The hospitality industry, like many others, has been making strides towards creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces.
According to HR Director, 4 out of 5 companies in the UK took steps to increase their commitment to ED&I during the pandemic.
The rise of a candidate-driven market has increased the focus on an employer’s approach to employee benefits, company culture, and ED&I efforts.
For hospitality businesses looking to grow and innovate during such a critical period, a strong ED&I strategy is essential to show a commitment to candidates.
So, why is an ED&I strategy so important for your hospitality business, and how can you build one?
Why is an ED&I strategy so important?
Research from McKinsey found that:
Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability.
The greater the representation in a company, the higher the likelihood of outperformance.
When it comes to ethnic and cultural diversity, top-quartile companies outperformed lower-quartile companies by 36% in profitability.
The business case for diversity, inclusion and equality has been made repeatedly in research, and the implications are clear – companies with a strong ED&I strategy perform far better than those without.
But how can you get started with implementing your ED&I strategy?
1. Adjust your job adverts
To attract a diverse talent pool and create greater equality in your hiring process, your job ads are the best place to start.
Rather than narrowing down your focus as much as possible in terms of potential hospitality experience or qualifications, you should instead focus on a broader, more inclusive approach.
The most important element of this is the language used – if your job advert conveys that you are only looking for an individual of a specific gender, for example, it will deter others from applying at all.
Words such as ‘collaborate’, ‘share’, and ‘responsibility’ are considered to be feminine-coded language, whereas words such as ‘challenging’, ‘driven’, and ‘competitive’ are generally considered to be masculine-coded language.
Additionally, an often-overlooked element of job advertisements across platforms is the images used.
If images lack diversity in the subjects of the images, then it is unlikely to attract people who don’t relate to the images (e.g. if all subjects of the images are of the same ethnicity, it could exclude those of a different ethnicity).
2. Provide greater flexibility with roles
The hospitality industry has historically had the perception of an inflexible industry due to the associated unsociable hours and fixed shift patterns.
However, providing greater flexibility is not just a great employee benefit to add to your offering, but also to contribute towards ED&I efforts.
You could provide greater flexibility to open a wider talent pool in the following ways:
Flexible shift patterns (e.g. staff choose their shifts, rather than being informed of them on a weekly/monthly basis without being consulted).
For certain roles in hospitality, such as a sales agent for a hotel/travel business, remote working can be offered.
Shift-swapping can be utilised to give hospitality employees greater autonomy over their working hours.
These options for greater flexibility open up new talent pools (increasing the diversity within a business) because it reduces the barriers to work that many hospitality candidates face – geographical limitations, fitting work around education or other commitments, and those who cannot easily commute daily – which means that more applicants can apply.
3. Adapt your expectations
The criteria of a job advert can also be exclusionary when it comes to your ED&I strategy.
For example, are the essential requirements in your job absolute musts, or could they be adapted to ‘not essential, but nice to have’?
If there is the opportunity for on-the-job training, then this is also a way to adapt expectations that open the role up to a wider range of applicants in your recruitment process.
Other elements of job expectations, such as educational background, can be adapted or removed to ensure that your business is not just receiving applications from applicants from a similar background, rather than those with a variety of experience.
4. Diversify your recruitment channels
Rather than limiting your recruitment efforts to one channel, efforts should be made to diversify the channels you use.
Sticking to one job board is unlikely to result in a diverse range of applications, and it limits the messaging for your business.
Platforms such as LinkedIn or other social media platforms can offer greater applicant diversity from underrepresented communities as these postings are exposed to a wider audience.
Forums or websites that are specifically targeting underrepresented groups can also be extremely valuable in avoiding narrowing down your recruitment efforts to a specific type of candidate.
Within your job descriptions on these channels, it is also important to mention your commitment to diversity by listing it as a value and making it clear that candidates from diverse backgrounds can and should apply.
5. Work with a hospitality recruitment specialist
The hospitality industry has a specific set of challenges from a recruitment perspective that can be difficult to account for through internal recruitment alone in such a competitive market.
When it comes to ED&I efforts in particular, knowing the factors that can negatively influence the recruitment process or act as a barrier to your ED&I strategy is essential and saves time.
The team members at Talent Hive are hospitality recruitment experts, having worked within hospitality and catering for leading pubs, hotels, and restaurants.
It’s this hands-on experience that helps us to understand the needs of hospitality companies and hospitality candidates alike, helping to keep your ED&I strategy moving alongside your wider recruitment strategy.
Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help with your recruitment efforts to find the best diverse hospitality talent for your needs.
Let us help you find your dream hospitality role
The team members at Talent Hive all have experience in hospitality, and we know the challenges and benefits of the industry.
Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help you find your dream hospitality role.