Reflections on the role of policy levers to enhance fair work in the hospitality industry

This research focussed on policy levers to further develop fair work, and how these might be relevant to embedding fair work further in the hospitality industry. Most stakeholders thought there was significant negativity towards government policy within the industry, making discussions of the efficacy of policy levers more challenging. These views ranged from concerns over a confused policy landscape facing hospitality employers; unhappiness over policy differences between Scotland and England, specifically in relation to rates relief for the industry; and perceptions that the Scottish Government isn’t sufficiently supportive of business, through opposition to additional policy interventions to more extreme positions that policymakers should not intervene in markets at all.

Concerns were also raised in relation to local government policy, particularly in relation to licencing processes, with complaints of bureaucracy, delays, a lack of fitness for purpose and inconsistency in the treatment of different businesses at different times. While there was a positive assessment for some policy interventions – notably public funding for talent development in hospitality – the overarching sense of pessimism in relation to policy was more evident than many specific asks of policymakers.

There was widespread support for a range of potential policy levers, including awareness raising, fair work champions on the hospitality ILG, access to fair work education and training, fair work communities of practice within the industry and potentially its sub-sectors, and better access to evidence and support materials. Stakeholders had more mixed views on Living Hours, further conditionality and industry charters. There was little engagement with employability services and no real appetite for formal fair work accreditation. While there was no opposition to joint capacity investment, and a real recognition that the industry and organisations within it did indeed lack capacity to address many fair work challenges, no stakeholder identified organisations that would be able and willing to make such investments.

More generally, three specific requests of policymakers were made by stakeholders. The first related to developing a more positive and forward focussed narrative about the industry itself, stressing its continuing relevance – “people will always want to eat, drink and experience” – and advocating for the industry as a good place to work and have a career.

The second policy ask related to the provision of fiscal relief or incentives to deliver fairer work, on the rationale that some employers in some parts of the hospitality industry simply could not deliver aspects of fair work without financial support.

The third policy ask related to how change might be driven, with a request from stakeholders for policymakers to work with the industry to drive improvement – to co-produce solutions rather than to rely solely on ‘carrots and sticks’. The need for more tailored solutions suggests the need to build greater co-design of interventions in their specific context.

Across all stakeholder discussions was a strong sense of the diversity of the industry and the limits of a one size fits all approach to leveraging fair work. Some of this diversity reflected industry sub-sectors who faced different demand pressures. Some reflected location, with rural businesses particularly concerned over the impact of transport and housing infrastructure and city businesses more likely to be facing higher rent costs. Some of the diversity reflected businesses who were not part of any industry association or body and therefore not especially engaged in collective discussions about the industry’s future challenges and opportunities. This latter group represents a significant challenge for leveraging fair work in hospitality.