Investigation Of The Current Skills Shortages And Skills Strategies In The Uk Hospitality Industry.

Summary

This report shortly explains the considerable problem the UK is having with skill shortages. The current level of skill in the hospitality industry in the UK is very low. Businesses like the Black Swan find it difficult to recruit skilled staff, and the language is a problem to train to foreigners. Professional organisations such as the Sector Skill Development Agency feel the UK is going to find it hard to compete against new rising economies. The government is ready to invest money to help the UK skill strategy to train employees for the 2012 Olympic Games. Ð'Ј5 millions will be invested by the government in order to create more trainings and apprenticeship. Time, language and money are three main points that makes training difficult; most of the employers do not know how they could access government funding. People1st have researched that between 2004 and 2014 1,642,000 people will be needed due to the 30% labour turnover. The national UK strategy and the UK skill passport should help training to happen. The author advises to use Beer, Eisenstat and Spector’s theory to implement these changes at the Black Swan by using a six stage model.

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. FINDINGS 5

2.1. The current level of skills in the UK hospitality 5

2.2. The current level of skills at the Black Swan 5

2.3. The view of the professional hospitality organisations 5

2.4. The view of the Government 5

2.5. The view of the Black Swan 6

2.6. The problems of achieving skilled staff within hospitality 6

2.7. The skills initiatives that have been tried in the past 6

2.8. The future needs for skills in the hospitality industry in the UK 6

2.9. Explanation of the proposed skills strategy and passport 6

2.9.1. National skills strategy 7

2.9.3. UK skills passport 8

2.10. Criteria for evaluating the strategy 8

2.11. Evaluation of the strategy 8

2.12. The benefits and problems of implementing the strategy 9

3. RECOMMENDATIONS 10

4. CONCLUSION 11

BIBLIOGRAPHY 12

1. Introduction

Skills are very important in the hospitality industry because it is an industry where quality is what customers are paying for and without skilled staff the quality of service and products goes down. Quality of service and products can differentiate your business to your competitors. Your competitors are other businesses that offer the same services and/or products to the same types of customers, so the question is what differentiate your business from them? Why a customer would go and spend money in your business rather than in your competitors’ businesses? The answer is quality! The level of quality varies from one company to another; customers will go and spend money where they find quality and value for money.

In July 2012, London will be hosting the Olympic Games; there will be a colossal need for skilled employees in many industries, including the hospitality industry. There are more than a hundred thousand hotel rooms in London ready to welcome visitors from all around the world, halls of residence and other student accommodation will provide a further thirty thousand beds for visitors on a budget.

The author chose her workplace as hospitality organisation to refer in the report. It is called the Black Swan which is a pub/restaurant belonging to the Greene King plc pub company.

2. Findings

2.1. The current level of skills in the UK hospitality

From Prospect website, In the UK, the hospitality industry employs about 1.8 million people at all level of skills. From People 1st website in August 2006:

- 15% of the employees do not hold any qualification.

- 16% of hotel and accommodation managers have no qualification.

- 14% of publicans and managers of licensed premises have no qualification.

- 14% of chefs have no qualifications.

- 10% of the workers are not fully skilled to meet the needs of their company.

2.2. The current level of skills at the Black Swan

The current level of skills at the Black Swan varies, employees might be skilled or might be unskilled, and it depends on the section where they are working. All the employees working in the kitchen are skilled and ready to work. Waiting and bar employees are not always skilled, most of them are and the rest is trained by the company. Managers are skilled and have few previous experiences.

2.3. The view of the professional hospitality organisations

Sector Skills Development Agency feels that the global economy is changing and if the UK does not do something quickly about it then it will be difficult to compete against emerging economies such as India and China. The UK low skills could increase inequality, deficiency and child poverty. The UK should build on reforms to the education systems to make skills base, a strength compared to other countries.

2.4. The view of the Government

The Government made a strategy designed to ensure that UK tourism gains Ð'Ј2.1billions when London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games. The government plans to deliver 200 new apprenticeships included in the Ð'Ј5 millions that the government is also investing. The government seriously believes their investment will help people to gain new skills. The government feels that the 2012 Olympic Games is a great opportunity for the country’s tourism to create a lasting legacy.

2.5. The view of the Black Swan

The Black Swan finds it difficult to find skilled staff to employ but they also do not find it difficult to train the staff. They feel that the only problem that occurs to them about staff training is the language.