strong support for improving the fairness of work across the industry. As stakeholders reported:

“ … many are completely supportive of Fair work principles, and try very hard in our own businesses … I believe they all want to provide fair work. I can't think of any reason why people who have struggled to recruit and seen the impact of the damage on the industry of not being able to recruit – they want to provide those things. There’s no difference between a a pub, a bar or a café on this.”

“We have always believed that fair work helps survival”.

“… development of the tourism strategy which took place through 2019 and 2020 … there was a strong commitment from the sector and the recognition of the need for the sector as a whole to adopt the fair work agenda and actually move much more into that space.”

Also required was strong industry leadership in encouraging and supporting improved practice and in deterring poor practice. This links with the expressed need for better/improved organisational, and accordingly work, cultures in which leadership at the organisational or business level has a key role to play.

Stakeholders were somewhat split, however, between those arguing that taking steps to ensure business survival in difficult economic times takes priority over improvements in fair work, and those who argued that improvements in fair work would drive both the staff commitment and responsiveness required to make business survival more likely. Both groups recognised that labour shortages could tip the balance of power in the industry from an employer-driven market to one in which employees and their preferences were increasingly influential.

Stakeholders identified a range of other developments and/or approaches that could help the industry face the future, including improved professionalism; better use of technology, both to support the business operationally but also, for example, to make scheduling more open, fair and responsive to employees; and greater supply chain innovation (for example, among small businesses collaborating together and with suppliers to improve supply arrangements). Interestingly, a small number of stakeholders were robust in their views that hospitality has significant churn and that there needs to be a degree of realism that business failure will occur and that this may be a consequence of not delivering fair work, which will in turn improve the overall standards of work and employment in the industry. As one noted:

“I feel unfortunately that there will be those who are just so rooted into it, a particular type of behaviour, that they're not about to listen to anyone or change their ways of working. But on the flip side, I view it as that they are the ones that will fail. They're the ones that will fall over, and if they're not here in a few years’ time, that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing for Scottish tourism. Let's get the best operators and there are some fantastic operators out there”.