Greater Manchester business leaders are urging hospitality employers to sign up to Greater Manchester’s Good Employment Charter and raise the standards of working conditions in the sector to attract and retain staff.
The industry is recovering after almost 18 months of lockdowns and restrictions, but many bars, restaurants and venues are having difficulty filling open positions. Thousands of experienced staff have left the industry and many EU nationals previously employed in hospitality are now unable to work in the UK.
The night time economy is the fifth biggest industry in the UK, employing nearly 10% of the nation’s workforce.
However, workers are paid disproportionately less compared with the wider economy. In Greater Manchester, the sector supported a third of the city region’s workforce pre-pandemic, yet more than half of part time hospitality workers earn less than the Real Living Wage.
Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership chair Lou Cordwell are encouraging employers in the sector to engage with the Good Employment Charter and demonstrate their commitment to providing fair pay, secure work, and wellbeing support.
By raising pay and conditions across the industry in Greater Manchester, employers could begin to attract more people to unfilled posts and grow their businesses – while helping to make Greater Manchester a beacon of good employment and an exemplar of how the sector recovers in the UK.
Sacha Lord said: “It is time to raise standards and ensure fair pay in our hospitality sector.
“As we rebuild from the devastating effects of COVID and Brexit on the sector, we can’t expect the youngest and hardest hit by the pandemic to be satisfied with minimum wage roles, when they can earn higher salaries elsewhere in office work or in retail.
The original version of this article was first published in The Business Desk
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